Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-03-03
THE DUTY OF REPUBLICANS.


false to his trust, or corruption is discov'
cred. or INSCRIPTIONS management sue
cesds, it is assumed by the opposition that
the whole party is corrupt and deservesto
bs oyerthrown. Those who generalze in
this way forget that there was Judas
among the disciples, and that our church
Is are not without eminent examples OF
deprayity. or they would see that the same
reasoning which condemns the whole re-
publican party as unsound because of the
rostenness of some of its prominent men,
bers. would equally condemn the whole
OF the disciples on account of the wicked
ness Of Judas, and stamp the entire chris
tan church as wicked and unworthy Of
confidence because some of lis members
hare fallen
When party endorses great wrong,
Ike thai Of slavery. IS the democratic par
~ led by Breckenridge did in 1850, then
there Is Just reason to pronounce the whols
body eozrups and no hepe Of remedy ex-
cepsby issovershrcw. The perpesaatioa OF
slavery. the maintenance OF the nigh. to buy
and sell wou,ea and children in the mar
Ike. ike cattle. was part Of the creed al
The Breckenridge men, endorsed in their
conventions. eon.endea for 81 the polls
and tonight for in the rebellion. To de-
nounce party with snch principles As en-
sirely corrups, was only TO assert truth
the evidencs Of which WAS found IN nation
:. and ssAss platforms also everywhere
among the sdhsrents OF thai party. q Wei
At their firesides &s IN their large gather
ings. The rir-ls Of slavery had poisoned
the entire party No member was free
from it who voted FOR Breckenridge. Il
controlled all classes from highest TO low
est. At las; i, assaulted the yeE! heart Of
the nation. To pronounce such party
corrupl was no exaggeration or misrePre-
sentatisn. 1t was rotten from skin to
core.
In contrast with 8 party thus controlled
by corrupt influences which ran through
every part of it. the republicans can point
10 their own organization as fearlessly and
steadily resisting wrong and roofing out
corruption wherever it makes an appear
ance. The demand for an investigation
in the Credit Mobilier swindle was made
by the republican Speaker of the House,
and the republican majority sustained the
call and probed the matter to the bottom,
although prominent republicans were i'm
plicated by the proceedings. In fastening
the salary grab upon the country more re-
publicans voted against it than for it, and
in the repeal Of that act, the republicans in
Congress, following the voice other con-
stituents at home, as uttered in their state
and county conventions, took the lead.
Whatever has been done to reform the
civil service has been the work ofrepubli-
cans. If all has not been accomplished
that is desirable, the first steps have been
taken. Making commencement in over
turning abuses in our civil system of sew
cnty years growth is a task of no small
magnitude. The iranking privilege was
destroyed by the republicans in the last
Congress, thus sweeping away source
of corruption that flourished under all adj
ministrations until the present. In State
administrations also the republicans have
attacked corruption fearlessly. That I'M
paralleled monster ofpolitical wickedneSs.
the Tammany Ring, fell under the assaults
of republicans, and the great chief of it
now occupies a cell IN the State Prison.
Whatever way we look we find that the
republican organization has kept honest in
purpose and faithful to the interests of the
people. As we have before remarked, in
dividuals have covered themselves with
infamy, corruption has been detected in
high places, but the party organization has
never defended the robbers that piled their
business in its name, and has been foremost
to expose and bring them to punishment
This shows that the great heart Of the par
ty is sound. When the party covers up
dishonesty, disregards the interests OF the
country, and is led by false leaders into
ways that are dark, there will be occasion
for alarm; then we shall be treading the
path that brought ruin upon the heads of
the democracy
The duty Of the republican party at this
time is to hold fast to the principles OF
honesty and right. 1t must set itself he
roically at work to pluck out the wrongs
that exist in its own organization, tearing
them up by the roots, and proving by its
acts that it is indeed the party of re-
form. Members of Congress must see TO it
that they keep their faces unflinchingly to
the front, assaling every foe to honest
government and economy. Thieves must
be pilloried. Hangers-on must be dis.