New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1876-05-11
TG-D1Y-TO-NORROW.


The Centennial Exposition, essentially indus
trial in its character, Is nevertheless IN COM
mcmOratOn of "a great political event. we
invite the nations of the world to witness not
only the fruits of our Institutions but their
workings. 1t is doubly unfortunate, therefore,
that those who come from other lands to IN
spect this nation on its centennial annlver1 ry
will see it at its worst, both politically ana
ndustrially. Never before have the American
people found so much to be ashamed OF III
their political condition. Our commerce and
industry are suffering from proStration cx-
traOrdnarily prolonged and severe. Though
it is constitutional proclivity of Americans
to exagcerate National cxcellcnces and defects
alike, the plain, unvarnished facts, as they
viii appear To the most candid and unprecedented
foreigners are quite disheartening enough.
10 the philosophical observer, perhaps the
worst feature in our condition Is that our busi-
ness misfortunes are largely due to incompe-
tence or corruption in Government. No doubt,
had our Government been IN the highest
degree wise and pure we should have shared
TO some extent the calamities of II commercial
rcyulsion which has been felt in nearly all
civilized lands, but, with matcllcss resources
prise of American character, we might long
ago have recovered from the shock. Unhap-
ply, the wave of disaster found our craft
terribly overloaded with debt-munlcpal. cor
porate, and national-wateriogSed with waste
ful expenditure and organized corruption. and
most wretchcdly mismanaged. Our fiscal legls-
lation had been such as to make the shock
incomparably more severe, and since
the panic it has been such as to pro-
long the prostration. vicious currency
was undermining all honest industry and legill-
mate trade, and we have not yet got rld OF IT,
Habits of enormous waste IN Federal cXpendi-
ture have not as yet been broken. Gigantic COM
binations plundercd the country for years, ana
orr first struggles to shake them off have thus
far resulted in little besides crowded courts.
innumcrable Investigations, and Scratc sitting
for trial Of Impeachment.
Yet the Intelligent observer, if he looks below
the surface, may find that Americans have
moe reason for pride, both in theii institu-
tions and in their industry, than they had III
VA when We were more in the humor oil
boasting. He will see Il late Minister oil Wan
on trial for corruption, ii is true. But III days
gone by scandals about the sale of arms to the
French and of trading posts To corruptionistS
were whtcwashcd by an ever faithful Senate,
and the people rallied at the polls t0 rec!ect
Grant and to vndcatc" men like Bclknap
70 is something that they have stopped all
that 1t is something that there is at least
enough OF public virtue to drive the Bolknaps
from Office. Exposures and impeachments
mean that there has been corruption. But
they also mean that there is honesty. The OBJ
server will now find in American political life
4 desire for reform so earnest, q sense of pub
lie morality so keen, That the most powerful
combinations are broken, the most hoLored
names are stripped of all false glamour, and
even the proud party which saved the Union,
emancipated the slave, and then. giddy with
unrestrancd power, shielded misconduct i'll
high places, has been brought to repentance,
and to works meet for repentance.
Industrially the nation suffers. The blow
which fell upon Austria, and then upon Ger
many and England. has Frustrated in this land
| also thousands of firms, closed hundreds OF
mills, ana LETT without employment an nnprc-
| cedented proportion of our workmen. But VIII
| the foreign observer find here more OF actual
want and suffering, even IN our day OF calam-
| lty, than he may see at any time Ill other
| lapds7 Even the greatest adversely has not
brought upon this land such distress As other
| nations have endured. Starvation is rare.
| Bread-riots are unknown. Suffering has not
brought upon us the frightful ravagcs of
communistic revolution. A part OF our mills
are closed, but there is mighty industry
| still in full activity. which no commercial
| shock can paralyze. The products Of orr fac
| torres and mines, even in this year OF
| disaster, will prove that American energy and
| inventive genius, and the ncalculablc resources
| with which nature has blessed us, make this,
| in adversely as well as IN prosperity, OF all
| lands the best for labor and enterprise. lie
| who compares the prices of American products
with those of other countries will see that al
ready in many branches American industry
has pluckcd from the ncttlc Danger the flower
safety. He will find that adversely has taught
us to produce at lower cost, to invent more
| effective or economical processes, and to entei
| boldly into competition with other nations III
those wider markets from which, before our
trial came, we were excluded. We can afford
to show the world the best and the worst OF
America. We need not hide our faults; we
need not boast. Both our reforms and our
products will show that are not contented
with past or present, but are still pushing Oh
ward and upward.
| D1HOMEY IN TROUBLE.
| Ill., o;,,;I;z.l cortaiulv bava the Slyapp ot n