Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1871-08-03
SENATOR NORTON IN KENTUCKY.
Corruption in Ofiee-Who are the ROgues.

Corruption in Offce-WhO are the ROgues.
Senator Morton delivered an able speech
in Louisville, KY, on the Goth of July,
from which we extract the following.
The Democratic party have great deal
to say about the corruption of the present
Administration. Ipresume there is some.
There are bad men in all parties; there al
ways have been and always will be. [ I'M
dertake to say we have as pure an admin
istratior as we had in fifty years. There
is far less corruption to-day in the govern
ment than there was during the terms of
Buchanan and Pierce, although the oper
ations of the government are greatly ex-
tended, Whenever any officer of the
Government is discovered to be corrupt,
he is promptly removed from office. When
the Democratic party know, when it is in
power, of great criminalities in an officer,
instead of endeavoring to punish, they
screen him. We might refer to the city
of New York, where the corruption of
Tammany Hall and of Democratic officers
now shock the sensibilities of the whole
world. L might enquire of you whether
your own State is any exception to that
misrule. am told that your own city is
not. 1t does not lie in the mouth of the
Democratic party to assail the Republican
party upon this subject. This nation is
doing its best:t maintain a pure admins
tratiOn, and its great success in collecting
the revenue and in administering the laws
deserves great credit. Two hundred and
twenty-five millions of the public debt
have been paid off since Grant came into
power. The annual interest has been re-
duced in the neighborhood of thirteen
millions of dollars, and the work of re-
trenchment and economy still goes on.
Since General Grant came into office we
have passed bill repeating eighty-three
millions of taxes. That was year ago
last spring. Fifty-seven millions of inter-
est and revenue taxes and twenty-five mil
lions of customs, or what is called tariff
eighty-three millions in all, and it did not
receive-I am sorry to say-a single DEM
Ocratic vote. Laughter They talk about
extravaganza and heavy taxation, but
when the time comes to repeal taxation
they always find some excuse to vote
against it. They are always in favor Of
reducing taxation upon articles not con-
tanned in the bill. When it came to redu
cling taxes on tea, coffee and sugar, they
voted against it for reducing the tariff on
iron, they voted against it. The bill which
reduced taxation eighty-three millions of
dollars, received, so far as / can remember,
none but Republican votes. 1t received
none in the Senate, | know. If it received
any in the House, | do not know who they
were. And we expect to reduce taxation
still further. I have been making myself
acquainted with the condition of the treas
ury, and 1 am advised that we shall be able
next winter, owing to faithful collection
of the revenue, to further reduce taxation
from thirty to fifty millions of dollars.
[Cheers.] 1 make the prediction here to-
night that we shall do it before the next
session of Congress expires. We expect to
go on and pay the national debt We don't
expect to allow it to go on. hanging on us
forever as an incubus. Some people think
that we have been paying it off too fast,
but guess that you have not felt much
Inconvenience from that. Laughter
Nevertheless we have done a great big
thing, when we remember that two hun
dred and twenty-five millions of that debt
have been paid off, and it will be another
big victory for General Grant, if, during
his administration, we should pay off some
four hundred millions of dollars of that
debt. TGreat applause. ---r