New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1875-05-18
REFORM IN WHISKY AND-WATER.

REFORM IN WHISKY AND--WATER
The Republican administration ha
prosecuted with admirable vigor tn,
thieves who defraud the public treasury
and demoralize the people by selling
crooked whisky. The Democratic Gov
ernor of New York has prosecuted the
jobbers who infest the great water line o.
| the State.
| Both parties are, then, convinced tina,
the people Of the United States will not
submit longer to the practices Of both par
ties, OF appointing to Office or admitting
to contracts men who perpetrate, or per
NIT to be perpetrated, frauds upon the
treasury and taxpayers. The meaning OF
this is plain. There is no difference in
principle, and very little in the measures
advocated by the two great parties The
Democratic party has no principle. It
has abandoned that of State rights and
accepted the Republican doctrine of a
government of the States by the sovereign
people of the Union. This principle the
Democracy at the North fought. or hired
substitutes, to establish; those of the
South have accepted and embodied it
in their constitutions of States. North and
South, the Democracy denies its intentions
to repeal or evade the Republican prin-
ciples established as result of the war.
The trick pretending to be party of free
trade, hard money or of strict construc-
ton of federal powers, to build works of
internal improvement or give away the
public lands, has been exposed by the
telegraph. What, then, will be the argu-
ment of the Democracy in the canvass Of
1876? l. They agree to the principle of
popular sovereignty as exercised and en-
forced by the Republican party 2. The
Republicans have during an administra-
ton of sixteen years been imposed
on by q number of dishonest men.
B.. The Democratic party, which has not
had an opportunity of putting their
Tweeds into federal Office, would admins
ter the government far better than the
Republicans.
This is reason which if founded on
facts would be irrefutable. Pledged to
conduct the government On the same Re-
publican principles, substituting honest
and competent officers for incompetent
and corrupt officers, the American verdict
would be known in advance
That the Republican administration has
been warned by the loose manner in
which party armor is worn, to guard agains:
personal objections to the incumbents and
nominees of Office, is obvious from the
manner in which Commissioner Douglass
has been set aside, and the whisky thieves
prosecuted. 1t is difficult for one party to
get ahead of another, when each is vigilant
of all advantages.
When the Papists made a landing on
American shores the resplendent red hat
was seen afar off by the Protestants, and
they Immediately prepared to revive the
ancestral cry Of ''No Popery. no inquisi-
ton, no wooden shoes"
So we shall trust the vigilance Of the
Republican administration to file the
scalps of as many dishonest officials at
the election of 1876 as their opponents
possibly can. Having SO many men in
Office there must be great many proper
for suspension and punishment. There
are more rats in full granary than in
one which is empty. 1t is to be hoped
that President Grant will employ the ex-
terminator freely, and that every other
executive will do the same
thing. The political premises must be
made fit for the inspection of the landlord,
the people, at the expiration of the Re-
publican lease, in 1876, otherwise valu- |
able tenant may be set aside for one who |
has no other merit than an impudent pro-
'ession to reform any abuse of his prede- |
lessor.
But both President Grant and Governor |
rilden have met with similar difficulty !
n their war upon the respective rings.
The attempt to bring the canal contractors
o justice has been thus far a failure. The |
legislature Of New York, Democratic as
t is claimed to be, have declined such |
lefnite action as might have reformed the |
vi. complained OF. Numbers of the canal |
contract ring are members of the Legisla-
ure, Men of both political parties are at
work in the lobby and with the commit
ees Of investigation, throwing every in
in the way Of exposure. In re-
ard to the attempt of President Grant to
protect the revenue from whisky frauds,
here does not seem much public anxiety
hat he should be successful. Nine at
orneys are quoted as asserting, not ex-
city the innocence of the ring but the
OF convicting them, and the
one Of some Of our own journals is rather
Il ridicule of the attempt than of sympathy
Il its success. This, not because our DO
itical journals oppose the ring, but be-
ause they do care to applaud the resoluta
integrity of the government which prose-
utes &sring.
We trust this contest will go on. Let
he American people know which party
tfers the best meD for offices. The Re-
publican party has fixed the principles of
he government. It would be a shame if.
rom the incompetency or corruption of
ew men, it should be cast out of power