The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1875-11-02
SPEECH OF HON. 8. 8. COX.
.'Let Corruption Perish that the Re-
public May Live"


day, as reported in the daily papers.
When introduced, he said:
GENTLEMEN: Let corruption perish
that the Republic may live! This be our
motto, and we will not fail! You cannot
open journal that you do not find evil
denccs of official malfeasance, Earth is
sick and heaven is weary of the damnable
iterations: "Misappropriations Of money,
''embezzlement of public funds, ''inordi-
nate salaries" and all kinds of grabs,
spoils, defalcations and robberiesl The
worst of these cases are those which are
devised by cunning old devils, mostly
lawyers, who enact, cheating according to
the statute in such cases made and pro-
vided. Whence comes this epidemic of
roguery in Office. Whether it was the
civil war and its bummers and contractors;
whether it was the proAigacy of renegades
and Adventures DESTROYS to fatten on cor
ruption, or whether it comes from our
general human depravity, it is time the
plague were stayed. We need healthy
rest and an active vigilance against its
continuance and its relapse. Talk about
wages here and its minus quantity of 40
cents per diem. That is bad enough
doubtless; but what is worse is the general
lack of work, the work on half time, and
the fact seldom thought of, but ever to be
told to those who vote, that wages even
when higher than heretofore, as in 1860,
purchase less in proportion as prices are
higher than heretofore. This is no time
for elaborate figures; but take one case.
A blacksmith in 1860 had 81 week, in
1874 he received $l5.7S; but his coal in
1860 cost him S.. so per ton, while in 1874
"a Il h,,,, IL 81
on his higher wages in 1874 as in 1860 by
ffty-fve pounds on his lower wages, Coal
is one of hundred articles, the aggregate
of which is an indictment by labor against
bad economy or something worse. So it
is with other trades, and other articles,
and this affects the families of one fifth of
you find out why, when wages went up 80
per cent. from 1860 to $780, and why
prices doubled that per cent. in increase;
when you find out why now $377-the
average annual wages for S,O0O,0OO of
working men-do not buy as much as 1924
did in l860--when the annual wages were
$289-you begin the inquiry for sensible
suffrage. When you find out this loss of
$55 per annum to the working-man, from
the Democratic era Of 1860 to the Radical
VI lOiOi JOu UCBlu W bCO OlldL luGES
has been some kind of bad economy, or
currency, or taxation, or fraud, or all COM
bined. Then you tear the mask from the
hidcous face of corruption. 1t is not a
question OF paying the interest of the pub-
lie debt; Of providing sinking fund, or
paying the interest. 1t is not a question Of
reputation in any sense 1t is a question Of
finding remedy for the mischief Mischief
= n fama yUnrH n ~ Tho &c
terrible, and the beginning OF u gigantic
task. 1t is reckoned that all the burdens
federal. state and rnunicipal-since the
war amount $7,000,0OO,0OO. Our whole
values in the United States are only about
five times that SUN. The war had used
up about $1,000, O00,0 600, as Mr.. Wells CT
phered it, taking all ascertainable losses
We were sick at the end of the war. We
were not allowed to convalesce. Taxes
were laid, not only to meet current expen
ses and interest OF the debt, but to pay
large sums on the principal. Most unwise
ly, the sick man underwent the bood-let-
ting of the political, bcastful Sangrados
The losses south-wheuce we drew our
staples and with which we exchanged
were enormous compared with 1860. In
cereals, tobacco, cotton, stock, farms, crops,
etc, the losses south alone according to
the census in 1870 compared with 1860
were $5,955,000,000. On top of these,
through bad reconstruction and federal
impolicies-on top of this Alp pile another
in the shape of $400,000,000 per year Of
federal taxation since the war, and then
another Alp on Alp, in the shape of the
insidious protective tariffs, which, entering
into the price of imported articles, do not
go into the treasury, but swell the reve-
nues of the favored classes, and you will
begin to see where the mountainous weight
of the burden presses The last congress:
forged new manaces of taxation. Under
what pretense? Why, of replenishing the
sinking fund; $25, 100000 of which had
been absorbed las Senator Sherman con
essedlwithout law to meet appropriations
All at once, after several years of de6cien
cy IN that fund. the appeal was made to
the honor OF the country. in the interest Of
public credit; but was there no other rea
son for increased taxation? Look at the
nature of the fresh tax. Why was tobac
coon hand taxed. and whisky on hand re.
lieved2 Answer that. Why IS the FEEDER
al administration so partial to whiskey, anC
so harsh to oigarsP Do the cigars of the
administration cost nothing?
But these burdens are not altogether
owing to congress. We constantly vote
conditions and prOvisos as to expenditures
and no man in Office regards them. In the
report of the civil service in 1871, it was
said that one-tourth of the annual revenue
was lost. 1t never saw the inside of the
treasury As the taxes for ten years, from
1868 to 1875, were nearly four billions( So.
t6l ,O0O.000), the loss sustained annually
was about Sl00,000,000 This was double
the government expenses before the war.
twenty-five years of such sums would nav
the debt Why these infinite wrongs upon
q devoted and patient people? The ten
derest expression is that the administra
ton is loosely run. Absenteeism, which
cursed ireland by its landlord system, ours
es US in our federal system. From
spring to fall the administration isin tran.
stu. 1t is said that the Shah of Persia
travels with great following, and at
every town it costs enormously to keep
him and his and to pay the tribute his sim
pie presence exacts. Our peripatetic presi
dent and cabinet and bureaucrats do not
levy on the people by their presence. but
rather by their absence Office is no trust
to them. 1T is a holiday excursion-a
Pullman ride--a jolly jaunt from Mon
mouth to Colorado; and the example
catches. God forbid that our Chief Mac.
istrate should be scolded for his recreation.
lie needs recreating! But is there not a
little too much Of this? 1t is said of an an
cient Oriental ruler. Fushlrvan the just,
that he insisted on paying for little salt.
Tor fear of setting bad example. If orr
tariff on that article had existed in his dav
perhaps his example would have been
more emnhotic. hut st;l1 - :, a., -. J.