The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1876-10-26

outside of that purpose, in the field of
statesmanship, without definite princi-
Piles of any kind. 1t has formed no
plans. and no competent man has stepped
from It's ranks to take the helm of State.
1t had been essentially a party of prom
ises, rather than of performances. 1t had
been more devoted to partisan than to
patriotic measures, and had shown espe-
cial incompetence in its attempt to settle
the question of finance When the
country emerged from the war it was
saddled with so many debts that it
would have damaged the intellect of
Wall street broker to have made an es
innate of them. The first duty of the
dominant party was to have consolida-
ted them into one great debt, bearing as
low rate of interest as possible. But
how had the financial managers of
the nation dealt with this question? ?
Why, by a master stroke of folly,
they had attempted to. pay off
the debts. OF course, these obligations
should have been cancelled as soon as
was consistent with the welfare of the
country, but it was no time to pay off debt
when the nation was just emerging from
an exhausting war. 1t was time,
though, to reduce expenditures, and to
practice the most rigid economy, but the
dominant party while striving to pay off
debts already provided for, plunged
into such extravagances that in this last
year of its power the expenses of the Ad-
ministration had been $100, ,000, 900 more
thanin the first. Only by the exertions
of Democratic House of Representa-
tives had the country been saved an an
nual outlay of $50, ,000,0 900. The mode of
procedure of the Republican party in
endeayoring to cancel the national
debt was. like the surgeons
application of the tourniquet
to one artery in order to quicken
the circulation elsewhere, with this differ
ence, that the surgeon performed the
operation on diseased part to prod uce
health, while the dominant party applied
itsatrocious instrument to healthy place
to produce disease. I" Do you want proof
of it, you business men of New York f'
asked the speaker. Where are your
clipper ships that one sailed upon every
sea and bore American commerce to
every land? Taxed out of existence ;
and this incubus of taxation still strad-
dies your necks, as the legs of the old
man of the sea straddled the neck of
Sinbad the Sailor"
Senator Morton. he went on, was once
hard-money man, for he had all his life
boxed the compass of political opinions
with amazing facility. proposed that
day should be named for the resump-
tion of specie payment, but in Congress
he was laughed to seorn. He persevered
for time, and Congress considered the
subject for five years. And what was
the result of this protracted deliberation
Why, probably on the principle that like
cures like, they resolved to remedy the
evil of a plethora of paper money by
issuing great ded more of it.
Mr.. Goodwin then went on to speak of
the urgent necessity of reform in the
civil service. 1t had gone on, he said,
growing from bad to worse, year after
year, until Mr.. Jenckes, of Rhode ISL
and, prominent Republican, had
branded it as the most vicious and cor
rupt system on the face of the earth.
This pernicious system it was that placed
men in offices whose duties they were
utterly incapable of performing. Mark
Twain said the other day that IL put fel-
lows into the custom house who didn't
know bill of lading from the transit of
Venus, having never seen the one or
the other. 1t put intricate public docu-
ments into the hands of men who had
never succeeded in wrestling with q
washerwoman's bill without getting bad
ly thrown.
Mr.. George W. Curtis, Mr.. Goodwin
continued, had worked hard for several
years to institute reform in the civil ser.
vice, but his efforts were in vain, and he
finally retired disguised, under gentle
ripple of smiles from his fellow Repub
lican Congressman. All of them insisted
that the civil service of the United State:
was one of the best, and few protested
that it was the very best in the whole
world. But how, indeed, could Congress
be expected to reform others when il
was so badly in need of reformation itself
Four yearsago prominent Republi
can said, 81 Cur party is rotten from rint
to core" -Four years ago Charlie
Sumner denounced the San Domingo jot
as monstrous iniqaity. Four year
ago Carl Schurz said the sale of arms Il
France had disgraced the United State
in the eyes of the civilized world. Fou
years ago Mr.. Jacob Cox was shoulderet
out because he attempted to inaugural
reform. And four years ago, in 1872
many of its best and most honorabl
, members left the ranks of the Republi
can party, utterly disgusted with tn
, corruption into which they saw
sinking.
|. Yet the Administration four years az
was as an angel of light and purity com
pared with the dark and sinister form
it has since assumed. For before 1877
the bayonets of the United States arm
were not considered necessary to infl
ence elections and overthrow appoin
ments fairly made by thereople. 1tw'
since that time, too, that the Speaker
Il the House of Congress had shown by h
e own letters, that he had been the helIt
I and supporter of jobbers, whose favo
he had secured by the influence of b
official osition.
Rebel Claims.