National Republican., 1873-12-31

the accounts f0r the year. ~ IL 70 DC nopeo
shas our patrons will give this matter their
attention. II will be o very great con-
veuience 10 all concerned.
O0N0BEss AND THE FUTURE
Congress will rcassemble on the first
Moddsy Of the new year-fve days from
to-day. Il will be recollectcd TINT that
august body adjourned over the holidays;
not In accordance with an old and time
Aonorcd custom-not for the mere purpose
Of personal enjoyment and pleasure. Our
honorable and patriotic members were ami
mated by tho highest and most disinter.
estod motives They desired 70 consult
THAR eonstituents-to feel the public pulse,
nd secertain what the country really
wanted In the way of legislation. Cynical
people, who remembered that the members
of Tho Forty third Congress had been living
for eight months among their constituents,
who I'D been reading the newspapers and
The proceedings ofmsss meetings, societies,
coavsntions, &C., could not exactly see
che necessity or propricty Of the adjourn.
mont for that purpose. In fact, they be-
tlsved that the pretence was humbug, q
shan. and did not hesitate to say so. How
ever all that may be. 1t Is to be hoped that
they will come back to us improved men
tally and monlly, with rich and varied
stores of information. acquired in the in
tervals of holiday pleasure and amuscments.
In all our history no legislative body ever
mot, with tho exception OF probably the
Ara Congress, which had so magnificent an
opportunity to serve q people and win
great and asting reputation. The nccsssi-
tiss Of the hour demand the exercise Of the
hisAest order Of statesmanship and ability.
Great and grave questions present them
selves upon every hand-lntricatc prob
lems calling for patient investigation and
wise solution. The country has come to q
new stage In its wondrous development
whom new methods are needed, when the
old nostrums are no longer applicable or
S6acacious. The United States Of 1874
are widely different from the United States
Of 1880. We have grown In population.
Increased In wealth. advanced In civiliza-
tioa. New States, as large as empires, have
come to us with the natural growth Of the
country. The political and social condition
Of millions Of our citizens Inns changed In
manner which has no parallel In history.
Divese interests have arisen among our
people, complications In social and poliii-
cal economy. which must be reconciled
and regulated, so as to blend all into one
harmonious whole. Let us look for mo-
ment at the situation In all the large cities
ths working classes are suffering as they
have not suffered since the panic Of 1857;
the workingmen, skilled mechanics, are on
strike, or preparing to strike, by the thou
sand and the ten thousand; the farmers OF
the West, for the first time, are organizing
In secret lodges for polltico-social purposes,
maintaining mcnacing silence and brooding
over real or imaginary grievances; the
finances arc In disorder; merchants look
anxiousiy into the new year, endeavoring to
eco through the gloom and darkness In which
n y shrouded. In addition to all we have
aaxry mutterings from the great centres OF
populalion, reminding us Of revolutionary
scenes In other countries, and to which, up
10 this, we have been happily strangers.
Psrsy ties are no longer as binding as they
wore Eve years ago; spirit Of unrest Is
abroad. which, at any moment, may sweep
the country like hurricane.
How will Congress meet all these ques-
tioass Has 1t within Ii the power to me-
liosate the condition Of affairsf Can !,
point the way out of the difficulties that
surround usf These queries are more
easily asked thnn answered. But 1t seems
10 us they might be answered In something
more effective than mere words; that some
plan might bc devised by which the great
railroad monopolies and corporations shall
ccase to prey upon the people. that shall
prevent the acquisition Of thousands and
Thousands of square miles Of territory by q
dozen or q score of persons who have tho
wit 70 bend. fairly or unfairly, Legislature
70 their purposes II seems to us that VIC
might begin to make m end Of chartered,
leg.lized robbery, and goodness knows we
have only too much Of 1t. If we could only
gain even this one point In the coming Con
gresa. Il would be triumph which would
do more to restore the confidence Of til,
people In their Legislators and In their party
than anything else that could be accom-
plished. The Republican party has hat
thirteen years of power. and Is to-day su
premc In the control of the country. In
every department there 10 Complete har
mony. II Is omnipotent In the Nationa
Legislature, and In the great majority o
the State Legislatures. There is no organ
lied opposition 10 II anywhere. The rccort
Of It's achievements Is the grandcst and mos
magnificent which q party ever made.
saved nation. emancipeted people, an
gave TO the world an example Of mercy am
Justice and honor and integrity which tn
world never saw before. 1t remains for II
leaders o.day to say whether that gloriou
work shall 60 on, or whether the volum
shall be closed forever. The grave que
tlons that present themselves before
now are not more difficult than those whic
confronted 1t in the very beginning Of Il
career II II shall address itself to thcr
with the same purity of purpose and inter
tion, the same patriotism and devotion I
the best interests Of the country. the year
Of Its power and Its usefulness will hav
ouly, as It were. begun. Because II Ia
accomplished great things In the past, gre'
things are expected and demanded of 1t no.
and In the future. The leaders should SC
10 Il thai tho expectation does not prove
disappointment and dclusion.
STATBs RIGHTS AND OHEA
TON