The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-08-30

tiCh Suail be OilD lOi revenue. hcioiNu ls
necessary in the scale of public expenses
Federal, State and municipal.
FEDERAL TAXATION HAS SWOLLEN
from SIG ,G0G000 guild i'll 1860 to $3.50, 000,,
00U currency in 1870: our aggregate taxa.
lion from SlS4,COO,OOO gold in 1860 to
$3.50, 600, 900 currency in 1870, Or in one de-
cade from less than FIVE dollars per head
10 more than eighteen dollars per head
Since the peace the people have paid to
their tax gathcreIs more than thrice the
sum Of the national debit and more than
twice that sum for tho Federal Govern.
nent alone. We demand vigorous fru.
gality i'll every department and from every
officer of the Government. Reform il me-
cessary to put Il stop to the prOfigate
waste of public lands and their diversion
from actual settlers by the party in power
which has squandered two hundred mil.
lions of acres upon railroads alone, and
out of more than twice that aggregate
has disposed of less than sixth directly
to tillers of the soil. Reform is necessary
! to correct the
OMISSIONS OF Il REPUBLICAN, CONGRESS,
and the errors of our treaties and our di'
plomacy which have stripped our fellow
citizens of foreign birth and kindred race
rccrossing the Atlantic of the shield of
American citizenship, and have exposed
our brethren OF the Pacific slope to the in
eursiOns of race not sprung from the
same great parent stock-in fact now de-
MED by law citizenship through naturali-
cation, AS being neither accustomed to the
tradition of a progressive civilization, or
exercised i'll liberty uuder equal laws
We denounce the policy which thus dis
cards the liberty loving German, and toll
! crates the revival of the coolie trade in
Mongolian women imported for immoral
purposes, and Monaghan MEN hired to
perform servile labor contracts, and de-
| mand such modification of the treaty with
the Chinese Empire. Or such legislation
by Congress within constitutional limi-
tation, as shall prevent the further impor-
tation or immigration Of the Mongolian
race. Reform Is necessary, and can never
be effected but by making it the control
ling issue of the elections, and lifting it
above tho two false issues with which the
office-holding class and the party in power
seek to smother it. The false issues with
which they would enkindle sectarian
strife in respect to the public schools, of
which the establishment and support be-
long exclusively to the several States, and
which the Democratic party has cherished
from their foundation and resolved to
maintain without partiality or preference
for any class, sect or creed, and without
contributing from the treasury to any
The false issue Ivy which they seek to
light anew the dying embers of sectional
late between two kindred peoples once
uuuaturally estrangrd, hut now reunited
in one intl:visiblc Republic and common
destiny.
REFORM IN CIVIL SERVICE.
Reform is necessary in the civil service.
Experience proves that efficient, economi-
cal conduct of the governmental business
is not possible if its civil service lie sub
icc' ell to change at every election, and h-
!, purse offered ut the ballot-bOx as brief
reward of party zeal, il steal of posts of
honor assigned for proved competency and
held for fidelity in the public employ
That the dispensing of patronage should
neither be Il tax upon the time of all our
public men, nor the instrument of their
ambition. Here again professions, falsi-
fled in the performance, attest that the
party in power can work out TO practical
OF salutary reform.
REFORM IN HIGH PLACES. -
Reform is necessary even more in the
higher grades of public service. Prcsi-
dent, Vice-President, Judges, Senators,
Representatives. Cabinet officers - these
and all Others in authority are the PEG
pies servants. Their offices are not a
private perquisite; they are public
trust. When the annals of this Republic
proclaim the disgrace and censure of q
Vice-President; a late Speaker Of the
House Of Representatives marketing his
ruling as presiding officer; three Sena-
tors profiting secretly by their votes as
lawmakers; five chairmen of the leading
committees of the late House of Represen-
tatives exposed in jobhery; late Secreta-
ry of the Treasury forcing balances in the
public accounts; a late Attorney General
misappropriating public funds; Secreta-
ry of the Navy enriches or enriching
friends by per centages levied off the profits
of contractors with bis department.; an
Ambassador to England concerned in
a dishonorable speculation; the Presidents
private Secretary barely escaping convic-
ton, upon trial, for guilty completely in
frauds upon the revenue; Secretary of
| War impeached for high crimes and con.
fessed misdemeanors; the demonstration is
complete that the first step must be the
public choice of honest men from another
party lest the disease of one political
organization upset the whole body polite,
and thereby making no change of men OF
party, We can get no change OF measures
and no reform.
All these abuses, wrongs and crimes
the product of sixteen years Of ascendaucy
of the Republican party, create.a necessity
for reform confessed by the Republicans
themselves. But their reformers are vo
ted down in convention and displaced
from the Cabinet The party's mass Of
honest votes is powerless to resist the
eighty Thousand office-holders, its leaders
and guides. Reform can only be had by 9
peaceful civic revolution. We demand q
change of system, a change of administers
tration, a change of parties, that We may
have change of men.
I Gov. Kellogg told a New York
Tribune reporter, the other day, thai