Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-08-24

The Senator then discussed civil service |
reform. He said: President Grant had
reform in this direction,
and had, under the act of Congress, ap
pointed Commissioners to examine the |
subject and report to him. Two of these
gentlemen were prominent editors, who
had written voluminously in favor of re-
form, and when they were put upon the
and asked to devise some,
thing practicable, they met with Difficult
ties at the very threshold, even ccnstitu.
tional difficulties. He hoped they would
present something practicable to Con-
gress Our civil service has many imper-
fections; many which arise out of the i'm
perfections of human nature. 1t had been
sugge sted that government clerks and
We want no life tenures in this country.
Ten thousand clerks and officials at Wash
ington, that being about the number
there holding office, for life, would consti-
tute an aristocracy sufficient to revolution
ize the government in twenty-five years.
He also referred to the suggested plan
to give clerks and suboTdinates term OF
eight or ten years, and removal only for
crime or incapacity. That might be good,
but he was not sure. He did not know,
however, that had such a law been in force
when the rebellion broke out the govern
ment would have been hurt, for majority
of the employees at Washington were in
sympathy with the rebellion, and if they
could not have been removed the govern
ment could not have been carried on. He
believed our civil service, with all its i'm
perfections, taken as a whole, was the best
in the world. He would not exchange it
for any European system. They are not
-. \ - A hn oFsOn Iyf,n n
said, 81 belong to the great Republican
reform party. We want to make every
reform In that branch that we can, and
we will do it; and allow me to say, in JUS
tice to General Grant, that he appears to
be the first man that has taken practical
step in that direction. Of course | don't
refer to bills that have been offered in
Congress, because there have been num-
Der of them; but / want to say to our
Democratic friends, who now appear to be
very much in favor of civil service reform
in their arguments before the people, that
during the early period that this party was
in power, and when the civil service was
carried on in much inferior manner to
what it is now, such suggestion as that of
civil service reform was never made. If
reform in the civil service does come, it
has to come through the Republican
party
He then discussed questions of tariff re-
form and taxation at considerable length,
but presented little beyond his well-known
views on these subjects.
Speaking of the labor reform question,
the Senator said one of the fundamental
IDEAS of the Republican party is the dig
upon the idea that labor should be free
lon.ado1 1oha- nd hot
reason why we were for tearing slavery
up by the roots. He drew attention to
the prosperity of Missouri under free
labor, saying the books of the State Audi
tor showed that, not outstanding the mis-
fortune of the war that had to be overcome,
Missouri has, since 1865, nearly doubled
the value of her taxable property. Her
population has been vastly swelied, and
sue has never been SO prosperous before
and this took place under a Republican
administration. Labor should not only
be honorable and dignifed, but should be
paid in good money No class of men are
so robbed and plundered by depreciating
| and fluctuating currency as the laboring
men. A merchant may hoard up his mer-
chandise for high prices, and a land owner
can hold his land for higher value; but
you cannot hoard up labor for rise in
prices. When there came fall, labor is
| the first to feel it, but when there is eX-
pansion, labor is the last thing to feel it.
Labor should also be educational, and the
children of laboring men in this respect
placed on an equal footing with those OF
the rich men. The republican party is in
favor of advocating everything that pos
sesses the spirit of the free school system
of this land, while the body of the Dem
ocratic party are not not now in favor OF
free schools; yet SO far as know, all the
enemies of free schools are in the Democrat.
ic party. Ponder that well, and I tell you
that when the assault upon free schools
comes-and come it will some time-that
the Democratic party, if then in existence,
will lead that assault.
He discussed questions of tariff and free
trade at considerable length, announcing
himself in favor of every reform, but de-
string incidental protection to our home
| manufactures, and taking generally the
same ground that he has occupied in
| speeches in the Senate in regard to taxa.
ton. He said Republican Congress, at
| the session before the last, repealed $751;.
O00, 900 OF internal tax, and about S25, ,00O,
| 00O of tariff. Now our Democratic friends
are always clamoring about taxation; but
when they came to the passage of that
| bill which relieved the nation of eighty
| five millions at one blow, believe it did
not receive a single Democratic vote
| They are always in favor of relieving the
taxes on articles that are not included il
the bill. They are in favor of the othel
articles; and when we put the other ar
ticles in the bill, then they are in favor O
the other articles, and they never can bs
| got to the point where they vote for the
reduction of taxes. He predicted that the
next session of Congress could further
reduce taxation from $40,000000 to $50,
100000.
| Speaking of the recent riot in New
| York, he said the leading Democratic pa
pers of that city justified Mayor Halls
order prohibiting the Orange procession
and such was the leaning of the Demo
cratic party.
| He sketched the circumstances which
brought the Ku-Klux bill into existence
and defended the bill in strong terms, say
ing it is one of the best measures that has
ever passed Congress. The moral effect
of it has already been wonderful. The
mere passage of that bill has already
saved hundreds Of lives, and thousands O.
men from torture and punishment. 1t il
dangerous only to marauders, robbers
and that class of Democratic partisans
who have been hoping to carry ali the
| Southern States for the Democratic ticket
by means of this very Ku-Klux organi
zation.
He had very little faith in the new
Democratic departure. He did not believe
the party could scarcely change opinion il
SO short time. There is not one man il
a thousand among the Democrats in tn,
Southern States that accepts the amend
| rnnnfa fTEQrQ 10 NOT q II, fiftxy nj
the Democrats in the Northern State
that accepts the amendments. They can
not come into power while the amend
ments or reconstruction are in the issue
They cannot carry the Northern States
They say, therefore, that they must TAX
such course as they may by which the,
can get into power. What will the Dem
ocratic party do when it comes init
power? Suppose they get the Presiden
and control of the government; the Soutl
will dictate the policy just as they did be
fore the war, and now the question come
If the South gets control of the party
| how +, tha,,