The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1876-08-10
with the purposes enunciated in that

with the purposes enunciated in that
platform.
The institutions of our country have
been sorely tried by the exigencies of
civil war, and since the peace, by a
selfish and corrupt management of
public affairs which has so shamed us ,
before civilized mankind. By unwise
and partial legislation every industry .
and interest of the people have been |
made to suffer, and in the executive |
department of the government, dis
honesty, rapacity and venality have !
debauched the public service. Men /
known to be unworthy have been pro-
NOTED, whilst others have been degrad-
ed for fidelity to official duty. Public
Office has been made the means of pri- |
vate profit, and the country has been
offended to see a class of men who |
boast the Friendships of the sworn pro-
tectors of the State amassing fortunes
by defrauding the public treasury and
by corrupting the servants of the peO-
PIE.
Iu such crisis of the history of the
country, l rejoice that the convention
at st. Louis has SO nobly raised the
standard of reform. Nothing can be
well with us or with our affairs until
the public conscience, shocked by the
enormous evils and abuses which pre-
vail, shall have demanded, and COM
PEELED an unSparing reformation of our
national administration, in its head
and in its members. In such refOr-
nation the removal of q single ticer,
exen the President is comparatively
trifiing matter. if the system which he
represents, and which has fOstered him
as he has fOstered it, is suffered to re-
| Nhn a. oil M
be made the ScapegOat for the enOrmI-
ties of the system which inf1icts the
public service, and threatens the de-
struction of our Institutions. In some
respects / hold that the present Exec
| tive has been the victim rather than
the author of that vicious system
! Congressional and party leaders have
been stronger than the President. No
one man could have created it, and the
| 1t is thoroughly corrupt and must be
swept remorselessly away by the Sc
lection of a government composed of
elements entirely new, and pledged to
radical reform.
The first work of reform must evil
| IDENTIFY be the restoration OF the normal
operation of the constitution of the
United States, with all its amend
mentS. The necessities of war cannot
be pleaded in Il time of peace. The
right of local self-government, as guar
anteed by the constitution, must be
every here restored, aud the central
ism, almost personal Imperialism, that
has been practiced, must be done away
with, or the first principles of the Re-
public will be lost.
Our financial system of expedients
must be reformed. Gold and silver are
the real standards of value, and our
national currency will not be u perfect
medium of exchange until it shall be
convertible at the pleasure of the hOl-
der. As 1 have heretofore said, no one
desires u return to specie payments
more earnestly than do, but do not
believe that il will or can be reached,
in harmony with the interests of the
people, by artificial measures for the
contraction of the currency, any more
than believe that wealth, or perma-
nent prosperity can be created by an
initiation of the currency.
The laws of fiuance cannot be dis
regarded with impunity. The finan-
cial policy of the government. if, in
deed it deserve the name of policy, at
all, has been in disregard of those laws,
and, therefore, has disturbed CONNER
cial and business confidence, as we'll as
hindered u return to specie payments.
One feature of that policy was the re-
sumption clause of the act of 1878,
which has embarrassed the country by
the anticipation of compulsory re-
sumption for which no preparation has
been made, and without any assurance
that it would be practicable. The re-
peal of that clause is necessary that
the natural operation of financial laws
may be restored, that the business OF
the country may be relieved from its
disturbing and depressing influence,
and that a return to specie payments
may be facilitated by the substitution
of wiser and more prudent legislation,
which shall mainly rely OH a judicious
system of public economies and official
retrenchments, and above all. OH the
promotion of prosperity i'll all the in
dustries of the people.
l do not understand the repeal of the
resumption clause of the act of 1875 to
be backward step in our return to
specie payment, but the recovery of a
false step; and although the repeal
may for time be prevented, yet the
determination of the Democratic party
on the subject has now been fully de-
clared There should be no hinder
ances put in the way of return to
specie payments as such hinderance.
Says the platform of the st, Louis
convention: we denOunce the re-
sumption clause OF the oct OF 1910, ana
demand its repeal"
economy, by official retrenchments,
and by wise finance, enabling US to
accumulate the precious metals, re-
sumption at an early period is possible
without producing an artificial search
ty of currency, or disturbing public or
commercial credit, and that these re-
forms, together with the restoration of
pure government, will restore general
confidence, encourage the useful in
vestnlent of capital, furnish employ
ment to labor. and relieve the country
from the paralysis of hard times.
With the industries of the people
there have been frequent interference,
and our platform truly says that many
industries have been impoverished to
SubSidiZe a few; our commerce has
been degraded to an inferior position
on the high seas manufactures have
been diminished, agriculture has been
embarrassed, and the distress Of the
industrial classes demands that these
things shall be reformed.
The burdens of the people must also
he lightened by great change in our
system of public expenses. The prof
ligate expenditures, which increased
taxation from So per capita in 1860, to
SIS in 1870, tells its own story of our
need of fiscal reform.
Our treaties with foreign powers
should also be revised and amended,
in so far as they leave citizens of for
eign birth in any particular, less Sc
cure i'm any countryon earth than they
would he if they had been born upon
our own soil; and the iniquitous Coo
lie syseem which, through the agency
of wealthy companies, imports Chi
nese bondsmen and establishes a spe-
cies of slavery, and interferes with the
Just rewards of labor on our Pacific
coast, should he utterly abolished.
In the reform of our civil service 1
most heartily endorse that section of
the platform which declares that the
civil service ought not to be subject to
| al, .,fn x.1a. op1 hot