National Republican., 1876-08-11

just $3.50, $50. iii less than stated by the Re-
tormCO candidate. For an ordinary NOR
tai to make mistake of = few thousand
dollars in a calculation like this might be
deemed a pardonable offense. The arith-
matte man of the New York World does
these things with impunity. But for the
Reform candidate for the Presidency to come
within SIX hundred and ffty-nine millions
five hundred and fifty thousand, seven hun
dred and seventeen dollars..of telling the
truth is absolutely shocking. What can you
expect from the frank and file' when leaders
are so reckless with facts and figures? We
suspect Mr.. Tilden just adopted the World
mans figures without query, in which case
we do not know whether his carelessness or
his ignorance are most to be deploreda
He omits to say that the excessive gov
ernmental Consumption, the waste OF
capital going on since the peace of 1865, :"
was and is wholly owing to the efforts of
his friends, aided by his own sympathy
and countenance, to destroy the Govern
ment from 1861 to 1865. In fact, there is a
tender point, to which he does not care to
call public attention in the North. His
reasoning, that the present depression in
business is the result of this governmental
consumption, Is more faulty than even his
figures. The greatest depression in busi-
ness ever witnessed in this country, when
more business men failed, with larger
liabilities than ever before or since known,
and when financial ruin was more wide
spread and irretrievable than at any other
period in our history, occurred in 1887,
under the administration of his old friend
and mentor, Van. .Buren, when there was no
national debt of any consequence and Fed
eral taxation was mere song compared
with the present.
The historian says that revulsion was
brought about by Sudden contractions and
expansions of the currency" the very
things Tilden and his friends propose to do
Ito unsettle the financial policy of the
Government by repeating the Resumption
Act"
Tilden's logic is pitiful indeed when he
depicts 'the immediate representatives of
'the people in one branch of Congress
struggling to reduce expenditures, com
''pelled to confront the menace of the Sen
cate and Executive Let us see how
these noble Representatives of the people"
have struggled and what they have accom-
plished. The House of Representatives
under Republican rule employed twenty
nine committee clerks. The Democratic
Inrea Gctr opI atc
along with thirty -three-four more than
were employed by the Republicans. This
is retrenchment and reform as practiced by
the Democracy. 1t shows how widely
their practice differs from their professions.
The figures show that this has been by far
the most expensive session of Congress
ever held in the United States.
The great struggle of these Representa-
tives Is not to reduce expenses but to
cripple and destroy, if possible, the Ex-
ecutive Departments of the Government.
If they controlled appointments to
positions in the Executive Departments
they would doubtless increase rather than
diminish the number Of clerks, just as they
have done where they have the power.
Their struggles for retrenchment and
reform are the merest sham and will de-
ceive nobody as badly as themselves, for
the .people see entirely through their
trickery. They propose to reduce the
number and pay of clerks in the Depart
ments, first to cripple the Office, and Sec
ondly, to injure Republicans. They don't
love the Government any better now than
when they were in armed rebellion
against it, and use their positions only for
the purpose of enriching themselves at
the expense of the people, as is shown by
the large number of bills introduced by
them for their relief amounting in the
aggregate to So, ,4S3, 241, ,361.