Eaton weekly Democrat. [volume] (Eaton, Ohio) 1866-1875, 1872-09-19
SELF-CONDEMNED.
" Out of their own Mouths are
They Adjudged Guilty"
Grant Indicted and Condemned by His
Own Party.
The Philadelphia Platform a Con.
fession of the Failure OF his
Administration.
From the Golden Age.

The severest commentary that can be
made on the failure of Grants first term Of
the Presidency is the platform on which he
stands for reelection. Every important
promise which that platform puts forth for
kthe future Is a confession of the Admins
tration's dereliction in the past. Each sue
cessive pledge made at Philadelphia turns
States evidence to convict tho very candi-
date in whose behalf 1T was made. Examine
some of the points.
1. Grants platform demands a reform OF
the civil service.
Why, then, has not his Administration
already given us this reformf The Presi-
don't has been in power three and half
| years-nearly one whole term. During this
| period he has always had working major
| ity in both houses of Congress at his daily
| command. Indeed sometimes this majority
| has exhibited toward him the subservfency
of lickspittles. They have been only too
prompt to do his bidding. Have they not
| made indecent haste to confirm his brothers
| in-law, his nephews, his uncles, his wife's
| relations, and all the host of his nepotistic
| appointmentsf Were they not quick to
| catch his wink and obey his beck for the re-
| moval of Charles Sumner from the Chair
manship of the Committee on Foreign Re-
| lationsS Did they not submissively bend
| their knees with the Presidents in COM
| mon and ignominious surrender to England?
| When has he failed of their votes for any
| purpose, good or badf Neverl Why then
does his party go to Philadelphia and
| convention demand civil service reform
Of whom do they demand it? Ofthemselves.
| What thoughtful citizen, therefore, can
| help asking, Why have they not already in
| augurated civil service reformf What ex-
| cuse can they give for having delayed ii?
How can they ever apologize for the crime
| of having thus far thwarted it? What will
| they say of their own orator, Gen. Butler,
for denouncing it2 Outof their own mouths
are they adjudged guilty. They are self
condemned.
II. Grants platform demands the aboli-
ton of the franking privilege.
Why, then, have his partisans in Con-
gress systematically voted against the aboli
tion of the franking privilege? Have they
not had the fairest of opportunities to ac-
complish this referm2 If they had been
in earnest to achieve this triumph, they
could have done it at any time within the
franking privilege ought to be abolished is
simply to indict the President and his
| friends for not having abolished it long
ago. Here again they are self-condemned.
III. Grants platform asserts State rights.
Why, then, has he systematically violated
State rights? Why have we had for three
years an unbroken series of intrusions by
the Federal Government into local affairs
Why, for instance, has it been the practice
of Mr.. Thomas Murphy and the New York
Custom House to give laws to the Syracuse
Convention? Why has the Federal Govern
| ment aided and abetted the alien and car
pet-bag governments in the Southern States,
the like of which for rottenness has 7leUeT
been matched in our history save by the Tam
many Ring2 Why has the Administration
conveniently thrown out the votes of three
or four, four or five, five or six counties in
some of these States at its sovereign pleasure
State rights, forsooth These have never
been so fagrantly violated as by Grant and
his party. To say now that these rights
should be maintained is only to say that
Al
| the party that thus pretends to maintain
them is the very party that has been sedu-
| lously destroying them. After three years
of this destruction the President and his
| partisans have now the effrontery to declare
themselves in favor of what they have an
initiated. Such cul7rits are self-con-
demned.
w. Grants platform asks for encourage
ment to ship-building.
Why, then, has his Administration done
nothing for American commerce except to
| cripple and repress it? Why are American
| merchants doing but thirty six per cent. of
| their own carrying trade-leaving the re-
naming sixty-four per cent. to fall as
precious prize to foreign flags? The Ad
ministration has had nearly four years in
| which to blot out this disgrace. Why is its
pitiful record concerning our maritime
| prospects reduced to a specious promise
| nothing to promote ship building during the
| last four years it will try to remedy this
neglect during the next term? The 2hila-
| delphia statement of the decay of our COM
| merce is the Administrations confession of
| its own misgovernment. The President and
| his re-nominationists are witness bearers
against their own delinquency. They are
| self-condemned.
v. Grants platform demands that Ameri-
can citizens in foreign lands shall be pro
tected in their just rights.
| Why, then, has he, in an unhappy num-
Der of signal and fagrant cases, suffered
American citizens abroad to be outraged
| without protection, and m ulcted without re-
dress? distinguished Union General ex-
| claimed with great indignation few days
| ago, The safest act which any foreign
Government can now commit is to hang an
| American Citizen" He was partly right.
| No. it is not enough that the President
| should promise in a campaign document
| that American citizens travelling in other
| count les are hereafter to be protected he
| must also give answer why they have not
| heretofore been protected. His platform
writers have here again innocently con-
| fessed themselves guilty. They are self
| condemned.
! vi. Grants's platform demands that SYM
| pathy should be extended to foreign nations
struggling for liberty.
| This is bid for the Fenian and Cuban
vote. But has the Administration, up
| to this time, ever shown any sympathy
| either with Fenians or Cubans? And
| if it is to show such sympathy in future
will it not prove itself guilty for not
having done SO in the past? Its own decla-
ration of duty in this respect is the plainest
possible proof that this duty Gf it he such)
| has been left undone. The President and
his party are once more eself-condemned.
| VII. Grants platform says that the pub
| lie lands should not be squandered.
Why then have his friends regularly aud
lavishly squandereI themP Let any reflect
| ing student of our country's condition con-
| suit the records of the Department of the
Interior, and scrutinize the enormous md
astounding table of recent land grants for
| railroad corporations! The Union and Cen
tral Pacific have had 35,OOO.O6O acres; the
Sioux City and Pacific, 5,SO0,O00; the Central
| q NJ l,