The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-05-07
A Bankrupt Party.
RY GEORGE s MERRIAM.

or became minorities that i'll MdSsachu-
Setts the party's candidate for Governor
lost fifty thousand votes in comparison
with the year before; that New Hamp-
shire and Connecticut have this year been
carried by the 0ppOsitiOn-tliese facts III
dicate, in that language which the ordi-
nary politician best understands; that the
party sascendancy in the nation Is serious
ly threatened But back of these facts lie
others, in reality of deeper significance,
and pointing to broader rcOnclusion-that
the Republican party is fast approaching
Its final end. Its external defects are but
the fruits and tokens Of radical Internal
trOuble-the loss of all that constitutes
healthy party vitality. 1t is like man
doing business on credit, and wholly with
out capital there is no reserve from which
to recurerate, and disasters are the signal
Of utter downfall.
The Republican party has identified it
tself with but one great political idea. That
idea has been urged VIGOROUSLY through
successive PHASES, has become inWrought
| with the organic life of the nation, and
with its disappearance from the field of
dispute passed away the real raiSOn d'etre
of the party. ltbegan in opposition to the
extension Ofslavery in the territories; win
ming on this issue in the election of 1860.
| the South reyolted, and the party became
| the especial champion Of national unity {;
| the war led to emancipation; Which was
carried to completion by the Republicans;
with the end of the war came recOnstruc-
ton. which was wrought by the Republi
cans under the guiding purpose of secrIr-
| ing the freedmen i'll their rights. Under
these four rphases-OppOsitiOn to slavery in
! the territories, the war for the Union,
emancipation, recOnStructiOn-the Repub-
| lican party successfully maintained the
| principle of Race-Equality. While these
struggles lasted 1t had always o great end
before it. d great principle for Which it
stood. Its policy was sometimes faulty,
sometimes unpopular; but it wGs intclli-
gible, it tended always to definite and
| broad results. In those days Republican,
ism meant freedom. Since freedom was
secured, what has it meant? What princi-
pie. what sentiment, what idea, has Re
pubIcanism represented since the recon-
| Struction contest was over? Absolutely
none. 1t has been held together by the
| force of habit, by lingering apprehension
about the old questions, and by a strong
organization. But since the ratification OF
the last amendment the Republican party
has been absolutely without definite prin-
ciples or policy upon live subjects.
The most important questions which
! succeeded those of the war and recOnstruc-
| ton were connected with finance and the
material interests Of the nation. The Re
publican party has never had a financial
| policy. The Secretary Of the Treasury,
whoever he might be, has had notions of
his own, more or less crude, which he has
tried to put into effect. But the party in
| Congress has not been rlnitcd'even upon
the most elementary principles of finance:
When the worst and most diSgraccflIl of
| financial evils, reputation, threatened the
country, it was favored by such prominent
Republicans as Morton in the West and
Butler in the East. Now that imitation is
impending, although the intelligent senti-
ment of the press and the commercial pub
lie is almost solid against it, yet it Is car
ried through a Republican Congress and
receives more than halt the Republican
vote.
NGr he's the Eepublican party had any
consistent principle OF action toward the
suffering Southern States. The President
has interfered. and without Tebuke, to up
hold a faction in Louisiana; while toward
South Carolina, whose troubles were due
to ignorant and corrupt Republicans, the
President and Congress have remained
passive. Upon the whole, the Admins
tratiOn and its party have now drifted into
''let alone" attitude toward the South
ern communities. Yet this has not been
due to any intelligent purpose of restrain
inc the Federal Government within its
proper sphere for enormous and reckless
strides have been made toward centraliZa-
ton when any immediate object seemed TO
call for it; as. for example, In tile recent
passage bv the House of a bill to subject
all railway fares to the direct control of 4
governmental board.
In a word, while upon many individual
measures the Administration and the par
ty in Congress have acted wisely and well,
| there has been nothing in the nature OF a
principle, a set of ideas, a political creed,
with which the party has identified Itself.
As to political principles, it is bankrupt
A party in power may be Judged by
another standard than that of abstract
| ideas-namely by its administration of at-
fairs. Granted that - Republicanism' has
| no longer a definite meaning: it may still
| be asked, Are the Republicans managing
| the national business well? tits not ncceS-
sarv to examine minutely the record OF
| the last five years, balancing the good
deeds of the Administration against its bad
ones. One great subject of the highest
practical interest now presses abSOrblnsly
upon the public mind. 1t is not u question
of distractions or of policies. 1t is the
simple matter of honesty i'll public officers.
| Corruption in government has become an
evil as clearly marked, and we perhaps may
say rs formidable, as slavery once was. 1t
| is the fruitful parent of all other mlSclleiS
| of bad legislation and private immOrali-
| ty. Not only national prosperity and ma
hnt hanninnEG 111 rho
virtue of the whole body of the people,
are closely concerned. Now, what is the
actual pOSitiOn in this matter of the men
who bv Republican votes have been given
| the control of our Government? To face
that question is sad and humiliating
thing. The shames and scandals of which
the last years have been so prolific have
most of them been within the Republican
party. Philadelphia has had Republican
Ring that rivaled Tweed's exploits in
shamelessncss if notin magnitude. II the
Democratic party was held responsible for
| Tweed's OffenSeS. no less must the Repub-
lican party bear the shame of the plumber
ing of South Carolina. The Credit Mobl-
lier, the " salary grab" the Sanborn
frauds. all the wretched sacrifices of pub
i lie virtue. whose record makes the cheeks
of Americans burn. have been shared in by
leading Republicans. Party conventions
have passed resolutions of virtuOus severl-
ty, but most of the offenders have retained
their full party standing. The man who
to-day best represents the crafty. unscru'
pulous, shameless element in politics sits
in Congress as a Republican member from
Massachusetts, and dictates Executive ap-
pointments. The President still retains
among fair-minded men, his reputation FOL
personal integrity. But with that merit
? goes a defect that almost neutrallZes lts
practical advantages. General Grant ha;
repeatedly shown himself incompetent tc
select capable or even honest advisers
The conviction has forced itself upon those
who long held to their belief in him, thai
his natural affinity is rather for men Of
low order. The qualities which give mel
influence with him are not those that MAKE
good or safe counsellOrs. We believe tina
the President sincerely desires his govern
ment to be pure. But the important mat
ter for the country is, that he does no
know how to make it pure. His biograph
er will rightly call him an honest man
but the historian must record. that Ill TN
struggle between honesty and corruption
in the government, his weight was no
given on the side of honesty.
The organization of the Republican
party is controlled by men who are not Il