Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1873-05-22
Democratic Doctrine.


Gov. Ingersoll, of Connecticut, has
in his first official act shown a remark
able fitness for his place, by presenting
an Inaugural Message that finds hearty
commentator among citizens Of all
parties at the same time that it pro-
mulgates good Democratic principles.
1t is yet more notable, as showing an
inherent lack in the system of the Re
publican party, that even the essen
TALLY Democratic reforms urged by
Gov Ingersoll are praised and accept
ed, along with his non-political re-
concentrations, by his late opponents.
Thse doctrines arc by no means snug
gled into tho Message. That of hard
money is made to take the place of Il
discussion of the Legislative, nostrums
of usury and labor laws, to which it
most forcibly applies. Local applica-
tons touch only the surface, while, as
Gov. Ingersoll shows, the source Of
the evil lies deeper, beyond the reach
of individual States, in the mainten-
ance ofan inedeemable paper currency.
In the demonstration Of industry, the
fostering of speculation and the en-
enlargement of extravaganza, the
policy established and maintained by
the Republican party Of the nation is
justly responsible for the distress of
commerce which, in one State, seeks
relief by repeal Of usury laws, and
in another by their re-enactment, and
for the difficulties in which labor finds
itself involved through the huctuating
value of wages. 1t is a remarkable
evidence Of the growth Of Democratic
IDEAS, that Gov, Ingersolls views con-
corning the responsibility of the paper
money system are received by the
Republicans of Connecticut with hard,
Iy an attempt at refutation,
Equally as bold as this condemns
ton OF the ''calamitouS legacy" of an
irredeemable currency is Gov. Ingcr-
soils exposition Of the evils Of official
corruption and Federal usurpation,
which also is accepted as just by ill
parties. The growth Of this political
eXcrescence, through Municip Gov.
ernmens and State Legislatures, to its
elimination in exposures affecting the
whole civil service Of the nation, Con
gress and the Executive Departments,
is development fraught indeed with
grave pe'ls to the Republic. From
it comes the suspicion that attaches to
all official positions under the Govern
ment, that they have been prosttuted
20 private profit or tayoritisn; to
legislation. that it has been trafiickcd
and even to the Judiciary, that politi-
cal and venal purposes have instigated
its decisions. The violation Of consti-
tutional rights in Louissna is the d.
rect outgrowth of this decentralization
in government, equally distressing to
that popular moral sense ON which our
institutions must rest. The most that
the Republicans Of Connecticut can
reply to the brief but powerful state
ments of Gov. lngersoll is, that they
also are striving for purity in the Gov
eminent. Their State, fortunately,
has little cause for reproach IN con-
neotion with recent scandals, and the
voice Of the last election was an I'M
mistakable rebuke to the Administra-
ton and its sustaining majority in
Congress, The reception of Gov
Ingersoll's Message is an effect fur
Their confession; and with such plain
practical teaching and such an evident
growth Of liberal sentiment, we may
hope the best things from the State
that now, for the first time in some
years, listens to sound Democratic
doctrine from its chosen Executive
Boston Post.