The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-09-20

but the right thing shall be done,
Cheers.
What is that thing, and now is it tc
be done? Other nations have had exper.
fences for our example and profit. Great
Britain had a minister who ruled by
paying every man his price, but she a,
last made bribery odious. After the
riotous reign of q weak French king and
the speculative frenzies of John Law, a
Duke of Orleans applied remedy, which
not only punished the official malfeasant
but made him disgorge the plunder, by
summary process unknown to free cOun-
tries. Turkey, which has had three
Sultans IN as many months, has been run
by fraud; and even our own virtuous
State Department last year gave to
her diplomatic minister presents
OF jewelled breast pins and diamond
sleeve buttons to obtain a treaty, never
as vet promulgated! So that the re.
p-oach we hear this centennial year is
not necessarily an incident of a free
country. Extravaganza and vice have
through the influence of war-begotten
wealth and shoddy ostentation, poison ed
the social body; and this poison has per-
meated the political body,until our system
has degenerated and until we have become
the bye-word of the world. There is
but one way to be rid of this burning
shame. 1t is not by covering it; nor by
repeating the conditions OF its existence,
nor by selecting the men who will again
make it probable or possible.
TCheers1 1t is by well d.
rected reform in the public SER
vice, springing from the honest hearts OF a
people, not yet debauched by their
rulers.
"Keep me innocent-make others
great" This was the prayer of Dan
lsh queen In her fervOr and simplicity,
she was great, because pure. But how
few have echoed that prayer in this land
the past ten years? To be great was to
seem splendid. Governors left their
local honors to be Senators and
| shine As Federal luminarics. Power was
robbed from homes, counties, cities and
states, to glorlfy and revolve about the
central blaze at Washington. Women
| rivalled men, and the Senate WED with
the Cabinet in repeating the eXcesses OF
fashion and foolery. Even the negro
rushed from the farm and plantation
to lsze and vaunt himself in the town;
and Washington City became the para
disc of the colored man, where nothing
less would suffice him than daily funeral
with brass band to the tune of "Pop
goes the weasel" Laughter.
Where can we turn for the oden days?
! Did YOU never hear of the ermine? 1t
is the emblem of judicial purity. 1t Is a
little creature of white fur, it is caught
by hunters, by spreading ith around its
haunts to shut it in. 1t will rather be
caught than be defiled. Who in this
latter day would rather not be detilei
than caught? Laughter Who fol-
lows its example, Do not be dis
couraged, gentlemen. The war with
its demoralizstons has its com.
pensstioas. We are not all bad. In vain
sirs, did you look around the halls of the
last Congress, for the venal lobby, that
filled and festered about committees and
spes ker's rooms and IN the very halls OF
legislation! Cheers The epreseut House
had clean pathways to its seats OF duty ss
clean rs the dainty ermine could wish.
Let us not be discouraged The reign
OF weaklings and corruptionists has been
good in one sense for popular progress.
Did not King John give Magma charter
and Charles III habeas corpus? The pop
ular contempt against maleadmIn'stratlon
now shows healthy reaction. lnvestl-
cation Is health. Many have found
il healthy laughter to find out crime
is not shameful 1t is the crime which is
the shame. The present canvass, to the
thoughtful citizen, has the glory, and ITS
tainted victims the shame We should
not blush Tor the Democratic investigat
ors, but for those who made investigation
imperative iCneers1. The revealed and
hidden dishonor OF public men, this
it Is which deserves our cXecratlon
The fact of its revelation is sign OF
returning virtue. Since her great
calamity, France, as republic, has re-
covered by practiclhg moderation and
frugslity. Russia after the Crlmean
war, and Austria after the Sadowa, ad-
vsnced because adversely taught prl-
dence. We have been late in learning
sobriety, and we lothe to do honest work.
| But the very muck makes the lily; and
! il has been discovered in England, tina,
the ooze of the sewer has made man
himself worth much as manurrlaI
animal. Laughter. Let us be patient!
Nav not the Black Fridays St Do
mingo Jobs, crooked whiskies, Washing
ton rings, post-traderships and Indian
contracts, furnish the fertlllzlng
element for hesthen growth, Laugh.
ter and cheers We are better of
than England, have more and
produce more of value per capita.
! England does the work by her machinery
of five hundred million men; and vet
every twenty sixth man is psuper She
begged of US even during the war and
! her cotton famine for our raw material
! and vet she exports and imports o'flV
million to our 1853 millions OF dollars.
! Her wealth Is not ditfuscd and her nap
piness is not general, and she owes more
| OF pubic debt by a thousand million and
! a half than We do.
When, therefore, English critics re.
! proach us for our shortcomings, we have
! this answer to give he: "Look to your
own gangrene of inequitably distributed
wealth; and observe the prompt and etil-
clent way in which the honest people
mere will rectlfy the abuses of their SER
vice" [Cheers.l Whatever evils there
are, peculiar to Democratic peo-
pie, Democracy, when inform
ed and aroused, will eradicate
BIT, gentlemen, it must be done at once
This centennial year must be the year of
salvation, and then only will 1t be the
wear of jubilee. Cheers We are at
this time on the downward path. The
momentum increases as We 60. All We
need is hor esty and ability in the service,
and then the enormous taxes being
fairly levied and collected, the danger
Gus pressure of extrsvasance, semi
honesty, speculative frenzy and outright
fraud, will cease.
This is all that is meant in Its best
analyses bv the civil service REFORM
honesty and ability. 1t means tit men IN
tbe;r nroner places. | am not