The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-11
Not so bad as it seemed.

tain class of newspapers, IN the way OF
assertions, charges, and innuendos, cal
cui&ted TO create painful suspicion as re-
CARDS tie integrity of the Administration
at Washington and its appointecs through
out the country, that when the exposure
of General Bciknap's dishonorable prac-
tees in the War Department was first
proclaimed, the public were prepared
Tor further disclosures OF q similar char
actGr IN connection with other Depart
ments of the Government. The discov-
cry of the iniquitics of the Whiskey ring,
involving, as they did, some of the Gov
comments officials and men Ct hitherto
good standing, startled and disguised the
better sense of the community; then the
Bclknap exposure, following at the heels
Of this disgraceful discovery, awakened
general distrust, many being ready to be
lieve that our country hadsndeed enter
ed upon an era Of unparalleled official
and political rotteuness, in the highest
as well as the lowest grades of its civil
service Then in quick succession fol
lowed whole broods of evil reports,
touching, if not actually involving, the
honor and honesty of men high in posi-
ton whom the public were accustomed
to regard with implicit trustfulncss.
Quick and fast came these damaging
allegations. The 'senslliOnal' press fair
ly gloated and fattenCd on them. Some
of them had their source in the overhead
GUS cagcrncss Of partisan committees of
investigation; others orig; nated in the
imaginations of reckless journalistic scav-
engcrs, whose readiness at invention is
only equalcd by their industry in gather
ing idle rumors and shaping them into
pretended and plausible statements of
fact. AS consequence, even that class
of men who have the philosophy and
wisdom not to believe too hastily what
ever of i'll they may hear or read con-
corning their fe!owmen, began to lose
their faith.
Happily, it is now gradually appearing
that affairs are not nerrly as bad as they
were REPRESENTATIVES. partisan zeal,
rather than an honest desire to get at the
truth and at justice, is the stimulating
force which is operating to involve the
Government, its leaders and its agents III
one great black CLIQUE, of repulsivc iniqui-
tv. Gradually bat surely it is being de-
mons,rated, to the gratifying conviction
Of intelligent men, tina. that great cloud
is not real thing, but the invention of
politicians, who have an object in view
that, in short, the great black cloud is,
after all, 'no larger than a mans hand"
for, take out of view Belknap and the
revenue thieves of the whisky ring, and
there is no cloud at all-cvcn the telc-
scolic scrutiny of the committees of in
vcstigatIon failing to discover anything
in the Governments official armament
except here and there a dark speck,
which, on further examination, generally
proves to be the dust of their own defec-
tive glasses These committees of invCs-
tigation and their flock of journalistic
camp followers, with their remarkable
faculty of magnifying very small mole
hills Of scandal into very huge Mountains
of calumny have done their besi-or
worst rathcr-to create Il popular i'm.
preston that the Administration and the
Republican party are totally and hope
lessly corrupt and ubiquitous; but on sift
ing all the drummcd-up testimony of
hired witnesses, who are generally men
with personal grievances, anxious to
crafty malice or revenge, the discrmin
atIng public yainly seeks for credible
facts sustaining the slandcrous charges
Indeed, il the many and persistent inves-
LEGATIONS have resulted in anything worthy
oI remark, beside The Belknap bribery, It
has been the complete vind.cation of
those charged with grave wrong doing
Instead of convicting the Pre- sident or
his Cabinet officers, CT any of The Repub-
lican leaders, of official misdceds, these
public men have emerged from the ordeal
unscathcd, and stand before the country
full vindicaLed. 70 this extent, then,
the Democratic partisan investigators
have performed real service, and if it
were the result OF intention, the country
would have reason to thank them.
Those good people who, few weeks
ago, were filled with apprchensions, lest
the Administration at Washington, or the
great Republican party which is respon-
s5lc for that Administration, might, in
deed, be full Of ulccrous sores and reck
ing with corruption, can now dismiss
their fears and take new courage If The
alleged rCtlennesS existed, il would ere
this have been discovered and exposed
and the very fact that no such rottenncss,
or anything Ike it, has been developed,
may be accepted as proof positive that
it does not exist. This may be disap-
pointing to the PARTISAN Democracy, but
to the patriot, to the American citizen
who has more regard for the honor and
welfare of his country than Tor mere
party, it affords cause for hearty congrat-
ulation. Let US see to it that our polit-
ical fidelity and our national honor and
integrity shall be maintained and that
it shall never be more true than it is now
that corruption has possession of the
high places Of the Goyernm cnt of the
United States, or that the pride of power,
long continued, has rendered the Repub-
ican party, its statesmen or its represen-
Iatives. either indifferen; 10 honor or tn
faithful TO the popular trust. = Chicago
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