The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-09-06

| We demand that all custom house taxa
tiCn shall he only for revenue. Reform is
necessary in the scale of public expenses,
| Federal State and municipal.
FEDERAL TAXATION HAS SWOLLEN
! from $40 600 coo gold in 1860 TO $3.50. 000, :
600 currency in 1870; our aggregate taxa
ton from 5l54,0G0,00 gold in 1860 to
$50 900, 900 currency in 1870, or in one de-
cade from less than FIVE dollars per head
TO more than eighteen dollars per head
Since Tie peace the people have paid to
their tax gathereIs more than thrice the
sum of the national debt, and more than
twice that sum for the Federal Govern
ment alone. We demand a vigorous fru-
gality in every department and from every
officer of the Government. Reform is ne
cessary to put stop to tue prOtligate
waste of public lands and their diversion
from actual settlers by the party in power,
which has squandered two hundred mil
! lions of acres upon railroads alone, and
out of more than twice that aggregate
has disposed of less than a sixth directly
to tilers of the soil. Reform is necessary
| to correct the
and the errors of our treaties and our di-
plomacy which have stripped our fellow
citizens of foreign birth and kindred race
recrossing the Atlantic of the shield of
American citizenship, and have exposed
our brethren of the Pacific slope to the in
cnrsions Of race not sprung from the
Same great parent st0ck-in fact now de-
MED by law citizenship through naturali-
cation, as being neither accustomed to the
tradition of Il progressive civilization, or
| exercised in liberty under equal laws
| We denounce the policy which thus dis
cards the liberty loving German, and toll
crates the revival of the coolie trade in
Monaghan women imported for immoral
purposes, and Monaghan men hired to
perform servile labor contracts, and de
nand such modification of the treaty with
the Chinese Empire. or such legislation
by Congress within q constitutional limi-
tation, as shall prevent the further imp0r-
taton or Immigration of the Monaghan
| race. Reform IS necessary, and can never
he effected but by making it the control
| ling issue Of the elections, and lifting it
above the two false issues with which the
oftice-holding class and the party in power
seek to smother it, The false issues with
which they would enkindle sectarinn
strife in respect to the public schools of
which the establishment and support be-
long exclusively to the several States, and
which the Democratic party has cherished
| from their foundation and resolved to
| maintain without partiality or preference
for any class, sect or creed, and without
contributing from the treasury to any
The false issue BY which they seek to
! light anew the dying enbers of sectional
hate between two kindred peoples once
unnatnrally estranged, bnt now reunited
| in one indivsble Republic and common
| destiny.
REFORM IN civil SERVICE.
! Reform is necessary in the civil service.
| Experience proves that efficient, cConomi-
cal conduct of the governmental business
| is not possible if it's civil service lie sub
jected to change at every election, and be
Il purse offered a the ball0t-b0X as brief
reward of party zeal, instead of posts of
honor assigned for proved competency and
| held for fidelity in the public employ
That the dispensing of patronage should
neither he Il tax upon the time of all our
public men, nor the instrument of their
ambition. Here again professions, falsi-
fled in the performances, attest that the
party in power can work out 10 practica
| ol Sdi uedt loiolui'
REFORM IN HIGH PLACES.
Reform is necessary even more in the
higher grades of public service. Presi-
dent, FicePresident, Judges, Senators,
Representatives, Cabinet officers - these
and all others in authority are the PEG.
pies servants. Their offices are not a
private perquisite; they are a public
trust. When the annals of this Republic
proclaim the disgrace and censure of q
Vice-President; late Speaker of the
House of Representatives marketing his
ruling as presiding officer; three Sena-
tors profiting secretly by their votes as
w-makers; five Chairmen of the leading
committees of the late House of Represen.
tatiyes exposed in jobhery; late Secreta.
ry of the Treasury forcing balances in the
public accounts; a late Attorney General
misappropriating public funds; Secreta
~ of the Navy enriches or enrichine
friends by per centages levied off the profits
of contractors with his department.; an
Ambassador to England concerned in
a dshonorable speculation; the Presidents
private Secretary barely escaping convic
tlon, upon trial. for guilty completely in
frauds upon the revenue; a Secretary Of
fessed misdemeanors; the demonstration il
complete that the first step must be The
public choice of honest men from another
party lest the disease of one politica
organization upset the whole body polite
and thereby making no change of men OF
party, we can get no change of measures
and no reform.
All these abuses, wrongs and crimes
the product of sixteen years of ascendancy
of the Republican party, create a necessity
for reform confessed by the Republicans
themselves. But their reformers are vo
ted down in convention and displaced
from the Cabinet The party's mass o1
honest votes is powerless to resist the
eighty thousand Office-holders, It's leaders
and guides, Reform can only be had by q
peaceful civic revolution, We demand a
change of system q change of administra
tration, change Of parties, that we may
have change of men, .
/ 800 you take trade-dollars al
par7" asked a stranger of a barkeepel
in Main street saloon this morning,
Certainly; take anything" replied the
accommodating tumber Singer
'tWell; then, give me some whisky,
said the stranger, The bar keeper SCI
out the bottle and glass, and the stran'
ger poured out and swallowed his
drink and started for the door, ''Hold
on there; where's the trade dollar?'