Clearfield Republican. [volume] (Clearfield, Pa.) 1851-1937, 1874-05-13
NloHr.
The Peril Of the United States.

Let us honestly admit tho truth, and
manfully apply the remedy The peril
Of our American life ia dishonesty,
This produces tho lack of confidence,
which is tho root Of panics. Slavery
involved us in civil war. Better IL
should survive &c perish hereafter in
corruptions The urn is less offensive
than tho putresccnce Of tho grave
Our very existence is at stake, Ameri-
can life presents an anomalous specta-
Gle. We arc socially pure and COM
mcrcially dopravcd. Men who are
upright in tho neighborhood and adj
mirablc in their homes will h6bitually
and knowingly and systematically do
wrong in thcir BUSINESS. Nay even
churches, to draw crowds, ront pews
and raise revenues, will resort not
only TO sensationalism in choir and
pulpit, butmakc earth blush and heaven
weep over tricks which arc degrading,
domoralizing and insulting to all
manliness and religion. Nor is tho
malady confined only to men in dis.
tinguishod position. 1t effects all
classes of our republic, the tainted
streams of the summit pcrcolatc the
entire mountain. Of all the sins of
humanity, bribery is perhaps tho
meancst. Most other crimes are pos
siblo to single transgressor. Here
there must be two parties TO the guilt,
tho man who gives and tho man who
takes. Both debascd There may
be daring in robbery, and courage in
murder, The peculiarity of bribery
is its cowardico 1t sneaLs, it cringes,
it hides, it, winds, it twists, it wrigglcs,
it sxulks. 1t is not lion, roaring and
rushing on its prey, but a serpent
lurking in the grass TO infuse its poi
son before crushing with its coils.
A man who abuses his Office, warps
his Judgment, and twists his conscience
for bribo, sells his soul by his act,
and ever af.er lives expecting q higher
bidder for himself and he is, like nitro
glyccrinc, dangerous to his purchaser.
Now it is n painful and Notifying fact
that nearly everything in our country
has, in somo way, directly, or indirectly,
been controlled by bribes. Mechanics,
oserseers, builders, contractors, archi-
tects have been bribed. Constablcs,
policemen, collectors, inspectors,
weighers, measurers, gaugcrs, post
masters have been bribcd. Judges,
iuries, legislators, governors, have been
bribed We have sometimes feared
that it would be difficult TO place q
stone or timber or lock or n screw
or nail in your house that has not
somewhere in its passage loft the stain
of bribe. 1t is doubtful whether the
food which supports our lives, or the
coffins which will convoy us to our
graves, can wholly escape contami.
nation. The consequence is disturbed
faith in each other, and sometimes a
distrust OF our country and humanity,
with fear like q shadow that on all
modern European and American soci-
cites is but the old doom OF ancient
Babylon and Rome Our faith alone
saves from despair That is sufficient,
but not here to be discussed. Certain
it is that panics and Che other evils we
have named are but cruptions of dis
case on the surface Of the body polite.
Our nation from our civil war has been
preparing for our commercial disasters.
The timbers of the edificc Of our public
credit had bccn decaying long before
the weakened structure was threat
ened with its crash. Many under
lying sands must be washed away to
make the mountain fall The Inter
national Reriew.