The States and Union. [volume] (Ashland, Ohio) 1868-1872, 1871-07-12
ROTTENNESs OF THE ADMINS
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cases, usurpation has been accompa-
MED and followed by corruption. -
Frauds without number, and almost
without limit, have been committed
on the public. Men of the worst
character for common honesty are per-
mitted to occupy the highest places.
OF the money collected from the PEG
pie, and not stolen before it reaches
the Treasury, a large portion is squan.
dered by Congress on party favorites
or corrupt rings and on base combina-
tions of public plunderers. The enor-
nous extent to which this financial
corruption has been carried will be
manifest to any n who compares the
expenditures of the government dur
ing the six years which preceded and
followed the war. Both were times OF
peace, and there can be no excuse for
more than a small increase correspon.
ding to the ratio in which the popula.
ton has increased. But where the
ordinary expenditures for the fiscal
year ending June 1, 1870, exclusive
of Indian annuities, pensions and in
tercst on the public debt, were s14S,-
669, 1924 for the year ending June
/, 1860, the expenditures for the same
purpose were but s55, 1881 1873, 70.
Here is shown the difference between
the ordinary cost Of the Government
when its agents are honnst, and the
cost of the same thing when its officers
are so destitute of moral principle as
to disregard all legal limitations upon
their own authority. A free, upper
verted representative government is
simple in its machinery, easily main
tanned, and "dispenses its blessings
like the dews of heaven, unseen and
unfelt, save in the beauty and fresh
ness the contribute to produce" the
secure tranquility of a regal establish
ment may sometimes be a compensa-
ton for the burdens it imposes, but
a rotten Republic is at ono the most
oppressive; and the unsteady of all
political structures.
ISSUES.
1t will surely be admitted that all
American citizens who believe these
facts to be true are bound by the sa-
cred obligations of patriotism, honor,
and conscience to oppose this state Of
things, and by opposing end it. The
persons interested in preventing a
change will ask how, to what extent,
and by what means we propose to
make reforms. The question is fair,
and we will answer it briefly. 1t will
be the duty of the Democratic party,
and, to the extent of our authority,
original or delegated, we hereby pledge
ourselves and u associates, so far es
in us lies
/. To put the ship of state once
again on her constitutional tack and
hold her head firmly and steadily to
that course.
2. To protect the individual citizen
of all parties. classes and creeds in
the enjoyment of life, liberty, reputa-
ton and the pursuit of their law
full business, by an imperative admin
istration of justice in the ordained and
established courts.
3. To preserve the powers of the
general Government in their whole
constitutional vigor as our sole defense
against foreign aggression, the safest
bond of union between different parts
of the country and the only sure
promise of general prosperity.
4. To maintain, unimpaired, the
reserved rights of the States, not only
because they are guaranteed by the
Federal Constitution, but because the
States alone can safely be trusted with
the management of their W local
concerns.
3. To reduce the expenditures of
the Government by coufning its ap-
preparations to legitimate objects, by
a rigid system of accountability and
economy, and by a%bolishing much of
the unnecessary and pernicious ma
chinery with which it is now encum-
bered.
6. To moderate the burdens of the
people, not only by economical ad-
ministration, but by a system of tax
alton upon foreign imports as well as
domestic productions, which shall be
just and equal in its operation upon
the properly and business Of the coun.
try, not enriching some while it i'm
poverishes others, and not open to
the frauds now habitually practiced.
7. To preserve the public credit by
the prompt payment of the public
obligations.
8. To ~consecrate the public lands
to the use of the landless people who
need it by a system which will secure
a sufficiency to all, and stop at once
the long series of swindles by which SO
many millions of acres have been
given away to those who already have
more than enough.
These are some of the duties which
lie before the people if they desire to
SEQ their government administered
with a decent respect for the Consti-
tuition of their fathers or with tolera-
BILE honesty in financial matters.
We have no test of orthodoxy, no
disabilities for, mol discrimination
against former political antagonists.
We can not and do not object to by
gone differences, provided the citizen
be truly and faithfully devoted to the
interests and institutions of the whole
country and all the inhabitants there
of.
Our object is not revolution, but
restoration ; not injury to our oppo-
nents, but an assertion of our own
rights and those of our ellow-citizens.
By order of the Democratic Exec
utive Committee.
WILLIAM A. WALLACE, Chm.