Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1875-08-27
The Shoe on the Wrong Foot.

The Brooklyn Union discloses the con.
tents of one page in the history of Duncan,
Sherman & Co. which ought to be very
generally known. Hitherto the Republi-
can party has had to suffer very materially
from the collapsing of banks which have
been managed by Republican directors,
or have been favorable to the Administra-
tion, or which during the war held loyal
position and supplied funds for its vigor
Gus prosecution. When the Freedman's
Bank went down, and when Jay Cooke s.
Co. and Henry Clews & Co. collapsed, the
Democratic press of this country improved
tie opportunity, not so much to denounce
their reckless method of financiering as to
influence the public mind against Repub-
lican rule and political financiering. The
wild gambling and speculation, the accu-
mutation of rotten securities, the invest
ment in all sorts of balloon schemes and
the consequent collapses which inevitably
follow this system of banking, which is
only another form of gambling, were cred
tied to the influence OF the Republican
party because the managers of these banks
happened TO be Republicans or were loyal
during the war These same papers,
however, since the failure of Duncan
Sherman & Co., have been strangely 81.
lent We have not learned from them that
their fall is due to the corrupting and de-
moralizing effects of fRepublicanism. They
have omitted to charge the losses of de
positors and customers TO the Administra-
ton. They preach none of their custom
ary sermons on the frauds and corruptions
Of the Republican party-not even a word
on Grantism. The Brooklyn linton ex-
plains the reason why they have failed to
take any partisan advantage of this fail
tIr thatt ha pf
Sherman q Co. has never had Republican
proclivities since the war, and that it had
no Union proclivities during the War.
They were cotton speculators then, as they
have been since, and their sympathies were
with cotton, and, this being the direc-
tion of their sympathies, their interests
were with the South and with English
hostility to the North, for where the
treasure is there will the heart be al
so. They bulled Southern securities
in Europe, and backed blockade-run-
ming. They were the agents of
the Society for the Diffusion of Politi-
cal knowledge in the Army" During
McClellan's command of the Army of the
Potomac they sent down to it issues of
the World and the Philadelphia Age by
tons, also packages of tracts and tobacco
for free distribution, the wrappers being
heduy pTlnteu WIN peace ana couon mes
sages. The Copperhead missionary work
was carried on to such an extent that at
last it began to demoralize the troops, and
the Government was compelled TO step in
and stop the nefarious business by a
special army order. They not only never
touched an American bond during the
war, but they used their influence in Eu-
rope against them. This is the politico-
financial record of Duncan, Sherman g.
Co., and these are the reasons why the
Democratic newspapers have failed to
preach their customary sermon upon the
enormity of political banking and its cor
rupt and demoralizing tendencies. AT the
same time it Is perfectly consistent to ask
if the failure of Jay Cooke d Co. is to be
credited to the Republican party, why
should not the failure of Duncan, Sherman
& Co. be credited to the Democratic party ?
-ChtcdgO Tribune.