The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1876-03-02
A View of Congress and its Inward
Workings. b
a NricfSunniary Of She Prcsi'
Dental Platform.
Worse Frauds than ''Cr0Okcd Whisky"
TO be Exposed.
Frcm cll Politics and Other EOr-
Z q y q -s-n VU-~A f a L =

dailics, With their full corps of cor
respondents. seem TO, fail in showing
tho innermost workings. They do
not penetrate beyond the outer court
of the temple, nor see the inner sane
tuary. 1t is true, they send off COL
umns Of "stuf," which they call
news, but which are only more or
less shrewd guesses at hat may hap
pen. There is more o. M inside life
to politics here this year Than ever
before. ..
The Democrats Of the House were
placed in n peculiar position. Almost
without hoping for such an event,
they found themselves In the MAORI
tv in the popular branch Of Congress.
When. on the first Monday of Decetn-
Der, the members assembled, it was
found that a majority Of them were
new men; unacquainted with each
other, and, in very many cases, with
out much experience as Legislators.
1t is worse than useless TO deny that
there were very grave differences Of
opinion between manT Of these MEM
bers upon the proper course to be
pursued, not only for the benefit Of
the country, but Of the party. The
Industries of the country were para
lyzed, and the people generally i'm
poverished. Various theories had
been advanced as to the cause and
remedy for this condition of affairs,
and all of these theories had repre-
sentatives upon the floor Of Congress.
1t has been a most difficult and deli
cate task to unite these rather incon-
gruous elements into one homogeneous
mass who were ready to sacrifice in
divi1ual, and perhaps long-conceived,
opinions. for the good of the whole,
more particularly as it is hardly to be
expected that men will sacrifice their
own political advancements, as some
have been called on to 10, for the
general good. The task Of doing this
arduous work, and at the same time
Of combsttin: the solid phalanx of
Republicans, under the leadership OF
so distinguished q parliamentarian as
cx-Speaker Blaine, has fallen upon a
few of the older members. They
have done their work nobly, and to-
day the Democrats III Congress stand
almost a unit. l said almost, for there
are q few restless spirits, like Hol-
man, of indiana, who are Bourbons
of the worst kind, Forgetting nothing
and learning nothing" but the vast
majority of the Democrats m the
House have determined upon a policy
and will abide by it. That policy
will carry them to certain victory in
the next campaign Notwithstanding
the blunders of a few wrong-headed
friends. 1t can be summarized ina
few words.
Retrenchmcnt Of public cxpendi-
lures is the first plank. The Dem
ocrats promised this to the people,
and it vas no empty pledge as they
are proving by their acts. The APP
propriations will be reduced forty
millions ofdollars per annum. Think
of it-one hundred and sixty millions
Of dollars saved in one Presidential
term, if the Democrats arc successful.
Enough money to pay of the national
debt in twelve years! Is not this
enough to secure a grand victory !
And it is not a promise only, for the
Democrats have proven their ability
to do this by their action in this Con.
gress.
The next plank in the platform is
the misdeeds of the Republicans. both
in Congress aud in the Departments.
These are being %unearthed, and the
record Of them will make the people
stand aghast. The exposure Of the
whisky rings Of St. Louis, Chicago,
indianapolis and Milwaukee will pale
INTO insiguificance when the frauds
and corruption that rule in every De-
partment of the Government are
brought to. the light of day, as they
will be by the Investigations now be-
ing conducted by the committees of
the House. "The trail of the serpent
is oyer them ALL" The Department
of Justice "a misnomer now has been
prostituted for political purposes ;sthe
Secretary of States office made a
place of refuge for broken-down pol
iticians and Emma Mine spectators
tho Treasury a hiding place I for
thieves and conspirators to rob the
revenues; the post-office an election
eering machine the Interior the shell
ter for robbers as bold and shameless
as Barabbas or John A. Murrcll
while the Navy Department is rotten
from inside to out. All these things
vii! be shown and with the retrench-
ment already secured, they are sufi-
cicnt to make the American people
discard the unfaithful servants, and
select others who have proven them
selves faithful, honest and capable.
l have dwelt somewhat on the diff
ficulty in the way of speedy action on
the part of the Democrats, because
there is q spirit of impotence shown
by some of the Democratic papers,
who, being removed from the scene
of action, cannot be expected to fully
understand the reasons of what they
consider unnecessary delay upon the
part of tho Democratic majority.
Such comments seriously embarrass
the party here. The members of the
House are above the average of men