The New York herald., 1876-11-26
! Few Words 60 Merchants and
Bankers.

waiting. whichever way II shall be decided,
the country will accept the result with gen.
eral satisfaction and 60 on about its business,
which, for the time, has come to o stand
still.
1t will go on about its business, glad that
this wretched excitement is over but only
on the condition that either Mr.. Hayes or
Mr.. Tiden is fairly and honestly elected in
a manner to satisfy all reasonable men that
there has been an honest count. Unfortu-
nately. as the days pass by we have less
and less reason to hope for such absolute and
conspicuous fair play MS the public sense OF
justice demands. while the instances of sharp
practice, of petty trickery, of disposition
to take improper and suspicious advantage
of the powers in the republican hands do un-
doubtedly increase. 1t is q lamentable fact
that thoughtful people are less confident of
q satisfactory and creditable settlement to-
day than they were aweek ago. Is it not time
for the republican bankers, merchants and
manufacturers of New York, Boston, Phila-
delphia, Chicago, Cincinnati and other
Northern cities to take some notice
of these facts? Would they not do
well to consider if their own inter-
ests would not be SO greatly imperillcd
by an uncertain and unsatisfactory result as
to make their protest in favor Of the most
open and honorable course by the republi-
can managers in the South and against
everything which bears the appearance Of
concealment or wrong important and nec-
essary?
The anxiety of politicians and their per-
sistence in putting forth their partisan views
and beliefs have q constant tendency to drag
the public mind away from the single and
only issue. Here, for instance, comes Mr..
Stanley Matthews, of Cincinnati, good
lawyer and honorable man, but partisan
republican and intimate friend of Governor
Hayes. He has been in New Orleans, and
he tells the public on his return that he has
no doubt Mr. Hayes has received a majority
of the vote of Louisiana But, at the same
time, here comes Judge Lyman Trumbull,
of Illinois, also n sound lawyer and honor
able man, an ex-senator of the United
States, one Of the foremost men in the coun-
try, and declares his belief that the demo-
Gratis have carried the State. Now, these
gentlemen speak entirely beside the
mark. What they say does not and
cannot meet the question of the hour.
What the people want is not opinions;
what they want, what we must have if we
wish to escape great and interminable
calamities, is count of the votes SO fair, so
public, SO honest that every republican in
the land may rightfully ask his democratic
neighbor to accept the result as above just
suspicion. But the proceedings of the
South Carolina and Louisiana returning
boards are already of nature as even re-
publican journals recognize open to just
suspicion.
. What our bankers, capitalists, merchants
and manufacturers want is peace, general
contentment-and these will result imme-
diately from an honorable settlement
of the present difficulty, no matter
which of the two candidates may be-
come President. What they have most to
dread is chronic discontent-such deep
seated dissatisfaction as would result from
belief in the minds of reasonable
men that unworthy means had been
used to count in q President. Such a
state of doubt would lead to an intolerable
would operate as fatal impediment to
return of prosperity. 1t would disturb and
gradually sap private as we'll as public
credit. 1t would force prudent men to re-
ject new enterprises, to keep their capital
locked up and their means in hand; it
would make uncertain the value of all pub
lie securities, and this would slowly, but
surely, appreciate the value of gold. 1t
would largely increase the number of the
unemployed, add to the prevailing distress,
and embarrass every operation of legitimate
industry and commerce.
We do not wish to exaggerate the evils of
an uncertain and unsatisfactory result, and
we say freely that, no matter how unsatisfac-
tory and how deeply tainted it may be with
the suspicion of fraud, we do not anticipate
civil disorders. The American people are
too sensible to make SO fatal blunder as
this, and any one who should suggest re-
sort to violence would soon be made to feel
that. But we say plainly to the capitalists
the bankers, the merchants and manufac-
turers Of the country, and especially to
those of them who are republicans, that if
by their silence they consent to and suffer
what their protest can prevent-a count
of the votes which shall lie under
the just suspicion of having been
cooked" they ought to set their
houses in order, for they will court very
grave caamities. When the count is de-
clared, if the processes by which it has
been arrived at shall not be SO conspicu-
ously fair and honest that every republican
may justly expect his democratic neighbor
to accep. it, then we shall begin to live with
the threat of general panic hanging over