The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1876-07-20

the great charter OF these our y y jIanee
sree PEOPLE d practice also that eternal YglanCe
Lic6 rs tba mice al cur Liberty. Reform IS neces-
sarv 10 rebuild and establish 70 inc heaL1s y ~
whole people the union eleven years Wy otrats
Tescued nom the danger Of corrupt cen1allSsln
which after fnhicting upon ten states the IHIsSLy
eff carpet-bag tylannies has honey
OF the federal government ltSeiL WIZ ts9l tb
waste and fraud states and munlelpai!SieS 49,
the eontaeion Of miErule and locked last the pI"S
petty Of I'm industrious people IN the ParaS SS u
| ! ard times. ,,,., "A ,,,vrsprv
yasinra the public credit and maintain the haEohal
honor We denounCe the failure for gu thesS eleysn
wears 10 make good the promise OF tns 4eBal ~
notes. which aie changing standard o. NatuS Ia ~, ~
hands az the peeple, and the non payment Of WmCn
| IL disregard Of the plighted latin 81 the hSso,
We deuOnuee the iinpr0vidence when 10 elS veI1
wears of peaee has taken from the people, IN Ie9eLuI
fsxes thirteen times the whole amount Q! the eBh'
tender notes. and EquAndered four times TITS SUN ~
useless expense without accumulatng any Lese ng
for their redemption We GenoG .ba} nsT,y Which
| during eleven years OF peace has made NO aaVanCo
| toward resumption and preparation Tor fesunp-
ton but instead has INSTRUCTED resum IN ~. "
| wasting our resources and eZhausting all our sur
| plus income ana while annually protesting 70 IN
| tend speedy return to specie payments nae aIhu
ally enacted fresh b ndrances thereto az sucn q
| hindrance we denounce the resumption clause OF
| the act Of 1875 and we here demand It's repeal
We demand judicious system Of Preparntlonl ~
public economies, BY official relrenchment' ana Dy
wise finance which shall enable the nation soon to
assure the whole world of its perfect ability anu us
perfect readiness to meet any Of Its promises ~ te
call of the creditor entitled to payment. we pc
ieye such SYSTEM well devised, and above all, IN
trusted TO competent hands for execution, Creauhg
at no time an artificial scarcity of currency ana az
| no time alarming the public mind into WlthdIaW-
! al of that yaster machinery Of credit by when
ninetv-6ye per cent OF all business transactions IS
| perfofmed a system open to the public, ana IN.
spiring general confidence, would, from the Gay OF
its adoption bring healing on its wings TO all our
harrassed industries, set in motion the wheels OF
| commerce. manufactures and the mechanical arts,
restore employment to labor, and renew In all Its
national sources, the prosperity OF the PeoIae. Ed
Reform Is necessary in the sum and mode OF 1eo.
ersl taxation to the end that capital may be SCI
free from distrust and labor lightly burdehe9. we
denounCe the present tariff levied upon neaI!y A9ur
thousand articles, as masterpiece Of injustice IN
equality and false pretense. 1t yields dWlndnhg!
not yearly rising revenue; IL has lmPoYeIlsheu
many industries to substitute few; 1t PTonolts nm
ports that might purchase the products OF American
labor il has degraded American commerce from the
FIRST to an inferior rank upon the high seas II mas
cut down the sales of American manufactures at
home and abroad and depleted the returns OF
American agriculture; it Osts the people i've times
more than it produces to the treasury obsrcts pro"
eesses of production ind wastes the fruits OF labor
IL nFOmofeg fraud fosters smuggling, enr1ches dis
honest officials and ba1krupts honest merchants,
We demand that all CustomhOuse taxation shall be
only for revenue.
Reform is neces airy in the scale Of public
expense, federal, state and municipal. Our
federal taxation has swollen from sixty mil
lion dollars in gold in 1860 to four hundred
and fifty million dollars in currency in 1870;
our aggregate taxation from one hundred
and ifty-fOur million dollars in gold in 1860
to seven hundred and thirty million dollars
in currency in 1870, or in one decade from
less than five dollars per head to more than
eighteen dollars per head. Since the peace
the people have paid their tax-gatherers
more than thrice the sum of the national
debt, and more than twice that sum for the
| federal government alone. We demand q
vigorous frugality in every department and
from every officer of the government.
Reform is necessary to put stop to the
profigate waste of public lands and their d.
versions from actual settlers by the party in
power, who have squandered two hundred
million acres of land upon railroads alone,
and out of more than thrice that aggregate
has disposed of less than a sixty directly to
| tillers Of the soil.
Reform is necessary to Orrect the omis-
81 Jns of a republican congl ess and errors OF
our treaties and of our diplomacy, which
have stripped cur fellow.citizens of foreign
| birth and kindred race, when recrossing the
| Atlantic, of the shield of American citizen.
ship, and have exposed our brethren of the
Pacific coast to the incursiOns of a race not
sprung from the same great parent stock,
and, in fact, now by law denied citizenship
through naturalization, because it is neither
accustomed to the traditions of progressive
civilization, nor exercised in liberty unaer
equal laws. We denOunce the policy which
thus discards the iberty-loving German,
and toIerates the renewal Of the Coolie trade
in Mongolia women imported for immoral
purposes, and MongOlian men, held to per.
form servile labor contracts. We, therefore,
demand such notifications of the treaty of
the Chinese empire, and such legislation by
congress, within constitutional limitation
as shall prevent the further importation or
immigration of the Mongolian race.
Reform is necessary, and can never be eff
feeted but by making it the controlling
issue of the elections and lifting it above
the two false issues with which the office.
holding class and party in power seek to
smother it. These false issues with which
thew would enkindle seCtarian strife in re-
spect 10 the public schools, OF which the
establishment and support belong exclusive.
ly to the several states, and which the
democratic party has cherished from their
foundation, and is resolved to maintain with.
out partially or creed, and without con-
tributing from the treasury to any false issue
by which they seek to light anew the dying
ernbers of sectional hate between kindred
peeple once unnaturally estranged but now
reunited in one indivisible republic and a
common DESTINY.
Reform is necessary in the civil service,
and experience proves that an efficient and
economical conduct of the governmental
business is not possible il its civil service be
subject to change ut every election; if it be
4 prize fought for at the ballot-box, or If II
be a reward OF party instead of posts OF
honor assigned for proved competency and
held for fidelity in the public employ. That
the dispensing Of patronage should neither
be q tax upon the time of all our public
men, nor the instrument OF their ambition.
Here again, professions falsifed in the per-
Torrance attest that the party in power can