Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-08-25
Democratic ROsIl

| On the evening Of the day Samuel j.
| Tilden was nominated for President by the
Democratic party, his friends gave him
a serenade, and this 'finveterate bachelor
OF sixty-six" made a speech. In that
speech, like an ill-omened bird, he fouled his
own nest:
what do we find in the public admin
lstratlohI Everywhere abuses, peculations,
frauds and cOrruptiOns, until We are almost
ashamed of the institutions of our country,
and instead of holding them up as exam
pies for the imitation Of the oppressed peo-
pie Of other countries, we are confessipg
them as scandal in the eyes of mankind.
we shell find the office holding class have
become so numerous, powerful and un-
scrupulous that they assume to control the
elections, and if the people are Indifferent
or all equally divided, are liable to exert
corrupt influence sufficient to perpetuate
their own power.
Sat last wea are reaching the worst con-
dition Of the countries of the Old World.
The Government no longer EXISTS for the
people; the people exist only for the Gov
ernment. Our Centennial product is the
evils, license and wrongs to escape which
our ancestors abandoned their homes in the
Old world and planted themselves in the
wilderness"
Senator Morton, in his speech, at Indian
apOlis, onthe 18th inst, replied to this base
SANDER so completely and effectuaIly as to
forever silence all claim on the part of
Democratic politicians at least to any su-
periOr virtue, and to put to rest the dema-
gogic howl that we have fallen upon the
worst time in the history Of our country.
1t is so easy to point to recent corruptions
and so hard to recall the past, so few Re
publicans know of the Democratic steal
ing, as that party never uncovers its own
rotenness, and so many know that whisky
thieves have fourished during the past few
years by means of the light thrown by Re
pubHcans themselves, that many good,
pure, honest men have come to believe this
railroad wreeker and his allies, when they
cry out that the public service is debauch-
ed, public morals deteriorated and the
country on the brink Of ruin. Now, it was
very unkind for the Indiana statesman to
stifle this war cry of the Democracy. It
is their only stock in trade, and by it they
hope to win the coming election. He says
that on the 9th of February last the Senate,
by resolution, called upon the Secretary of
the Treasury for a statement of all balan-
ces due the United States from defalcation,
or failures to make settlement, beginning
on the first Of January, 1884. The answer
was sent to the Senate, which showed q
loss upon the books Of the Treasury De.
partment to be q, ,266, 900, a large part of
which is nominal and not real. This
amount is about IL per cent. on the dis
bursements
''The losses on the $1,000 of disburse-
ments were, in the administration Of
Jackson, $10.55; Van Buren, $21. Is; Har-
rison, $10.37; Polk, 1884. Taylor and
Fillmore, $6.64; Pierce, 1886; Buchanan,
nearly $6.98; Lincoln, $1.41; johnson, 4S
cents; Grant, the first four years, 40 cents;
the second four years, 26 cents-shOwing q
constant decline, which is owing in a large
degree to the improved manner Of keeping
the accounts; and that is due very largely
to the committees on Finance and Appro-
priatiOns, who have introduced legislation
here which has compelled much greater ae-
euracy and responsibility
i'm the pure days Of Andrew jackson the
public officials steal ten dollars on every
thousand disbursed, while in the corrupt
days of Grant they steal 90 cents on every
thousand, and yet this is the time when
the 'wolf gaunt and hungry" finds every
where ''abuses, peculatiOnS, frauds and
cOrruptions, " and he is about to restore the
the country to the purity Of the good old
Democratic days Of Jackson, Vanburen and
James Buchanan.