The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1875-09-09

M0narchiStS are ever reauy w PiONNN
that universal suffrage, will prove the
destruction Of the American Republic,
that It must necessarily lead to wide
spread corruption both in the govern
ment and'among the people, to lnsecur,
ity of both person and property, ana
ultimately to TN anarchy more intoler'
able than despotism itself we, OF the
Democratic faith, ever have disbelieye!d
and still disbelieve this gloomy predlc-
ton. We are, by the promptings OF our
hearts and the light of our understand
ings, believers in the fitness and capacity
of our race for sell-government' Anu
although we have not seen without ap'
prehension the suffrage conferred upon
100000 utterly ignorant negroes AZ me
South, we do not propose to disturb me
constitutional provision upon that sub
iect. But we are not blind to the dan
gers by which our path is beset. We
know that every form of government
ever known among men has had lts I'M
perfectioas, and that of all the foes to the
Republican form corruption has ever
been the deadliest, And We know that
it is, therefore, our duty, as intelligent
and patriotic men, to strike corruption
wherever 1t shows its head, to seek for II
in its secret recesses and drag it into
light to treat 1t as Il foe to the govern
ment as well as maletactor, and TO
exert all the power that the constitution,
the laws and sound public opinion give
US to free our institutions from lts con-
taminating touch, And now, my fellow
citizens, am compelled to gay that the
necessity for the performance of this
duty was never greater, perhaps never
SO great, AZ it this very time. have
already, in q speech delivered at Mans
field last month, referred to some Of the
most augrant examples of the corruption
that has disgraced the country, and en-
tailed losses upon the people, since the
Radicals obtained the control OF the
government, But the reference to these
examples will bear repetitionj indeed, IT
is duty to keep them before the public
eye, in order that the people may not
lose sight of such enormities and may
apply the remedies necessary to prevent
the occurrence of like misdeeds in the
future /, therefore, make no apology
for reading to you some portions of What
| said on this subject in the speech tC
which have referred:
"ls there q man here who has moi
heard ofthe Union Pacific Railroad Com
pany and the Credit MobilierP Is there
one of You who does not know, by sworn
testimony taken before congressional
committees, that by the frauds of these
companies, principally ruled and gov
erned by certain members of Congress
the people of the United States are abso.
luteIy certain to lose not less than titty
millions of dollars?
"Has any one of you forgotten that
over four hundred and thirty-fve thOus-
and dollars were used by these compan'
les to procure the passage Of an amend
ment te the railroad charter, by the cor.
ruption of members of Congress-an
amendment that surrendered the most
important rights Of the Government, and
in the end entailed upon the people the
loss to which have referredr
"Is it necessary for me to produce the
proof, taken at the late session Of Con-
gress, that over seven hundred Thousand
dollars were employed by the Pacific
Mail Steamship Company to procure
from Congress an immense public sub
sidy2
"Must | read to you the testimony
given before Senate committee, few
years since, to show that bribery of New
YORK custom-house officers had become
an established usageP or is it necessary
to more than mention the prosecutions
by the Government of merchants, great
and small, charged with defrauding the
revenue out of millions by smuggling or
otherwise--not one Of which frauds OF
ohenses could have been committed had
not Government officers assisted in its
commissiOnP s .....
"HaYe you not heard of the practices
of the whisky rings, defrauding the Gov
ernment out of untold amounts of taxes
through the connivance and with the
aid of purchased revenue officials
Must more than remind you that
the official reports of responsible officers
of your army and the statements of dis
interested private citizens have clearly
shown that, through the fraudulent prac
tees of Indian agents and contractors
large numbers of Indians whom the
Government is bound by treaty stipula
tions to support, have lately been on the
very verge of starvation, and the country
thereby menaced with an Indian war
Is it not al indisputable fact that tht
appropriations fer the Indians and thu
Indian Bureau are annually about three
millions more than they were in 1860
and that through the frauds and specu
lations of "Indian rings" in collusior
with Government officials, millions 0
this money are every year embezzled
Have you not heard how fraud, brib
cry and corruption existed in the Post
office Department, under the very nose
so to speak, of the Postmaster Genera
himself--frauds and offenses so gross a
to neCessitate not only dismissal of tn
detected officials, but also their crimina
prosecution in court of Justice
Have you not read of the frequen
thefts in the Treasury, from the abstrac
ton of a tritling sum Of fractional cur
rency to a larceny Of over forty thousan'
dollars in a lump2
Need | do more than refer to tn
long list of defaulters in almost ever
branch of the public service, and who's
defalcation in the last fourteen year
amount, at the lowest computation, t
millions of dollars?
Must | again remind you that no
even the Department of Justice has beel
free from taint, and that, under the lat
Attorney-General, officers whose dut,
it was to prosecute the guilty, wer
greater criminals than the men the
prosecuted ? ..I.
these, my friends, are some Of tn
more notorious and patent examples Q
the corruption that has been undermin
ing public and official virtue in the Uni
ted States of late years, but the full ex
tent of that corruption will never b
known until the people, by a change q
rulers, shall make it possible to fully an
completely investigate it. But'w hav
seen enough to verify the truth of tn
old maxim, that long continuance Q
power in any party is sure to breed col
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