American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1872-12-21

essentially Democratic basis, the
Presidents late message ought Ger
tainly to satisfy the most saepticai'
W hen we come to sift that remafka-
/ BILE document, it will be found 10
consist of three principal divisions
the first treating of foreign rela-
tions, made mp, of course, by the
Secretary OF State; the second
comprising abstracts of the reports
of the various heads of departments,
furnished by the several secretaries;
and third, of recommendations as
to various schemes of improvement
or progress. The two first divisions
comprise a narrative Of what has
been done, while the last relates to
the future, and may be fairly re-
ga ded as embodying the Presiden-
tial policy and views.
What are these recommendations?
In the first place it is recommend
ed that Congress shall turn its at
tention to a vast system of internal
improvements calling for the ex-
penditure Of millions of money.
A canal to connect the waters OF
the Tennessee with the Savannah
and Ocmulgec rivers with slack wa
tel on the two latter; the extension
of the James river and Kanawha
and the Chesapeake and Ohio canals
to the Ohio; ship canal around
Niagara Falls, and an internal wa
ter communication from blaine to
the Gulf of Mexico. Under the plea
of military necessity, the entering
wedge having been made III the
case of the Pacific Railroad with all
its corruption, the public sense ap-
pears to have be come SO dull to the
violation of the Constitution in pro-
jecting such schemes, that now the
President proposes others on scale
of imperial grandeur, without scarce
ly protest or dissent. In the gen
eral grab for something, it seems
enough for the average mind to dis
cover that the imperial favor has
judiciously recommended schemes
in some one of which each section
is interested. 1t is gratifying to
see that Governor Walker, 'of Va,
has expressed his objection on the
true Democratic grounds, to the
improvements proposed in Virginia,
and recomme ends the sale Of State
stock in the Kanawha canal to tndi-
viduals, and Its completion as a
stock company without State or
Federal aid.
Next in order is his recommenda-
ton of the odiOus and unsOund sys-
TEN of subsidies to ocean mail steam
ers. The whole theory of bountles
and subsidies is one of fraud and
robbery, so far as it relates to the
tax payer, from whom the money
comes in the end, while as means
of building up commerce it is m;ser-
able craftsmanship, Like the hot
house theory of the protective tar
if, it is nothing more in the end
than mere personal favoritism and
subsidized monopoly. Yet five mill
lions per annum the President thinks
would be cheap investment as a
means of restoring the carrying
trade. The Democratic principle
is dead against all such schemes.
The next pet proposition is that
of postal telegraphy, one of the
most monstrous of all the later CEN
tralizing tendencies. 1t is bad
enough to have the Post-offic De
partment as great political ma
chine to control the people. When
to the vast power which it was
shown to posses during the late
campaign shall be added that of the
telegraph. with all its secrets. it is
easy to see how dangerous it would
be to the liberties of the country.
The next and last of this remark
BILE series of recommendations is that
which discloses his approval of a
national system of education, in
commencing the bill which has been
pending for several years.
In the earlier days of the Repub-
lie, any single one of these PROPOSE
tions would have been sufficient to
have divided the people into parties
at once, and the Democratic party
would have been opposed to every
one of them; and it should be OPP
posed to them today. Every man
who calls himself a Democrat, or
who knows what is the first essen
tial element of Democracy, should
be opposed to them; since it is a
proposition as true now and as
sound as it was fifty years ago, or at
the very birth Of the Constitution,
that every scheme which takes from
the power of State or individual
and adds to that of the General
Government, is wrong, and, there
fore, not Democratic.
Here are practical questions Of
the day These are no muSty issues