Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1872-01-22
REPUBLICAN PROMISES AND PER.
FORMANCES


administration, showing very fairly wha
!, it promised aud what it has performed
4 The Journal says
The republican National committee in
calling the National convention of 1872
: very properly remind the people that al
: the promises of the National convention
of 1868 have been fulfilled. They might
have put the case still stronger. They
might have said with perfect truth that the
performance has even transcribed the
promise. High as the pledges were, the
fulfillment has passed their utmost bounds.
Tho people trusted the republican party
upon the public declaration Of what il
would do. The republican party has re-
sponded to that trust by doing far more
than it declared it would
We do not dwell specially upon the
great International treaty which settles the
Alabama controversy-though the party
would scarcely have ventured four years
ago to promise that it would secure the
assent of Great Britain to treaty which
fully recognizes our principles Of law and
provides an equitable method of their APP
plicaton. We do not refer to the wise,
humane and economical policy of peace
with the Indians-though that is Il gain
beyond both the promise and the practice
of previous years. We do not allude to
the Inauguration of the experiment of
civil service reform-though in the nobili-
ty of its object and, we trust, in the bene-
| fetal fruits of its practical working, that
is beyond the dream of four years ago.
Nor do we dwell upon the assurance of
amncsty-for amnesty was contemplated;
or upon the reform of taXation-for re-
form of taxation was among the pledges;
or upon the full completion of recon-
struction-for the completion of recon-
struction was promised.
These acts alone would be sufficient to
distinguish a rule Of four years. But we
dismiss them with only a passing allusion
to refer to some cases where the perform
ance has surpassed the promise. The
first is the reduction of the debt. We
pledged ourselves to meet its obligations.
But what Republican would have been so
rash as to promise that three hundred mil
lions should be paid in three years? That
is the recorded resultant it is not an
achievement beyond the requirements of
our pledge? We promised to pay the
bonds according to.the letter and spirit of
the law. Have we not done it so success
fully that the greenback heresy and repu-
diation theories, so rife four years ago.
are now practically eNtinguished and
scarcely mentioned? We pledged our
selves to course which would improve
the public credit. Have we not more than
fulfilled it with policy which has raised
our credit measured by the advance in our
securities, nearly or quite twenty-five per
cent. and which leads the way to refund
ing the whole debt9 We pledged our
selves to retrenchment and economy.
Have We not overmatched the expecta-
tons of the country by frugality which
has paid three hundred millions of debt
out of surplus revenues, which at the same
time has reduced taxation to the amount
in the aggregate of eighty millions, and
which is now about to offer another re-
duction of fifty millions or more?
No candid mind can reflect upon our
Situation in 1868, upon what was then the
common forecast of the future, and upon
what has since been accomplished with
out admitting that the Republican party
has more than fulfilled the pledges with
which it entered upon the present Admin
istration. 1t is not the work of the Ex-
ecutive alone. Its credit is shared by
Congress. And behind both stands the
honest and faithful mass of the party
prompting each to its best endeavor This
work grows out of the character and ten
dency of the party, which exacts much
from its representatives and impels them
constantly to fresh achievements. The
magnitude of the results is perhaps best
measured by the course of the Democratic
party. No one can forget how revolu-
tionary its attitude was in 1868. II not
only proposed to overturn reconstruction,
but threatened the reputation of the debt
by its payment in paper and the destruc-
ton of the public credit by the wanton
violation of the public faith. These cries
would again be revived if the Democratic
party had serious prospect of power.
But so signal has been the success of Re-
publican policy that they have now almost
entirely died away.
The review of this period shows, first,
that the Republican party can be trusted
to fulfill all its avowed pledges, and sec
ond, that it can be trusted to meet every
new emergency and demand as they arise.
And what better title could it present to
the renewed confidence of the people,"
END or THE OUISANA FIGHT TIE
RIVAL LEADERS,.