Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-08-01
The Real Significance of 1t.

Once upon time, as tradition reports,
there lived q worthy Israelite who was tor
mented by hankering after the forbidden
food. AT last, his curiosity and appetite got
the better of his religious principles no or
dered pork-chop for dinner. Absorbed in
the sinful, delightful repast, he did not notice
the approach of thunderstorm. Suddenly
loud clap set the windows rafting. Drop
ping his knife and fork in panic" Holy
Abraham" he exclaimed, "what fuss
about little piece Of pork !"
A good many honorable senators and rep
resentatives regard the storm Of popular in
dignation now blowing with very much the
same feeling. They are scared, but they are
also aggrieved. They 6ud it quito uncalled
for and out Of proportion to the exciting
cause. Reccollecting their many previous
visits to the public pork BARREL the much
bigger loads lugged away on those occasions,
the utter Indifference displayed by the people,
this hue-and-cry over the salary grab, actu.
ally seeming to grow louder from month to
month, puzzles quite as much as it alarms
them. They had not counted on it at all,
and they fluid it very unreasonable and alb
surd. "What a fuss about little piece OF
pork ~ says Gen. Butler in his famous post
age. stamp letter. "What a fuss about a
little piece Of pork ~ echoes Senator Car.
penter in his GAINESVILLE speech. In all tie
published apologies and defenses, we detect
this sense of injury, this accent of complaint
and remonstrance.
In itself the grab is very small matter
compared with previous Tobberies at which
the American public has indulgently winked,
it is the merest bagatele. If our law-mak-
ers had got the notion into their heads that
they could steal with IMMUNITY, that there
were no limits to the good nature Of the con-
stituent and taxpayer, pray whose fault was
it? Approaching the subject from this side,
we find their surprise aud remOnstrances en-.
tirely natural We agree with them that, il
the people were disposed to make fuss about
this sort of thing they ought to have made il
good while ago; that there is in this tardy
clamor an element of inconsistency caprice
unreason.
We will 90 step further. There is a
real danger that this clamor may be over.
done. This is not saying that the people can
be too angry with the unfaithful and dishon.
est public servants guilty. active in the con.
summation Of the theft, or too resolute in
their determination to punish them. But il
the storm spends itself upon this one offense
this one set Of offenders, and then dies away
it will have accomplished very little toward
the permanent cleansing and sweetening Of
the air. As soon as calm and sunshine re.
turn, we shall see the practical statesman
making hay as industriously as ever.
What the people want to clearly under.
stand is, that the grab is only an outward
and visible sign Of an inward and spiritual
disgrace a surface symptom Of disease
that is attacking all the vital functions Of the
body polite, that has already been allowed
to make dangerous Roadway, and that is sure
to terminate fatally unless its progress is il
some way arrested The grab is compare.
lively very small and trivial affair; the
diseased condition of politics, public senti
ment and legislative morality, which made il
possible, demands the most serious attention
as it may well excite the gravest anxiety, o.
every intelligent aud patriotic citizen. Thai
public servants should openly and directly
put their hands into the public treasury fol
the benefit of their own pockets, merely show
how tar we have gone on perilous road. II
is mile stone, and it is we'll the people
should be startled by it and should call q
halt in front of it, But it will await then
very little to demolish the milestone. The
important thing is to face about and get back
as soon as possible to the highway.-Spring
field Republican.