The democrat. [volume] (Weston, W. Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-05-01
WORDS OF WARNING.
Democratic Congressional
Address.
TO TIE AMERICAN PEOPLE.
CAPITALIZATION AND DrsPOrIsM.
WASHINGTON. Arril 90. 1s1,

have just issued the following addrers.
To the People Of The United States:
Our presence and official duties al Wash
ington have enabled us TO become fully &c
quainted with the actions and. designs OF
those who control the Radical party, and We
feel called upon to utter afew word, OF WARN
ing against the alarming strides they have
made towards the
GENERALIZATION OF POWER IL IHE HANDS OF
CONGRESS
and the Executive. The time and attention
of Radical leaders have been almost wholly
directed to derising such legislation as will
in their view best preserve their ascendancy,
and no regard for the restraints imposed by
the Constitution has checked their reckless
and desperate career. The President Of the
United States has been formally announced
as a candidate for reelection. The declara-
tons of his selfish supporters have betn
ECHOED BY A SUBSIDIZED PRESS.
and the discipline Of party has already made
adhesion TO his personal fortunes the supreme
test ofpolitical fealty. The partizan legisla-
ton TO which We refer was decreed and
shapedin secret caucus, where the EXTREMIST
counsels have always dominated, and " S
adopted by a subservient majority, ifnotwith
intent, certainly with the effect TO place in
the hand of the President the power 10
COMMAND his OWN RESoNISArIo
and TO employ the army, navy and militia nj
his sole discretion, as the means of subserv-
ing his personal ambition.
When the sad experience Of the last two
years, SO disappointing 10 the people aud 10
the generous confidence of the country, is
considered in connection with the violent Ut
terances and rash purposes Of those who con-
troll the Presidents policy, it is not surprising
that the gravest apprebeDsions for the future
peace of the nation ishould be entertained.
At time
wHRS LABOR is DEPRESSED,
and every material interest is palsicd By op-
pressive taxation, pablo offices haze been
multiplied beyond all preccdsn. TO serve as
instruments in the perpetuaiion of power.
Partnership is the only test applied TO the
distribution Of this vast patronage. Hon
esty, fitness and moral worth, are openly dis
carded in favor of trucking submission and
dishonorable compliance. Hence
ENORMOUS DEFALcATIoSs AND WIDESPREAD
CORRUPTION
have followed rs the actual consequences Of
this pernicious system.
By the official report OF the Secretary of
the Treasury, it appears that after the dedus-
ton Of all proper credits, many millions of
dollars remain due from ex-Collectors Of in
ternal Revenue, and no proper diligence haa
ever been used to collect this. Reforms in
the revenue and fiscal system, which all ex-
perience demonstrates TO be necessary TO the
frugal administration of the government, as
well as measure Of relief 10 an oyerburdencd
people, have been persistently postponed or
vilfuIly neglected. Congress now adjourns
without even having attempted TO reduce
taxation, or 10 repeal the glazing impositons
by which
INDUSTRY is CRUSHED AND IMPOVERISHED.
The Treasury is OVERLOOKING, and an excess
of eighty nillisns Of revenues admitted and
yet instead ofsomemeasnre for present relief,
a barren and delusive resolution is passed by
the Senate to consider the tariff and excise
systems hereafter, MS If the history Of broken
pledges and pretended remedies furnished any
better assurance for future legislation than
experience has done in the past.
Ship building and the carrying trade, once
a source of national pride and prosperity, now
anEuishng under crushing load oftaxation,
and nearly every other business interest q
STRUGGLING WITHOUT PROFIT,
to maintain itself. Our agriculturalists, while
paying heavy taxes on all they consume,
either TO the government or monopolists, find
prices 70, thoir own products SO reduced, that
honestlabor is denied its Just reward, and in
du,try is Frustrated by invidious discrimnE-
ton.
Nearly two hundred million acres public
lands, which should have been reserved for
the benefit of the people, have been voted away
as grants to corporations, -reglecting our
soldiers and enrichiug handful Of greedy
spectators and lobbyists, who are thereby
enabled TO exercise the most dangerous and
corrupting influence over State and Federal
legislation. 1.-THE career Of these conspira-
tors be not checked
THE DOWNFALL oE FREE GOVERNMENT
is inevitable, and with il the elevation of a
military dictator on the ruins OF the Republic.
Under the pretenco ofpassing laws to enforce
the Fourteenth amendment and for other
purposes Congress has conferred the most
dsspotic powers up,n the Executive, and pro-
vided an official machinery by which sheliS~
critics of the people are menaced and the sacred
right of local selfgovernment in State ig-
nored, If moi tyrannically overthrown. Mod
eled upon the sedi.ion laws, so odious in his
tory, Il is at variance with all the saue,iied
theories ofour institutions, and the construc-
ton given by these Radical Interpreters TO
the Fourteenth amendments, TO use the Ian
guagc of an eminent Senator, (Nr Trum-
bull, of Illinois, the
ASSlHILGTloS or STATES.