Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1875-05-20
May 4th, 1915
Party VICTORY.


While it was not possible for any news
paper to withhold its approval of the re-
cent successful raid on the whiskey-ring,
the Chicago Times cannot repress its DEM
ocratic proclivi,ies, and it reflects the
probable tenor of democratic partisan
criticism in the following paragraph:
What does it mean: BY what authority has
Secretary Brstow been secretly placing mine
under the combined works Of the whlskey,rng
and the revenue service Who has permitted him
thus to sap and mine the strongest buiwarKs OF the
party, and blow up its Notifications, sending SKY
high hundreds. nay thousands, of its most devoted
penersls and lieutenants What does it mean
Has Grant Johnsonized' Has the Washington
Cabinet formed a conspiracy to destroy the party
ship and drown the swarms Of office -hoiding rats
that have 50 long multiplied and fattened IN Inc
cargo?
1t means no such thing as the Chicago
Times affects to believe, and nobody
knows il better than that organ. 1t means
that the republican party is now, as in the
past. the party of reform and progress.
Malign influences and corrupt agencies
have from time to time attached them
selves to this party.-as what great pollt-
ical party may hope to escape? Money
makers and scoundrels are shrewd enough
to work their way into the party in pow
er, and honest men have been deceived
into indorsing or tolerating dishonest
measures. The republican party, in its
sixteen years Of rule, and beset with diff
culties and complications that no other
party in this country ever encountered,
could not divest itself of these penalties of
success. But it has, in all of its trials,
developed in time the pluck, honesty, and
ability to expose the corruption and rid
itself of the corruptionists that have
threatened to weigh it down. During the
war, and since the war, the republican
party has boldly faced tine disasters that
came from internal rascalities, and has
maintained itself by exposing and correct
ing the abuses. instead of Sinking the
responsibility, and endeavoring to hide,
and cover up, and smother its troubles.
There is bravery in this course akin to
the patriotism and energy which put down
the war of the rebellion. 1t is this char
acteristic of the republican party which
has constantly commanded the support of
the popular vote, in spite of serious dis
sensions. important disaffections, and tenn
porary reverses. There have been troubles
and abuses enough to have carried down
onv M rfv not nocSascoI IF fhiS rnuro UaoIS
spirit. But every well.defined abuse has
met with prompt investigation, and the
exposure and dismissal Of the guilty par
ties. The republican party took the Cred
it-Mobilier swindle by the horns and
grappled with it successfully. Though it
could not rccoup all that had been squan-
dered. it exposed to public shame the men
who had been leaders in the conspiracy
against the public moneys, and it au-
thorized suits which may in the end Sc
cure partial restoration OF the fraudulent
profits. The District of Columbia Ring was
one of the greatest raids ever organized
upon the Government Treasury and it had
tAC buPDOlt vi LdOsl DO"Niiui POiSVhai
and political influences. Yet the republic
can party broke it up and scattered its
forces. The New York Custom House
clique was similarly sustained by strong
support Of personal and political char
acter, but it failed to escape the inherent
opposition of the party to corruption, and
was driven to the wall. The salary grab
was an abuse OF the public trust, which,
like most of the public abuses, was
achieved by combination OF the bad men
in both parties but the republican ma
jority in Congress did what it could in the
way of atonement as soon as the drift of
public sentiment was apparent, and repub-
lican voters promptly punished those who
were chiefly guilty. When the sentiment
OF the country was plainly declared against
the grant of public land and moneys Tor
railroad and other improvement schemes,
the republican party abandoned its former
policy. which had been productive of
great benefits as well as abuses. Never
was there a more persistent and powerful
lobby than that of the Pacific Mail, and
though one Congress was deceived and
controlled by it, an exposure of its opera
tons by the last Congress led to prompt
repeal Of the subsidy. and left those who
were implicated to suffer for their sins.
These are fair samples OF what the repub-
lican party has done to purify its own
household, and to retain its claim upon the
public confidence.
The recent movements OF the Admins
tration, and especially those in revenue
and mail service, are entirely in keeping
with the policy Of the republican party