Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-06-10
THE DECAY OF PUBLIC MORALS.

Time was, in the memorable past Of
'ur State, (such was the high standard
IT public morais) that the word repu-
tiation in connection with State obi
cations. could not have been mention
ID, by men seeking to represent any
portion Of the people of Tennessee,
without exciting the derision, the scorn
and contempt of the entire communi-
ty. Since that day we have passed
through a fierce, prolonged, and ex-
hausting war, aud the usual results
have followed. Internecine war car
ries in its train. the right Of might
the abrogation of the right of prop
erty. The military. dominating the
civil law, take not only what war re-
quires, but the unprincipled find OPP
portunity to prey upon society for their
own private interests. covering up OPP
preston under the mantle Of military
necessity. Society, cut loose from its
old moorings drifts helplessly into NOR
al anarchy. Speculation and peculation
thrive on the miseries of the people,
and the war ends in deplorable i'm
poverishment in means and in morals.
In the reorganization of civil gov
eminent, the true Statesman finds diff
feulties to surmount at every step.
Not among the least is the idea, or
rather hope, entertained by some, that
war would pay off every obligation,
public and private. War took from
them their callings. their crops, their
forage and labor, and they argued that
these calamities had cancelled every
obligation, even when the means to
meet every debt was plainly visible
But in the rehabilitation of the State,
men gradually outgrew this feeling, for
it was but feeling. The good citizen
ever nerves himself to the task before
him, adjusts himself to the altered
conditions of his life, determining to
live in the performance Of all the du-
ties that sound principle and true
honor impose upon him. To this class
we believe the great majority of the
people of our State belong. But there
is always a corporals guard in every
community not governed by principle
in war or in peace; men without faith
in anything but humbug; without con-
victions of any truth except the saving
efficacy of ''fapdoodle. Such men
will insinuate any falsehood into the
ears OF the voter. They lie in wait
for the unwary, and they lie to him
when they find him. They tell him
times are hard, that debts are oppres-
sive, and in this he says truly; but he
tells him how to get out of debt and to
stay out, without the cost of a cent.
This grand secret is-vote yourself
out of debt, vote your State out of
debt, and whilst you are at it, vote
yourself forty acres and mule This
is the platform. It's short and COM
prehensive. And the Blatherskite will
mount it upon his record. He will be
able to show, that, amid the varied po-
litical mutations of public men, he has
ever been consistent. He never paid
a debt in the course of his useful life.
He never voted debt upon the peo-
pie, or if he did, he never intended to
pay it. The people voted the debt,
and the people can vote it away !
Great is HUdMBUGGRRY and BLATH-
ERsKITE is its prophet Great too, in
their day, was MENDEz PINTO, SIR
JOHN VAUDEVILLE, and the BARON
MUNCHAUsEN, great in the realm of
unveracity; great too, in our day is
BELKNAP, and Babcock, and MCKEE
and Mcdonald, of the great-united
public money transfer company; but
greater in all their walks, than either,
or any, or all of these, is your subli-
mated Tennessee Blatherskite
But is it not just possible that the
day of the Blatherskite is certain, that
thinking men will now more than ever
look TO the character, the capacity, and
the requirements of candidates for
their SURFACES? In times of trouble,
in great State exigencies, men never
think once of the professional Shyster.
For why2 Do men gather grapes of
thorns or figs of thistles? To whom
do men go in times of financial Difficult
ty? Who is the man to enable ps by
his counsel to tide over a financial
breaker? We go to the approved
business man of character. To men
of his class we go for advice and d.
rection; not to noisy and noisome in
not to blatant vendors of
new financial rostrums, not by any ae-
cident to your professional Office seek
afflicted with chronic candi-
dacy.
We long to see a legislature of true
men; of men who from
a sense of duty alone, would give
to the service of the State;
men who would be the true custodi-
ans of the financial honor, the integri-
ty, and the morale of the State.
And when the busy farmer and
the absorbed manufac-
turer aud merchant, the religious
teacher and literary professor, with all
and professions that constitute
the body-politic, will take a thought
full interest in public affairs, the State
will be truly and ably represented-but
net till then.