The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1874-05-08
VOLUME 3.


Let MS honestly admit the truth. md
lmanfully apply tAae remedy The peril
in our Americsh i se ~ dishonesty This
produces the lnek OF confidence. which is
the root Of panics. slavery involved
us in the flames of civil war Better
it should have burned us to ashes than
we should survive to perish hereafter in
corruptions. The urn Is less offensive
than the putresence of the grave. Our
very existence is at stake. American
life presents an anomalous spectacle
We are socially pure and commercially
depraved. Men who are upright in their
homes will habitually and knowingly
and systematically do wrong in their
business. Nay! even churches, to draw
crowds, rent pews and raise revenues,
will resort to not only sensationalism in
choir and pulpit, but make earth blush
and heaven weep over tricks which are
degrading, demoraIizing and insulting
10 all manliness and religion. Nor is
the naIady confined only to men in dis
tinguished position. Itafects all class
es of our republic, the tainted streams
of the summit percolate the entire noun
tain 0tAIlthc sins of humanity, kriber,ass
is perhaps the meanest. Most other
crimes are. possible to single transgress-
or. Here there must be two parties to
It l.
man who takes. Both are debased.-
There may be daring in robbery, and
courage in murder The peculiarly of
bribery is cowardice. 1t sneaks, it Grim
ges, it hides, it winds, it twists, it wrig-
giles, tt skulls. 1t is not lion, roaring
and rushing on its prey, but serpent
lurking in the grass to infuse its poison
before crushing with its coils. A man
who abuses his Office, warps his judg
ment, and twists his conscience for a
bribe, sells his soul by his act, and ever
after lives expecting higher bidder for
himself; and he is, like nitro-glycerine,
dangerous to his purchaser. Now it is a
painful and notifying fact that nearly
everything in our country has, in some
way, directly or indirectly, been control
led by bribes. Mechanics, overseers,
builders, contractors, architects have
been bribed. Constables, policemen, col
lectors, inspectors, weighers, measurers,
gaugers, postmasters have been bribed.
Lawyers, doctors, chemists, analysists,
surgeons, witnesses have been Dribed.-
Judges, juries, Legislators, governors
have been bribed. We have sometimes
feared that it would be difficult to place
a stone or timber or lock or screw
or nail in your house that has not
somewhere in Its passage left the stain of
bribe. It is doubtful whether the food
which support our lives, or the coffin
which will convey us to our grave, can
wholly escape contamination. The con-
sequence is disturbed faith in each other,
and sometimes distrust of our country
and humanity, with fear like shad-
ow that on all modern European and
American societies 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 the other
evils we have named are but eruptions
of disease on the body polite. Our ma
tion from our civil war has been prepar-
ing for our recent commercial disasters.
The timbers of the edifce of our public
credit had been decaying long before the
weakened structure was threatened with
its crash. Many underlying sands must
be washed away to make the mountain
| fall.-TAe International Revic,c.