American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-07-22

tons are not insignificant. What /;
pity that the Andes bar her from
the Pacific Coast! With her mea
sureless territory aud scant popula
ton, she might stretch out her hanG
to what is POLITICALLY called the DER
teeming population of Asia, anG
thus tap off our Chinese immigra
ton, remove that element of con
tentiOn from our politics, and let Us
have our Presidential elections il
peace. c. S. A.
| 4 REPRESENTATIVE REFORAER.
Amy attempt to detract from Gov
Tilden's real and unquestionable
services in the cause of reform il
likely to rebound to his advantage
in the same way that the opposition
of "Boss" Kelly and the Tammany
roughs helped ON his nomination al
st. Louis. 1t will only serve to
direct public attention more closely
upon the magnitude Of the work he
has done and the courage and ability
he brought to difficult undertak.
ing. Courage aud ability are essen.
tial qualities in q reform leader.
Without them the overthrow of the
Tweed dynasty of the Tammany
ring would have been an impOssi>
bility. Now, after the work is done,
and the ring cOnspirators have been
driven from power and into exile
and disgrace, it is difficult to con-
ceive how firmly rooted their power
once was Yet for years they ruled
the city of New York absolutely,
dispensing place and power at their
pleasure, plundering the public
treasury at will, and Haunting the
evidences of their IIl-gOtten wealth
with insolent ostentation in the eyes
of the community. Barnard and
Cardozo were then upon the bench,
and Tweed, Sweeney and Connolly
governed the city and divided the
plumber wrung from the taxpayers
with Garvey: the l'lasterer, and In
gersOll, the chair-maker, and the
other Instruments and accOmpliceS
in their frauds. All these men pro-
fessed to be Democrats, and were
high in the councils of the party.
Unmoved by any partisan consider
alton Mr.. Tilden, himself a Democrat,
united with committee OF citizens
Of both parties to unearth and ex
pose the frauds and punish the per-
petratOrs. His saEacity and skill,
alike professional and administers
tive, soon placed him 10 the front
rank of the reformers. He had
more than others the brains and
the nerve requisite for the task.
One by one the corrupt judges were
impeached and removed one re-
signed and another killed himself to
escape impeachment. The guilty
city officials, including the great
"Boss" himself, were lodged in
prison or fed the country in dis
grace. When the work of munich
pal reform was thus fairly inaugur-
ated, the people of New York know
ing the equally corrupt condition of
their State politics under Albany
rule and the need of reform there,
elected Mr.. Tilden Governor. He
was elected over an able and pOpu-
lar Governor dix of the Republi
can party, who was a candidate for
re election, and against whose per-
snnal administration no charges had
been brought. The people of New
York wanted a man, however, for
an aggressive campaign, who would
not only not steal himself, but who
would keep others from stealing
too. The whole country knows
what a relentless war Gov. Tilden
has waged upon the canal thieves,
the most powerful "ring'' in State
politics in New York. 1t was just |
such another campaign as Mr.. Bris-
tow was waging i'll his Department |
1T Washington against the Internal
Revenue thieves and the whiskey
ring. Thus it happened that as the
need for reform in the general ad-
of the government be-
came more strongly felt, and the
lemand for such reform grew
throughout the country, public at
IGNITION was fixed upon these two
men, Governor Tilden and Secretary
8ristow, as most conspicuOusly fitted
or the task. They became in their
parties the representa-
ives of the reform sentiment OF the
Mr.. Bristow failed to re-
.eive the Republican nomination.,
,ut the reform feeling in the party
vas strong enough to defeat Morton
md Ccnkling and Blaine, and give
he preference to a man like Gov.
Hayes, against whom, if not a typi-
al representative refOrmer like
rilden or Bristow, at least no evil
vas spoken. The Democratic party
vas more fortunate in it's effort to
,lace itself in sympathy with the I
sentiment of the country,
nd instead of hackneyed promises
nd stereotyped professions of re-
orn, gave the country as its candi-
late a man whose whole public
ecora is that of an able, Jealous
nd successful refofMer.
party which asks Iu. ehanee ct ,
men in order that there may be a
bange of methods and of measures
must be particular about the men
whom it puts forward as its candi-
ates, whether the proposed field
f reform be municipal, State OF
nthar ,HalifinaI nrnoni1.,