The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1876-06-01
why the Republican Party Must be De-

sound spot in Grants Administration.
In every department and branch of
the public service rOttenness is found
whenever the searching probe of in
vestigatiOn is applied and yet the
discoveries thus far made are in great
measure due to accident and to the
reckless habits of officials, who, from
| long immunity and consciousness of
| power, exposed themselves to detec-
ton.
! The late Secretary of War is inn
peached; the Secretary of the Navy is
likely to experience the same inflic-
ton; the interior Department is
combed with jobbery in the Indian
Bureau, the Land Office, the Pension
Office, and the Patent Office the Post
Office Department is stuffed with
straw bids and cOllusive contracts ;the
Treasury under Boutwell, and Rich
ardsOn was a mass OF false entries,
| forced balances, over issues, and de-
ccptivc bookkeeping the Department
of Justice bas been political M
chime for prosecuting opponents of
Grantism, swindling the Treasury, and
enriching the worst class of scoundrcls
that ever disgraced the American
name and the State Department has
been used to bctray American policy
and to furnish enormous fees for the
Secretary's sOn-in law.
1t was quite natural with Presi-
dent who worships the golden calf,
and with Cabinet made up of SUBJ
! servient clerks, who were glad to reg
lister his cdicts, that Rings should have
been organized to control the political
power OF the Administration. The
Babcocks, Shepherds, KilbOurns, Nc
Donalds, Joyces, aud that crew,
formed the kitchen Cabinet, surround
ed Grant socially, and almost captured
the Government. They had access to
all the secrets. suppressed what they
pleased and crushed out opposition.
In Congress the voice of the minority
was stified by Blaine, who as speaker
was o despOt. lie had two motives TO
guide him, first his own success, and
secondly the success of the party.
Though the TWO were combined, he
made the second always subscrvient
to the first. The Senate was govern
ell by few leaders, whose rule of
action was 10 give a clean bill OF health
to every injected partisan like Pome-
roy, and to whithwash every subject
of investigation like the sale of arms
TO France, or the Leet and Stocking
monopoly.
Thus the Government has been run
as close corporation, in the exclusive
interest of ofiicehOlders, rings, con-
tractors and and rascals. The greater
the thief the more recognized his po-
-sition. Grant set the example Of be-
ing a guest of Boss Shepherd, and
drove through the streets of the capi-
tai with Mcdonald by his side, who is
now philosophizing over human vani-
ties in the cell of a penitentiary.-
Grant knew him to he Il thief, for his
friend Ford had told HIM so ; but that
fact made no difference. AS McDon-
aid said, the goose hung altitudlem.
The chiefs who were highest in ia
vor with Grant and his Senate at
Washington planned the conspiracy
by which the Freedmen's Bank was
plundered of nearly all its deposits,
and the poor negroes were cheated out
of their hard earnings. Henry ID.
Cooke, Gen. o. 0. Howard, Hallett
Kilbourn, John 0. Evans, Lewis Clep-
hane, Boss Shepherd, w. S. Hunting
ton, George w. Stickney, j. w. AL
word, and other familiar Ring names,
stripped this institution OF millions,
and left as securities" Seneca Stone
scrip and other trash, in which Grant
was large stockholder without hav-
ing paid dime for his shares. The
conspiracy TO rob the bank by these
knaves, fully illuminated by the Sun
years ago, is now plain to every eye,
and every one concerned in it ought
to be indicted. The books are multi
lated, the accounts are purposely con-
fused, and there is every token of
deliberate plan 10 steal the money, in
which the officers and trustees OF the
bank were implicated. 1t is wholly
impossible that there could have been
any honest supervision or any desire
TO protect the unfortunate depositors,
i'll presence of the debris which is left
AS the proof of organized robbery.
The Government printing office has
turned out to be nothing but the same
cnOrHous fraud which the Sun has eX-
posed repeatedly during the last three
or four years. Fraudulent books, sup
pressed entries of sales, diversion OF
public money,and stealing on all sides
are but part of the system which has
long made that Office scandal and q
shame, and cost the country millions
of dollars. 1t has been maintained by
corruption in Congress, and would
haye continued undisturbed but for
the change in the House OF Isepresent-
ativcs.
Yet with all these developments and
others which are sure TO come, the
surface has been barely scratched.
The bottom facts cannot possibly be
reached aud the whole truth known
until this Administration is driven
root and branch out of power and the
the Republican party is crushed into
powder. The two are inseparably
connected together, in spite of any
personal autagonisms which may ex-
list, or the individual purity of some
leaders and many followers. Corrup-
ton has so spread through the whole
machinery OF Government that reform
is impracticable without new heads
and new hands. The Republican par
fy m'isf be 0nnihiiafed. There is no
other safety.-N. y. Sun.
The Radical papers are already en-
gagged in trying to get up u scare over
the Pope. They assert that Hon. VIM.
+. Fink, the Democratic candidate for
Supreme Judge, in this State, ia a de-