American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-09-06
Miscellany.
Is the Country Well Governed.

SENATOR MORTON thinks it is. II
makes the general statement that 9TH
Government in its various departments i
now administered more strictly in accord
:ance with law and with more system thai
ever before;'' that there are fewer defal
cations, less malfeasance in office an,
more fidelity to fficial duties than at an,
former period in the history of the Gov
ernment;' that "the public virtue, instead
of being diminished, has been strength
ened and increased;'' that "A Civil-servic,
reform has been adopted which has hat
The effect Ito divorce service in the de
partnents from political influence and the
current politics of the day. that 'tht
financial administration of the Republican
party has given to the country stability
and confidence, and, under its rule, bust
ness men count with confidence upon the
years to come and know what they may
reasonably look for" that 1.-The standard
of pNblic morals is higher this day in this
country than it has ever been before, -
that $50 far from the public morals hav-
ing been debauched and deteriorated dur
ing the past twelve years of Republican
rule, they have been greatly elevated and
improved;" that Congress is not more
corrupt than formerly but less so.''
Are these assertions true? If so, then
all complaints about inequitable govern
ment and favoritism, corruption, bribery
and fratsd ought to cease, and the country
allowed TO rest quietly in the hands of the
party that governed it with such uneXam-
ampled equity and success. Senator Nor
tons picture of public affairs is a delight
1ul one. Is it correct and faithful? If it
is why does the Senator take such pains
to prove it so, instead of leaving the fact
to prove itself? If the country is so pros
porous and contented why do we see and
bear so many signs of unrest and uneasi-
1less? We hear of bankruptcy, poverty,
official robberies. with the flight of rob-
Der Governors, and reputation at the
South; and in the Northwest we see
formidable popular commotion, embrac-
ing half million men, organizing itself
into secret societies, and in some cases.
threatening to dictate judicial decisions,
trample on chartered rights, and take up
sirms for the redress of grievances. We
hear all over one-half the land a furious
clamor against monopolies, the tariff
and favoritism in legislation. We see
the acts of Republican President
and a Republican Congress denounced by
Republicans and Republican journals;
we hear an act of the last Congress spoken
of as a ''steal," and members who partook
of its benefits called ''grabbers - we hear
from the press and the people of all par
ties such violent denunciation of Con
gressional fraud and venality as was
never heard in the country before; we
see Congressional Committees of investi-
CATION bringing to light frauds by which
the Government has been robbed of
scores of millions, and the authors of
them still permitted to sit in the Senate
and House unpunished; we see perjury
added to bribery in the National Legis-
lature; we see State Legislatures almost
universally sneered at as the purchasable
property of powerful moneyed corpora
lions, and Constitutional Conventions de-
vising all manner of Oaths and fnquisi-
tions to debar venal men from Legislative
seats. We hear it declared ON every side
that even a good law cannot be passed
without money, and almost any bad one
may be passed with money; and we hear
railroad companies and other powerful
class interests openly defending their
employment . of money in legisla-
ton, on the plea that they cannot
otherwise protect themselves from unjust
and invasive laws. Are all these multi
piled and undenied facts that good men
witness with shame and foreboding the
marks of that " higher standard of public
morals " and that Is greater fidelity TO pub
lie duties which Senator Morton tells us
of? If so, then We are TO reject the evil
dence ofour eyes and ears, and admit that
facts are to be interpreted by coniraries.
Senator Morton gives, as the result of
careful study of the political history of
the country for seventy years, the opinion
that public life and public morals are
purcr than they ever were before, even
under the Administrations of Washington,
Monroe, or John Quincy Adams. The In
diana Senator is the most robust deponent
in the land; but even he must have STAN
mered in making such statement at
time when three Federal Judges are
threatened with impeachment for infa-
NOUS and usurpative conduct; when there
are so many Members of Congress
charged with such felonies as bribery,
bigamy and perjury that the respective
Houses have not time to investigate the
cases; and when the governing party is
threatened with destruction by Republi-
cans themselves because of its corruptions,
and its tolerance of corruption Very re-
Gently Republican paper in this city,
understood to be very partial to Senator
Morton, admitted this prevalence of i'm
morality by declaring that a if an indie
pendent spirit of reform, openly declared
and backed up by acts wherever it may
be necessary, does not bring the Republi-
can party in any quarter up to the level of
its duty, nothing can save it. and nothing
ought 10 save it, from defeat by combi-
nation of independent citizens to secure
better government" The charge of i'm
morality against the governing party is
not a mere cry of its opponents; its own
adherents share TIE conviction that it has
become depraved; indeed, nearly ali the
Republican journals in the country have
debased their argument for a support of it
to the single point that it is not more cor
rupt than the Tammany Democracy, and
that there is, at present, no choice for the
people but the Tammany Democracy
and it.
Senator Morton furnishes evidence to
support our assertion that the Republican
party is incapable of selfreformation for
&, 10 ito