Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-09-03

To the Editor of the BULLETIN:

To the Editor of the BULLETIN:
Having read the Conservative for
the year that Is past, and having no.
ticcd extracts from the Dubuque
Herald, Des Moines Leader, Fayette
County Union, and other papers of
like character, in which there is a
constant harping about Republican
dishonesty, and although l am not
used to writing for the public, yet
feel a strong desire to remind those
honest gentlemen Of some historic
facts that some Of the younger men
do not know, and those that are older
do not care to remember, for the
record of the past is anything but
creditablc to them; and the fair prom
ises they make are no more to be re-
lied upon than those they made thirty
or forty years ago. Now, let us look
at some of their records. We Will
begin with the close of Mr.. Adams
administration. History informs us
that he left the government in peace
with all the world, with an increased
revenue, and with a surplus Of So
l25, $3.50 in the public treasury. Then,
as now, loud and bitter complaint
was made by the opposing party, and
one thing complained Of was, the
annual expenses Of Mr.. AS govern
ment, which was sl2,Ooo,o0O per an
mum. Well, they assumed the rcins
of power under the leadership of
Jackson, and expended s36,ooo,ooo
per annum for eight years. Mr.. j.,
in his message to the TwentyFirst
Congress, recommends the apportion-
ment of the surplus revenue among
the States, which, at one time, was
upward Of twenty-seven Millions
Now, let us pass over period Of
about ten years, to Mr.. Van Buren's
time, when the fourth installment
amounted to s9,367, 900. The first
of December, 1888, Mr.. Van Buren,
says in his message to Congress, that
there is two millions, seven hundred
and sixty-fve thousand dollars in the
Treasury, and there is outstanding
eight millions Of Treasury notes, and
that the fourth installment of surplus
revenue cannot be deposited with the
States. Now, we will take the sur
plus when Mr.. Adams went out of
Office, with the fourth installment, and
then add the eight millions of Treas
ury notes, and we have the sum of
twenty-one millions, four hundred
and ninety-two thousand, SIX hundred
and thirty-tive dollars. And, besides
this, history informs us OF large sums
of money that were embezzled from
the Post Office and the Customs, for
which history does not give lis the
figures, and then, in Mr.. Van Buren's
administration, came that honest
Democrat, Samuel Swartwout, who
took from the New Y ork Custom Of
flee the sum of one million, two hun
dred and fifty thousand dollars. Now
give them credit for two millions,
seven hundred and sixty-iive thous-
and dollars, and we may safely con-
clude that not less than twenty-five
millions of dollars of public money
was purloined in the ten years from
'2S to '3s. This, with the increase
of twenty-tour millions in national
expenses, will give some light on
Democratic economy, and the de
rangement Of all kinds Of business,
with the bitter fruits of 81, should
be enough to make honest voters
pause and think before they give
them support. But this is only i rec
ord of their financial management
for the space Of ten years, emitting
al other improper transactions of
which the party has been guilty, dur
ing 4 long series of years; but we
hope the Opposition will not think
us so verdant as to present these
items in justification of any Republi-
can mlsdoings, but to show that the
Opposition party did contain dishon-
est men, and that they gave them
place and power, and that they made
use OF their opportunity to rob the
nation, and, as history repeats itself,
as they have done in the past, so will
they do in the future, and having no
real principles, only expedients, as
the record shows, and as the recent
Democratic Republican platform il
Illustrates, we, as voters, have nothing
to hope tor from this new party, com
posed, as lis, of the floating elements
from all quarters, being compound
of free trade, States rights, (from
which grew secession), and intemper-
ancc. And for justification Of this
last remark, we refer to an article
that appeared in the Dubuque Her
aid, and copied by the Conservative
without comment, June 10th, 1875,
in which it is acknowledged that they
are the opposers of 4 prohibitory law,
and hence we feel that it is but just
to class them on the side Of intern
perance. Now we are asked to plant
again the seeds of intemperance, free
trade, States rights, and all the rest
of the other. varieties of noxious plants
that has grown on Democratic soil
1--WE use the word rs Il party name
and in no other sense). And now,
voters of Buchanan county, we ap
peal to you, who, in many instances
are now the sufferers through the
doings of those that would bcguile
you through fair promises, never by
you to be realized. We have been Il
voter for thirty-nine years, and the
things which we write unto you are
as fresh i'll memory as if they had not
been found Oh the pages Of history;
but we have yet to learn that these
mgh-sounding promises mean any
thing. But the record Of the Repub-
lican party is before us, traught with
the highest principles Of human free
dom. How long ago is it since they
called us black Republicans because
we plead that freedom was the nat,l-
raj right Of all mankind? Anl have
you, indeed, so soon forgotten that
they were ready to destroy the Union
and override all principles OF justice,
that they might inflict upon one race
of human beings the perpetual curse
of slavery? And now are they ready