Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1876-10-19
spirit, Results. and Cost Of Democrat
fc TRvesttgaGlOns.

NAs@SaA'SSs
spirit, Results. and Cost Of Democrats
fc TRvestt8aGlOns.
Washington City Republic.
After an eight months' session of the
Democratic House its record is an in
structiYe study. Their attention was
called to the necessity for legislation
which would insure the funding of the
public debt at four per cent, whereby
millions of dollars In interest might be
saved-nO action was taken. The great
question of cheap transportation was re-
ported by the proper committee, but the
House refused to consider 1t. The vital
question of currency, embracing in its
scope the, very life blood of national pros
perity, was dallied and trif1ed with until
the closing hours of the session, when, at
the solicitation of their candidate for
President, the E'hard money! Democrats
surrendered their convictions, and the
act of reputation Of the plighted faith of
the nation was passed. A boasted mea-
sure of tariff reform was introduced by
committee, and stopped with its intro
duction--nO action was taken upon it,
These and other measures of paramount
importance to the prosperity and indus
tries of the country stood still, while the
ftfriends of reform" investigated.
They organized themselves into = scan
dal making machine, took upon them
selves the Office Of professional slanderers,
and charged every one of the regular
committees of the House, and many spe-
cial ones, with this unSavOry business.
Public business was willfully neglect
ed, public necessities ignored, and the
whole power of Congress was devoted to
the manufacture of political capital for
the pending election.
Every broken official kicked out for
thievery, every cashiered officer, every
nameless vagabOnd was invited, solicited,
urged to testify. Partly for revenge,
partly for witness fees, partly for cheap
nOtoriety, these birds of evil omen flock
ed to the Capitol, thronged the corridors,
took possession of the committee rooms
and of the committees, prompted ques-
tions, invented answers, retailed old scan
dals picked up secondhand, the dead re-
fuse of the streets, to be greedily swal-
lowed by the mouths that stood agape for
such carrion food.
The common rights of individual citizens
were grossly violated, the sanctity of pri-
vate correspondence outraged, telegraph
messages Hnlawfully forced from their
proper keepers, citizens imprisoned by
order of the House for no valid reason,
and all the rights of private individuals
secured by the Constitution trampled
resentatiVess- Secret sessions ere held,
parties charged with wrong-doing kept
in ignorance, and the poor privilege
granted to all criminals of an open inves-
tigatiOn and of meeting witnesses face to
face was denied.
Secret meetings Of the members of the
majority upon the committees were fire.
quently held, and one result of all this
was that when any facts were brought
out that affected any prominent member
of the party of the majority in the House
the investigation was suppressed. Nc
committee cared to fellow up the claim OF
the Kentucky railroad which had been
| forced through one of the Department.
when it was learned that leading Dem
Ocratic aspirant for the Presidency was
| implicated. When it found that John
Roach had contributed money to the cleo
| tiOn of a Democratic member of the House
no attention was paid to it. When Con.
tractor Swift told the committee that his
largest contribution had been in aid o.
Democratic elections the committee Eel
| that they had heard enough. And Mr.
Commissioner Davenport opened up the
condition of the elections in New Yorl
| City under Democratic rule SO effectu2lly
that another committee, like the CalifOr
MIA hunter, drew off from the trail be-
cause 'it was getting altogether too fresh.
/ But whenever any slur could be put upsI
the hitherto fair reputation of a promi
nent Republican the committees were ca
ger and anxioust to bring 1t forth.
The city of Washington was full O
men who had been summoned here a
witnesses from every corner of the land
some of whom wanted to testify and re
turn to their homes, while others prefer
red to wait while their fee-bills rolled up
The Sergeant-at-Arms had sent his mes
sengers out in all directions. The Gov
ernment Printing Office, had from thu
beginning surfeit of matter thrust upol
it for printing. The committees had t
be given clerks, and their salaries had t
be raised.
: The House adopted eighty-three reso
lutions of investigation, besides a legiO
OF resolutions of inquiry of the severs
Departments. twenty-five standin
committees and eight select committee
raked all the SlumS of the nation to find
Iif possible, some savOry mOrsel wit
which to impregnate the air during tn
coming election. And what did they find
The Republican party had been ever
where arraigned before the great tribi
nal of the people by these self-styled 'sr,
fOrmers;" it was charged v ith all I'll
3 sins and shortcomings of individual men
bers; it was said to be the embodiment
corruption, peculatiOn, and fraud. An
now subjected to such an investigation
only partisan hatred could inspire, wit
all its secrets laid bare, what are tbs +
\ suits? One single and most melanchol
! case of official misdOing was made know
and that was only presented tu the pro
u er tribunal by the active cooperation
IN the Republicans in the House.
1 But not one single dollar q0Gs found to hd
n been stolen from the Government Of the U
= : ted States
Not one official Of the Government qg
shOl1n to be a deJdulter!
: "And what have they found Has 81
one of these committees found that 81
gle dollar has been stolen from the Tres
ury of the United Statesg Ifso, let tbs
declare it, Hon. James a. Garfield
II House of Representatives August At
. 1850 There. was no respo
"And what is the result Of itnll2 VIII
we have found that SOne officer of t
Government, the late Secretary of WI
has accepted some thousands of dollars
n present from man who held a DO
tn leadership; but we have not been shoV
~ where BelknRp ever misapplied or misa
J, propriated one dollar of the public fun
or made a single contract whereby t
Government lost single cent"
81 accept the result with gratiflcatiC
and believe that as member of the I
publican party / have reason to f
proud and rejoice in the assurance I'll
these investigations have given us Il
the Republican administration of to-d
is the purest and best the country has h
in the last fifty years" ."-(Hon. H.
Page, House of Representatives, July
1861
IS 81 do not wish to deny many thi1
fairly blameworthy in the Republic
treatment Of our revenues, but / af1r
and without fear of contradiction, Il
s there never has been a period of our h
tory when the revenues Of the GoVel
ment have been so honestly and 80 wis,
managed as since the Republican pa
:. has been in nnpZar hut thn.,