The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-10-18

| the neCnalllcal arts, restore employment
to labor, and renew in all its national
source the prosperity of the people. Re-
form is necessary in the sum and mode of
Federal taxation to the end that capital
may be set free from distress and labor
lightly burdened.
E WE DENOUNCE THE PRESENT TARIFF
levied upon nearly four thousand articles,
as masterpiece of injustice, inequality
and false pretence. 1t yields dwindling,
not a yearly rising revenue; it has lmpov-
erished many industries to subsidIze q
few; it prohibits imports that might pnr-
chase the products of American labor;
it has degraded American commerce from
the first to an inferior upon the high seas;
it has cut down the sales of American
manufactures at home and abroad, and
depleted the returns of American agricul
ture, an interest followed by half our
people; it costs the people five times more
than it pro luces to the treasury, obstructs
the processes Of production and wastes
the fruits of labor it promotes fraud and
fosters smuggling, enriches dishonest
officials ard bankrupts honest merchants,
We demand that all custom house taxa
tion shall be only for revenue. Reform is
necessary in the scale of public expenses,
Federal, State and municipal.
FEDERAL TAXATION HAS SWOLLEN
from $4,000 900 gold in 1860 to $3.50 000,-
600 currency in 1870; our aggregate taxa
ton from $154,000,O0O gold in 1860 to
$3.50 100000 currency in 1870, or in one de-
cade from less than five dollars per head
to more than eighteen dollars per bead
Since the peace the people have paid to
their tax gatherels 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 the proiiigate
waste of public lands and their diversion
from actual settlers by the party in power,
which has squandcred 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 filters of tue soil. Reform is necessary
to correct the
OMISSIONS OF A REPUBLICAN, CONGRESS,
and the errors of our treaties and our di-
plomacy which have stripped our fellow
citizens of foreign birth and kindred race
recrossng the Atlantic of the shield of
American citizenship, and have exposed
our brethren of the Pacific slope to the in
cursionS of race not sprung from the
same great parent stock--in fact now de-
MED by law citizenship through naturali-
cation, rs being neither accustomed to the
tradition of progressive civilization, or
exercised in liberty under equal laws
We denounce the policy which thus dis
cards the liberty loving German, and tot
crates the revival OF the coolie trade in
Monaghan women imported for immoral
purposes, and Mougulian men hired to
perform seryle labor contracts, aud de-
maud such modification Of the treaty with
the Chinese Empire. or such legislation
by Congress within a constitutional limi-
tation, us shall prevent the further impor-
tati0n or immigration Of the MongoliaD
race. Reform is necessary, and can never
he effected but by making il the control
ling issue Of the elections, and lifting it
above The two false issues with which the
Office holding class and the party in power
seek to smother it. The false issues with
which they would enkindle sectarian
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 tt
f 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 te
light anew the dying embers of sectiona
+ hate between two kindred peoples once
! unnaturally estranged, but now reunited
t in one indivsible Republic and a common
n destiny.
c REFORM IN CIVIL SERVICE.
+ Reform is necessary in the civil service
. Experience proves that efficient, economi
Z cal conduct of the governmental bushes
i is not possible if its civil service be sub
> iected to change at every election, and b
U a purse offered at the ballot-box as a brie
Q reward Of party zeal, instead of posts o
} honor assigned for proved competencyan
u held for fidelity in the public employ
y That the dispensing of patronage shout
81 neither be tax upon the time of all OH
70 public men, nor the instrument of thei
T. ambition. Here again professions, fals
10 fed in the performance, attest that th
II party in power can work out no practice
o. or salutary reform.
n REFORM IN HIGH PLACES.
Reform is necessary even more in tn
higher grades of public service. Pres
of dent, Vice-President, Judges, Senator
IN Representatives, Cabinet officers - thes
H. and all others in authority are the PEI
er pies servants. Their offices are not
of private perquisite; they are a publ
I'd trust When the annals of this Republ
It. proclaim the disgrace and censure OF
L. Vice-Presdent; late Speaker Of tt
he House Of Representatives marketing h
he ruling as presiding officer; three Sem
he tors pro.iting secretly by their votes /
IS Lawmakers; five chairmen of the leadir
re committees of the late House of Represe
a. tatiyes exposed in iobhery; IL late Secret
re ry of the Treasury forcing balances in IL
he rublic accounts; a late Attorney-Gener
eli =, appropriating public funds; Secret
he l of the Navy enriches or enrichlr
MT friends BY percentages levied off the prof
ed of contractors with his department; {
he Ambassador to England concerned
of dishonorable speculation; the President
e private Secretary barely escaping convi
lie ton, upon trial, for guilty completely
nd frauds upon the revenue; a Secretary
,ss War impeached for high crimes and co
e. fessed misdemeanors; the demonstration
ce complete that the first step must be t
ty publlc cholce OF nonest ihei lloIi auouh
rs party lest the disease OF one polite
I'd organization upset the whole body polit
ed and thereby making no change of men
nd party, we can get no change OF measur
nd and no reform.
a All these abuses, wrongs and crime
as the product of sixteen years of ascendan
re- of the Republican party, create pecessl
ICE for reform confessed by the Republica
rs, themselves. But their reformers are Y
ted down in convention and displac
from the Cabinet The party's mass
"a honest votes is powerless; to resist t
re- eighty thousand office-holders, Its lead'
oh and guides. Reform can only be had by