New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-12-26
LOOKING At THE DARK SIDE.

| come TO the lamentaDle CONCLUSION UidJ OUTS Is
the most depraved and least responsible
newspaper press in all the world" We are
Overwhelmed with debt" The public service
is inefficient and disordered." Legislatures
are "venal." The paper money is "depre-
"ciated." "Fifteen years ago." groans MI.
| Field, eve were advancing with the stride OF
ga giant to the dominion of the seas; to-day
"the trident is in other hands," The patron
age of the Government has been perverted
from public to private ends" There are
Especial charters and "mOnopOies," and
"subsdes to corporations" and "glfts to
"private institutions Offices are too many
I" in number" and "too many are unworthily
bestowed" Moreover, there are "Open and
"1agrant breaches of trust in those who are
"clothed with the administration of public
property "The corruption of American
"politics" bids fair to destroy the American
Republic. We are in very bad way.
All this is by no means pretty reading for
the pleasant Christmas season, and We are
almost afraid to reckon the number of dinners
which the forebodIngs of Mr.. Field have
spoiled 1t is true that after his dreadful dag
nosis of the disease, Mr.. Field is kind enough
to prescribe remedy. We are to recover by
plain that if we grant no more subsidies to
private corporations, permit no legislation
which has for its object 81 the pecuniary profit
of any class or person." ii we abolish all
Offices which are "not necessary to the public
service" if we appoint to place only those
who are fitted for it, we shall be safe and
sound. This is as much as to say that If we
abandon all the undesirable things of which
Mr.. Field complains, there will be no occa-
sion to complain of them any more, z. +. d.
We shall expcnd no time and no ink III con-
troverting position so entirely unassailable.
And when SIR. Field adds that we must en-
tighten the voter and arouse his conscience"
we are lost in wonder at the almost super
natural clearheadedness of this vigorous writer.
If we are virtuous we certainly shall not be
vicious, and il we are wise we shall not make
political asses of ourselves. All that goes
without saying; but still we are gratlhed 10
find Mr. Field saying it, because II he dld not
have some assuring consolation OF this KIND,
he would be in situation in comparison WIN
which that of the much suffering Job was jolly
one.
In the depth Of his grief, in the loudncss OF
bis lamentations in the prOfusiOn and sadness
of his tears and In the abandonment of his
DESPAIR Cf in nothing else) Mr.. David Dudley
Field reminds us of Mr.. Edmund Burke during
the French Revolution. We have suspicion
that Mr.. Field has no real faith in his own
prescriptions, and hardly believes that the pa
iient will take his medicines Upon this point
it is no more than All act of Christian and
Of Christmas charity to rcassure him. Unless
the American people have the courage and
the honesty to carry out Mr.. fleids pan
of reform, there Is little Use I'D
his propoundng it; IL they are so endowed,
| they are in no need of his exhortatlons, and
| the room which he occupies III The international
might well have been reserved for something
of more value. We have the painful pleasure
of agreeing with Mr. Field in his opinion that
matters are not rs they should be. AT the
same time we remember other ships OF State
than our own which have encountered storms
| quite as furious and quite IA dangerous, ana
which have weathered them. The truth when
history teaches, if it teaches anything, Is that
for every people, as for every man whose life
is to amount to anything, there must be gales
| IA well az Gains, dangers as well as securities,
| trials rs well rs triumphs We are passing
through crisis which croakers may consider
lust IA fearful az they please, but we are not
| by any means the first people so tired; and IL
we ara not wrecked we shall not be the first
| people to escape such calamity. Maudlln com
paiut, wild shrieks Of terror low spirited
| predictions, elegies, monOdies, epitaphs-these
| are not what just now we need. brave and
| manly courage, an abiding confidence III the
| national resources patriotic devotion ready
| for any sacrifice, honesty, honor, conscience
| these only can save lis, and we heartily believe
that they will. II Mr.. Field had faith in the
nopular heart, and intellect large enough
to Justify an appeal to them. his
natural language would be that of cheerful
hone. The Government will be maintained-for
what is there to take its placef Certainly we
| shall not tolerate anarchy-we are too thor
| ougbly of the AnglO-Saxon strain for that.
| Surely we shall not submit to dictatorship
| all the instincts and traditions of the country
would be against it. The people, from habit
| and a conviction of its merits, approve just
| that form of governments combination OF
| the Executive and the Representative-which
| the Constitution establishes. Please God, that
| is precisely the form of government which an
honest, intelligent, and wel-educated cOnstitu-
| ency will he able to preserve. Nobody need
| fear that when the time comes for action the
neople will not act, and nobody need appre-
| bend that they will act unwisely. At present
! there ia no occasion for vigorous demOnstra-
| ton, but should the time arrive for that, it
will not be wanting. If the men who manage
affairs mt Washington suppose that they are
NOT watched, they are miserably mistaken if
| they think that there is not a peaceful and
legal way of getting rid of them, they do not
| II =