The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1876-07-08
motion the wheels Of commerce, manuiac-
cures, and mechanic arts, restore employ.
ment to labor, and renew in ali its natural
sources the prosperity Of the people.

revenue. It has impoverished many indus
tries to subsidize few. 1t prohibits I'M
norris that might purchase the products o
American labor. It has degraded American
commerce from the first to an inferior RAM
on the high seas. It has cut down the sale:
OF American manufactures at home ant
abroad, and depleted the returns OF Amer
can aericulture-an industry followed BY
half our people. It costs the people 1iV'
times more than it produces to the treasury
obstructs the processes OF production, ant
wastes the fruits OF labor. 1t promote!
fraud. fosters smuggling, enriches dtshones
officials, and bankrupts honest merchants
We demand that all custom-house taxation
shall be only for revenue.
Reform Is necessary IN the scale OF puDll'
expense-F ederal, State, and municipal
Our Federal taxation has swollen from sixty
millions gold, in 1860, to four hundred ant
fifty millions currency, in 1870; our aggre
cate taxation from one hundred and fifty-foll1
millions gold, in 1860, to seven hundred ant
thirty millions currency, in 1870; or IN ont
decade, from less than S. per head 10 more
than sis Der head. Since the peace the PEG
ple have paid to their tax-gatherers more
than thrice the sum of the national debt, ant
moro than twice that sum for the Fedora
Government alone. We demand a rlgorou:
frueality in every department, and IRON
every officer of the Government.
Reform, is necessary to put stop TO Int
nrohirate waste of public lands and thell
diversion from actual settlers by the party
in bower, which has squandered two nun
dred millions acres upon railroads alone
and out of more than thrice that aggregate
has disposed of less than 4 sixth directly tc
tillers of the soil.
Reform is necessary to correct the omls
siouS OF Il Republican Congress and the or
rors of our treaties and our diplomacy,
which have stripped our fellow-citIzenS o,
foreign birth and kindred race recrosslng
the Atlantic OF the shield OF American cltl.
zcnship, and have exposed our brethren OF
the Pacific coast to the incursions OF race
not sprung from the same great parent
stock, and in fact now by law denied cltl'
zenship through naturalization as being
neither accustomed to the tradition OF pro-
pressiye civilization nor exercised in liberty
under equal laws. We denounce the policy
which thus discards the liberty-loying Ger
man and toleratcs the revival OF the coolie
trade in Monaghan women imported for i'm.
moral purposes, and Monaghan men hired
to perform seryile labor contracts.
Reform is necessary and can never be ef-
Ycctcd but BY making it the controlling Is
sue OF the elections, and lifting it above the
two false issues with which the office-hold-
ing class and the party in power seek to
smother it.
1. The false issue with which they would
cnkindle sectarian strife in respect to the
public schools, of which the establishment
and support belong exclusively to the serc-
raj States, and which the Democratic party
has cherished from their foundation, and is
resolved to maintain without prejudice or
preference for any class, sect, or creed, and
without largesses from the treasury for any.
g The false issue by which they seek to
light anew the dying embers of sectional
hate between kindred peoples once es.
tranged, but now reunited in one indivisi-
bic republic and common destiny. .
Reform is necessary in the civil service.
Experience proves that efficient, economi.
cal conduct OF the Government business is
not possible il its civil service be subject to
change at every election, be a prize fought
for at the ballot-boX; be a briefreWard of party
ZEAL instead OF posts OF honor assigned for
proved competency, and held for fidelity IN
the public employ; that the dispensing OF
patronage should neither be a tax upon the
time OF all our public men, nor the instru.
ment OF their ambition. Here, again, pre-
misses falsiiied in the performance attest that
the party in power can work out no practi-
cal Or salutary reform.
Reform, is necessary even more in the
higher grades OF the public service. Presi-
dent, Vice-Presidcnt, Judges, senators, rep
cabinet officers, these andsall
others in authority, are the peoples SER
wants. Their Offices are not private per-
quisite; they are a public trust.
When the annals OF this republic show
the disgrace and censure of Fice-Presi-
dent; late Speaker Of the House OF Rep
resentatives marketing his rulings as pre-
siding officer; three senators protiting Sc
cretly by their votes as lawmakers; five
chairmen OF the leading committees OF the
late House OF Representatives exposed
in iobbery late Secretary Of the
Treasury forcing balances in the public
accounts; late Attorney-General mis-.
public funds; Secretary OF
the Navy enriched or enriching friends by
percentages levied Off the profits Of con-
tractors with his department; an Embassa-
dor to England censured in 4 dishonorable
speculation; the Presidents private secre-
tary barely escaping conviction upon trial
for guilty completely in frauds upon the
revenue; Secretary Of War impeachedfoI
high crimes and misdemeanors the demon.
stration is complete that the first step in re.
form must be the peoples choice OF honest
men from another party, lest the disease oil
one political organization infect the body
polite. and lest by making no change OF
men or parties we get no change OF meas
ures and no real reform.
AL these abuses, wrongs, and crimes, thu
product OF sixteen years aScendancy OF the
party, create necessity FOL
reform confessed by Republicans them
selves; but their reformers are voted down
in convention and displaced from the Cabi
net. The party's mass OF honest voters i:
powerless to resist the $4,000 ohce-holders
its leaders and guides.
Reform can only be had by peaceful
civic revolution. We demand q change O.
system, change of administration, change
OF parties, that we many have change O.
measures and Of men. ..-
n. B. MEADE, ESo.-[From the Peters
burg Post OF yesterday. -" 1t (the Wing
modestly omits any allusion to one veteran
member Of the editorial staff, who per-
formed more valuable service in the cause
of Tilden and Hendricks than, perhaps, al