, 1876-08-26

would give the whole OF it for the old
homemade maxim of live within your
income" This reform will he resisted
at every step, but it must he pressed per
sistently. We see to-day the immediate
representatives Of the people in one
branch of Congress while struggling to
reduce expenditures, compelled to con.
front the menace OF the Senate and Ex-
ecutive, that unless objectionable ap.
propriations be consented to the opera.
tions of government thercundcr shall
suffer detriment or cease. In m. judg-
ment an amendment to the constitution
ought to he devised, separating into DIS
tinct bills appropriations for the various
departments of the public service, and
excluding from each bill all approprla-
tious for other Objects and all indeprnd-
ent legislation. In that way alone can
thu revisory power of each of the !No
houses and of the Executive be preserved
and exempted from the moral distress
which often compes assent to Obj ction.
able appropriations rather than stop the
wheels OF government. An accessory
cause, enhancing distress in husin' ss, is
to be found in the systematic and insup
portable misgovernment imposed upon
the States of the South. Besides the or
dinary effects of an ignorant and dis
honest administration, it has inflicted
upon them enormous issuesot fraudulent
bonds, the scanty avails of which were
wasted or stolen, and the existence of
which is public discredit, tending to
bankruptcy or repudiation. Taxes gen
orally oppressive, in some instances have
confscated the entire income of property
and totally destroyed its market value.
1t is impossible that these evils should
not react on the prosperity Of the whole
country. Nobler motives OF humanity
concur with the material interests Of all
in requiring every obstacle to be re-
moved to complete durable reconcilia.
tion between a kindred population, once
unnaturally cstranged on the basis re
cognized by the St. Louis platform. The
Constitution of the United States with
its amendments Is universally accepted
as a final settlement OF the controversies
which engendered the civil war; But in
aid Of result so benefcent, the moral
influence Of good citizens, as well as
every government authority, ought to
be lent not alone to maintain their just
equality before the law, but likewise to
establish cordial fraternity and good
will among citizens, whatever their race
or color, who are now united in the one
destiny of common self government. If
the duty shall be assigned to me, I
should not fail to exercise the powers
with which the laws and constitution Of
our country clothe its chief magistrate
and to protect all its citizens, whatever
their former condition, in every political
and personal right.
Reform is necessary, declares the St.
Louis convention, to establish sound
currency; to restore public credit and
maintain national honor; and 1t goes on
to demand u judicious system Of prepa-
ration by public economies, by official
retrenchment, and by wise finances, which
shall enable the nation to assure the
whole world of it's readiness to meet any
of it's promises at the call Of the creditor
entitled to payment. The object de-
manded by the convention is the resump-
ton of specie payments on legal tender
notes OF the United States that would
not only restore public credit and main
tain the national honor, but establish
sound currency for the people. The
methods by which this object is to be
pursued and means by which this object
is to be attained are disclosed by what
the convention demands for the future
and by what it denounces in the past.
The resumption of specie payments by
the government of the United States on
it's legal tender notes would establish
specie payments by all banks on all their
notes. The official statement made on
the 18th Of May shows the amount of
bank notes to be s3O, 900, 900, less $2,Ooo,-
900 held by themselves. Against these