The Somerset press. [volume] (Somerset, Ohio) 1873-1977, 1876-07-14

tional debt. and more than twice that
sum for the Federal Government alone.
We demand a rigorous frugality in ev-
cry department. and from every officer of
the Government.
PUBLIC LANDS TO ACTUAL SETTLERS
Reform is necessary to put stop to
the profigate waste of public lands, and
their diversion from actual settlers by
the party in power, which last squander-
ed 200,000,000 of acres upon railroads
alone, and out of more than thrice that
aggregate has disposed of less than a
sixth directly to tillers of the soil.
ADOPTED CITIZENS, REJECTED MON
COILS.
Reform l. necessary TO correct the
omission of Republican Congress, and
the errors of our treaties and our dip
Lmacy which have stripped our fellow
citizens of foreign birth and kindred
race re-crossing the Atlantic of the
shield of American citizenship, and ex-
posed our brethren of the Pacific coast
to the incnrsions of race not sprung
from the same great parent stock, and. In
fact, now by law denied citizenship
through naturalization, as being neither
accustomed to the traditions of a pro-
gressive civilization nor exercised in
liberty under equal laws. We denonnce
the policy which thus discards the liber-
ty loving German and tolerates reviv-
al of the Coolie trade in >Mongolian wo-
men imported for immoral purposes, and
Mongolian men held to servile labor
contracts.
THE FALSE sECTARIAN~ IssUE-THE
FALSE SECTIONAL ISSUE.
Reform is necessary and can never be
effected but by making. it the controlling
issue of the election and lift it above the
two false issues with which the office.
holding classes and the party in power
seek to smother it.
| Firs-The false issue with which they
would enKindle sectarlan strife in respect
to the public schools, of which the es-
tablishment and support belong exclu'
sively to the several States, and which
the Democratic party has cherished
from their foundation, and is resolved h
maintain without partiality or prefer.
ence for any class, sect or creed, and
without contributions from the treasury
to any.
Secoad-The false issue by which the,
seek. to light anew the dying embers o
sectional haze between kindred people
once unnaturally estranged. but now re
united in one indivisible Republic and
common destiny.
REFoRM-THE CIVIL SERVICE.
Reform is necessary in the civil serv
ice. Experience proves thst eficien
economical conduct of the Governmen
business is not possible if its civil serv
e ice be subject to change at every elec
e ton, be d prize fought for at the ballot
box, be brief reward of party zeal in
e stead of posts of honor assigned 70
: proved competency and held for fdelit
e in the public employ; that the diEpens
ing of patronage should neither be
!, tax upon the time Of our public men no
n the instrument Of their ambition. Her.
n again, professions falsifed in the pei
J. formance attest that the party in powe
$ can work out no practical or salutar
: reform.
J. REFORM-CoRRUPT!o OF HIGH PUI
Lie OFFICERS.
) Reform is necessary, even more in tn
l. higher grades of public service. Pres
t dent, Vice President, judges, Senator
Representatives, Cabinet oficers-thes
J. and ell others in authority are the pee
9 ple's servants. Their officers are not
II private perquisite; they are publ
y trust.
4 When the annals of this Republi
. show the disgrace and censure of a Vic
n President; late Speaker of the Hons
IS of Representatives marketing his rulins
as a presiding officer; three Senator
# profting secretly by their votes as Law
f. makers; five chairmen of the leadin
o committees of the late House of Repr.
10 sentatives exposed in jobbery; la
IT Secretary of the Treasury forging ba
,t ances in the public accounts; late A
"a torney General misappropriating pul
lie funds; Secretary of the Nav
enriched or enriching his friends by pc
centages levied off the profits of contra
tors with his Department; an Embass'
~ dor to England censured in dishonor'
- BILE speculation; the Presidents Priva
Secretary barely escaping convictio
. upon trial for guilty completely
frauds 1pon the revenue; Secretary
War impeached for high crimes ar
y misdemeanors-the demonstration
y; complete that the first step in Refor
" must be the peoples choice of hone
" men from another party, lest the di
=" ease of one political organization infe
- the body polite, and lest, by making I
; change of men or parties, We get I
change of measures and no real reforr
REFORM-REFoRM-R
ALI these abuses, wrongs and crime
the produce Of sixteen years ascende
- ~, cy of the Republican party, create n
'N cessity for reform, confessed by Repu
licans themselves; but their reforme
are voted down in Convention, and di
ed placed from the Cabinet. The par,
a mass of honest voters is powerless to I
ho sist the eight thousand office holders,
~ leaders and guides
n Reform can only be had by peac
ze full civic revolution. We demand
NJ change of system, change of admin
Ia tration, a change of party, that we IN
N have change of measures and of me
nix
nv Some of our contemporaries ha
> bpen misleading their readers coneer