Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1874-06-13


of Congress are to be elected this fall,
there is some little interest manifesting it.
self in this district, and wherever there is
an opponent to our present Representa-
tive. he seems to be actuaied by the idea
that he must be an active and early one,
to make his little feint and fnessing
available Though we hear something
of these maneuverings, they are too intan-
gible and timid to command attention. 1t
is pleasant to meet with such tributes to
the worth and ability of our Representa-
tive, from without the district, which is
copied below from recent numberof the
Cleveland Leader:
GEN Garfield at HOmes
The rem orseless election every second
year for representatives in Congress, su b.
| jects our best worked public men 20 an
unscrupulous fire in the rear as well as
the drudgery of public service in front.
| They are, so to speak, throwingup fortiti-
| cations for the nation at Washington while
liable to be picked of by bushwhackers
in their consistency. Something of the
sort might appear to be the case Win
| General James A. Garfield five were to
pay any attention TO few obscure aepl-
| rants for his seat in the Trumbuli dlstrlct'
Noise Is cheap. Clamor ana lmputa-
ton are almost as cheap. But our stuT1y
| and sensible people on the western NE
serve are not disposed to lose IN tne nlg1-
| ost national Dosition q man like Garfield,
whose voice is protential in the distrbu
ton Of two hundred millions of revenue
| every wear in order to accommodate
! some aspirant, good enough, perhaps, in
| bis-way, who would Immediately be con-
signed to the private station of back
seat We hold for Ohio, and the old and
central part of the West the third posi-
ton, if not The second, in the national
| couDsels. 1t has been fairly attained by
a man of learning, devotion, modesty, and
character, bred amongst us, sent 10 the
war amongst our young men, appreciated
and complimented by his seniors there,
and put into Congress during the conflict
l where he has been useful and prominent
ever since, until he occupies at the pres
| ent moment at once more laboriOus and
powerful point of vantage. He obtained
| it without intrigue, for he is no politician;
and there, perhaps, lies half the misun-
derstanding. He has keptit by merit and
| saved the country during the present year
of Congress thirty millions of dollars as
we shall presently show. He is as
poor as ever without equipage, without
horse, begrudged even cheap resi-
dence in the capital city, and with ad-
Yantages for wealth enjoyed by no man
in the country he is obliged in the recess
| of Congress to write briefs and pursue the
! practice of the law for livelihood. Even
in this the contemplate tactics of men,
coVetous of his place is evinced, and they
| would have US believe that for five thou
| sand dollars year this high minded gen..
tleman who distributes two hundred mil
| lions, must abandon his profession and his
family and go hob-uObling around bis dis
| trict like mendicant, and solicitous for
| reelection. Not in this way is Mr.. Dawes
who raises the revenue which Garfield
appropriates for the public expenses,
treated in the Berkshire District of Mas
| sacbusetts. The constituency is proud of
It's representative in the national eminence
he has earned and pays no heed to the
boyish aspirations of people like those
who have been fretting for years and say
ing; Garfield ought to give another
man cha nee" The State of Ohio, the
Western Reserve and the nation canhot
afford to lose all that Garfield has learned
X
| Just such who pulled down Henry Clay
| and Thomas II. Benton TO satisfy the pres
sure ofyoung politicians restive for hon
ors, and in the case of Gen. GARFIELD it is
only too apparent that the pressure be-
I hind is aimed at drawing his salary in
| stead of accomplishing better work. Five
| thousand dollars year seems large sum
to two or three people between Warren
and Ashtabula, but to the common people
and the country it is very little sum
contrasted with a cutting down of ex-
penses to the amount of thirty millions in
one year.
Last December, when Congress met,
there was a deficit in the Treasury of
eleven millions ofdollars, due to the re-
duction of taxes by the act of 1870 and
1872 and to the diminution of the reYe-
nue. by the effects of the panic of last
fall. The deficit and the alarming state
of the country and the exchequer brought
from the Ways and Means Committee a
report which Mr.. Dawes imposed upon
the country by that gloomy speech, which.
almost made it appear that our interest
would not be met, if indeed. we could pay
running expenses. He said that we must
either increase taxation, negotiate a tenn
porary loan, or reduce expenses.
To borrow money seemed frightful to
taxNthe people more in time of peace
deemed indefensible. 1t was therefore re-
solved to retrench, and as the House orig
mates all revenue bills, there was super
added TO the usual hard work of the Ap-
preparation Committee the work of revIs |
ing and recasting the whole plan of pub
lie expenditures in order to make the de.
duction equitable and provident. The !
chairman and the Appropriation Commit !
tee has qualities of this kind of compre-
hensiVe study which have given him par
liamentary reputation at home 6nd |
abroad. The complicated machinery of |
the government he understood by long |
conversance and knew where to lay the |
pruning knife and where TO spare func- |
ton part. He prepared budgetlike that |
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer |
in England presents to Parliament; COM |
plete, perspicuous and ineligible, and |
drew down the scale of the service from
a war TO stringency basis, after postpon-
ing matters not wise to abolish altogether,
and meantime standing guard against |
jobs and schemes of all descriptions
whatever. The lobby has never had
more gloomy winter in Washington
With resolution equal to his sagaeity and
discrimination, General Garfield stood at
this work, kept the House up to their
part, and was followed by Congress with
confidence, until Mr.. Dawes last Tuesday
bore involuntary testimony:
"The committee has felt the benefit of |
an earnest efficient and successful effort
upon the part of the Committee on Ap- |
preparations to cut down current expen-
ditures to the lowest possible mark.
"The result has been that although |
when we came together in December /
there was a deficit in the Treasury of |
$11 1.000,0 900, that deficit has been steadily |
growing less and less, until az the end Of |
last month-as l had occasion to say to
the House not long ago-this deficit was |
within about 100000 of being entirely |
wiped out. believe am auIhorzed to
state that at the close of this month it |
will be more than extinguished so that |
the current receipts will not only equal i
the current expenditures but will little
more than do So At the end of next |
month, or at the end of the fiscal year,
there will be some considerable accumu-
latton toward the sinking fund
Under these circumstances the Com
mittee of Ways and Means came before
the House to-day with much more cheer
ful heart than at the beginning of this
session they had supposed they would be
able to do. They are able TO state 10 the
House that without any increase Of taxa