American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-11-22
A Fraud and a Failure.

What has Mr. Grants Administration
done for the country to entitle it to our
gratitude or our respect? Where are the
conspicuous monuments of great deeds,
either at home or abroad? Where are the
evidences of its comprehensiveness, of its
sagacity, of its power?
Are these evidences of its success to be
found in its management of the finances
To-day, there IS great, a pervading, and
a deadly paralysis upon our business. The
resources of the country are boundless,
and yet our workshops are idle. There is
starvation in the midst of plenty that is
absolutely without limit. The banks are
struggling with vast difficulties, and dis
trust pervades every department of COM
h1erce. We are people dying with thirst
in the very midst of cool, fresh water, so
vas in its dimensions that it loses itself
in tn e horizon. We are starving while all
about us are the materials of a feast suffi-
ciently plenteous to supply the wants of a
world Our currency is depreciated; our
business men are alarmed; our financiers
at the heal of affairs are weak, vacillating
and indecis i've Our bonds are not nego-
table in foreign markets; and with
country behind it, whose wealth is with
out limit, the Administration is unable to
sell our securities, or even to stop the in
crease of the public debt.
Are the evidences of the success of this
Administration to be found in the high
character, the uncomfortable integrity,
the efficiency, of its employees: There
never was an era in the history of our
government when there existed one half
the corruption and lack of ability char
acteristic Of tie Presidency of u S. Grant
ception. The Caseys, Harpers, Leets,
Stockings, and the like, are the repre-
sentative agents of the Administration
The jay Cookies and Cleweses are the
financial symbols of its value. Nepotism
and corruption are found hand in hand,
from the blackmal lers of the custom
houses to the petty thieves in the post
offices. Congressman nave voted them,
selves back pay, and forward pay, and
Grant himself has been the foremost
figure in this raid on the treasure of the
people. The scandalous operations of the
Credit-MObilier organic ations have in
cluded the purchase of mon who are high
in the counsels and the con fidence of the
Federal head while the CHI ief Executive
has not hesitated to accept rich gifts, to
engage in jobs, like that of Sa.u Domingo,
and to lend his official powers to The
furtherance of discreditable gambling
movements in Wall street.
Is it in the wise craftsmanship of this
Administration that we find eviden ces of
its worth? The South is not yet pac flied.
Indeed every effort has been made toward
irritation instead of pacification, and the
whole South is manipulated solely with
reference to future elections. The rich
public domain has fallen into the hands
of few OvergrOwn corporations. In
every direction, financial, commercial
and landed monopolies have sprung into
existence, and have been fOstered by the
Administration, until they constitute an
oppressive oligarchy, which rules the
country Tariffs have been doubled and
ftyIa al a = forced
pay four or five times as much for an arti-
Gle as it would were it permitted to buy
where it pleases in the markets of the
world.
Is it to our foreign policy that we must
look for vindicaiOn of the ability of MIR.
Grant? If so, where shall we find what
is wanted? We were over-reached at
Geneva, we have been snubbed by Can
ada, persistentiy insulted by Mexico, dis
graced at Vienna, and outraged through
the murder and Imprisonment of our citi-
Zens by Cuba. There is not u capital in
Europe where our representatives have
risen above mediOcrity, and there are a
dozen where they have sunk to the level
of vulgar parvenues, or that OF checaLters
d'industrie. From Manitoba to Mexico,
and from the Baltic Sea to the Mediterra,-
mean, we look in vain for single evil
dence of an exhibition of value on the
part of any of the men who represent
these United States.
The whole course of this Administra-
ton is stupendous failure, if it be not a
stupendous crime. Under its manage
ment, we have advanced in neither dig
nifty, power, nor wealth. We have not
solved the Indian problem. We have no |
navy to compete with even feeble power |
like Spain. We are behind the world in |
ornaments. The South is driven by Il
most scandalous and persistent system of
outrage to the very verge of another re
bellion. Our Congressman devote their
energies to voting away the public lands,
to coddling few manufacturing monop-
olies with tariffs, aud to voting additional
salaries into pockets already plethoric
with the dividends of Credit NJ obilier
swindles. The head of the Government
is no statesman. He is not even a gen
tleman. He is simply drunken tanner,
who accepts presents, and whose knowl-
edge of things is limited to the demands
of relatives and the good points of IA
trotting horse or a ull-dog; while our
financial leaders have never shown suffi-
cient ability to successfully control the
finances of a cross road bank.
And this is the kind of an Administration
that has control over this mighty country.
II is an Administration that is written all
over with the terms: IL Failure, and Il
Fraud.-Chicago Times.