The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1873-10-09
Speech of Senator Morton.

Speech Of Senator Morton.
On the 18th of September, Senator
MORTON, of Indiana, opened the cam
paign in Ohio, with a tery able speech, at
DAYTON We make brief extract from
that portion of it referring especially to
National affairs:
GOVERNMENT FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT.
The Government has never been better
conducted; it has never worked
better than it works this day. And when
you take into consideration how vastly il
has extended, how much larger the col
lections and disbursements are than they
were some years ago, 1 believe there is
less malfeasance in office; | believe there
are fewer defalcations than in any former
period in the history of this Government.
And now, as further answer to the
general scandal, and general charges of
corruption upon Republican officials,
want to read another statement. l have
here an official statement from the Secre-
tary of the Treasury, Mr.. Richardson; ii
is over his own signature, and am auth
orized to promulgate it; it is made up
from official data. 1t is a general state
ment, but at the same time, it is an an
swer to all the speeches that Senators
Thurman and Allen can make.
Total amount of Internal Revenue
collections to June 80, 1873 - $t,S53.9l $50 30
Total defalcation same PERIOD. 2,453,634 90
Which is thirteen one thousandths of the
whole amount collected since the Internal
Revenue was established, in 1862, up to
the list Of July, 1878.
Nov it gets better and better The per
cent. OF defalcation under Grants admin
istration is less than three-thousandths,
collections q
And the defaIcation only .--....... 191, 159 IA
The amount of loss by defalcation in
the collection of internal revenue during
General Grants administration being less
than three one-thousandths of the whole
amount. Do you believe this Government
was ever administered better than that?
This upsets huge mountains of lies APP
plause and laughter. II disposes of dense
clouds of calumny and SANDER, for it is
an official statement made by the chiefof-
ficer of the Treasury, for which he holds
himself responsible. Applause.
But | have not yet quite done. During
the same period the total amount of Gus
toms collected, duties upon foreign mer-
chandise to June 80, 1878, was S1,S16,-
122,0S6.31: total defalcations, 1924, 063.2O,
which is only seventeen ten-thousandths
of the whole amount. That requires no
commentary at all.
OF the internal revenue taxes, by the
act of July IA, 1870, S55O0O0OO were
struck off; by the act of June 6. 1872, $22,-
651 900 were stricken off; of the customs
duty upon foreign imports by the act of
July IA, 1870, $29,526,4 40 were stricken
off, and by the act of June 6, 1872 $780,
172,761, making S135,35O,1 III of taxes
which have been abolished by Congress
since Grants Inauguration on the 4th of
March, 1862
POLICY OF THE REPUBLICAN PARTY.
want to refer to the policy of the Re
publican party. The policy of this party
is to expose and punish its own rascals,
instead of covering up the delinquency Of
men in office; it is the policy OF the Re
publican party, and of this Administration,
beyond any that has gone before it, to eX-
pose them. drag them to punishment and
eXpel them from power. There is no con-
cealment about it. Absolute publicity is
our policy. Every morning you can take
up the newspapers and see the account of
the crimes that have been committed. If
there has been defalcation, if any officer
of the Government has come short, you
will see an account of it. Who exposes
it? Who brings it to light? The Repub-
Iican administration. This is the way to
keep party in power. The old Demo
cratic party never understood that, my
friends. Laughter Weknow that their
policy was to conceal and cover up their
rascalities, and hide them as long as they
could. The Republican party has adopted
the opposite-the extreme policy. Why
you saw the other day an account of the
defalcation at Springfield, Illinois, of a
Republican Collector for a few thousand
dollars. He was at once exposed; orders
were sent from Washington for his arrest,
and reward offered for his capture.
T come not here tO-nipbt offer van
anything very new. The Government is
going on well. and we have no new policy
to propose. We want 10 make reforms
from day to day. The work of reform
should be daily work; it is not to be
undertaken modically-carry it on
little while and then drop it. That party,
to be worthy of the confidence of the peo-
pie of this country, should be areforming
party continually. New reforms are pre-.
sented; new methods are being shown;
improvements can be adopted in the car
rying on of this Government from week
to week and from month to month, just as
any good business man can constantly
make some improvement in the mode of
carrying on his business.
So with regard to this Government.
Things are going on well, but we want
them to go on better and we shall try to
improve it from day to day. What you
want my friends, is stability. l appeal
to the business men of Ohio; you have
confidence in this Administration l
know you have. You arc fourishing IN
der it, and doing better than you have
ever done before. You do not want any
sudden changes. We want no particular
tampering with the currency. We ex-
pect to get back to specie payment by
and-by, but more by the operation of nat
ural causes than by legislation. We must
get there by -and-by, but we must get there
without a jar to any class of men; with
out increasing your debt, or increasing
the difficulty of paying it. We expect to
make our currency good. We have now
the best currency this country ever had,
and believe a better currency than any
country has before had; but we shall
make it still better.
We shall improve the tariff from time
to time, rs changes are necessary, as
changes ave suggested and become desira-
BILE There is nothing we can say we shall
not change except the general system.