The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1876-10-05
THE PARTY OF FALSE PRETENSES.

4
pr .nise publication IN the adm1nlstra-
| ton of the government and an honest
outlay of public money. They are ready
to admit all that can be alleged of their
treachery or treason in the past, the facts
of which are written in the blood of those
heroes who sleep on every Southern bat
| tie field. But they ask to be trusted
with settling the debt of the nation, car
rying on its vast public machinery, and
administering its laws, because, they say,
we may be traitors or copperheads, but
we are honest. Let us for moment Lay
aside the weighty reasons of past treaeh-
cry, which alone condemns the party,
and take them at their word. How do
the Democrats show up in their favorlte
role of honest administrators of public
affairs, and civil service reformers Dur
ing the thirty-two years of their power,
from 1928 to 1860, when they were
scarcely interrupted at all in the admin
istration of all public affairs, we have to
search in vain for any party act or party
expression in favor of civil service reform
or for any action in that direction save
to follow steadily the motto of their ideal
PRESIDENT, jackson, 'sTo the victors be-
Ioiig LIE spo1l9.'' Since 1860 they
have held power in many of the States,
and we challenge proof that any Demo
cratic Governor, including Tilden, has
ever left competent Republican in any
important position from which he had
the power to remove him. The only ex-
pressions in favor of competent civil
service that have ever come from them
have been when they were out of office,
and in all their opportunities for put
ting in practice their present professions
they have never ava1led themselves of
one.
Then in the matter of official honesty,
their prospectus is a glittering one
They give plenty of promises for future
redemption, but they fail to produce
reasonable vouchers i'll the shape of past
performances. The percentage of loss
in collection of public revenue is lower
under Gen. Grant by many times than
under any Democratic administration
since 1926. But they say they do not
initiate their unworthy party predeces-
sors, who allowed Jake Thompson and
Floyd to plumber the treasury in aid Of
rebellion. They have no national record
to look back to since 1860, for the very
good reason that the people were too
Justly suspicious of them to trust any
thing either to their patriotism OF their
honesty. They managed Indiana and
Illinois for couple of years, from 1862
to 1864, and repudiated, SO far as they
could, the just obligations of the former,
and did what they could or dared to de-
stroy the credit of both. They have
had several opportunities at the State
Treasury of New York to the sorrow of
that commonwealth. But their crown
ing exhibitions have been in the large
cities of the Union, where they have
frequently held sway. When will the
historian cease to tell of the robbery of
American cities by Democratic politi-
clans? New York is of course central
figure, but wherever municipal govern
ment is known in the Union the strife
has been to keep the scum of large cities
democratic at all times and under all
circumstances, from plundering those
who honestly earn their money.
The Democratic party has attracted
to itself all the worst elements of our
native and imported population. AS a
rule, every immigrant who has sought a
home in free America that he may earn
| a livelihood for himself and his family,
| and in this new world find scope and
| reward for his honest endeavor that is
| denied him in the old, is found with the
| Republicans. And on the other hand,
every scalawag who seeks America be-
cause it is the Ell Dorado of ward bum
| mers, who signalizes his arrival by vend-
ing vile whisky, getting an influence
with ''the boys" and living on the tax
payers of whatever city may be unfor-
tunate enough to be cursed by his citi-
zenship, is invariably Democrat and
whenever it becomes necessary or useful
for the political scavenger to remove any
refuse matter from the lower stratum of
the Republican party, he wisely and in
variably selects the Democratic party,
as the cesspool into which the fifth may
properly be dumped.
Are the people of the United States
likely to lose sight of those who ccnsh
tute the rank and file of this clamorous
party and entrust it with the power it
seeks !? When party talks about re-
form, if it will commend itself to public
confidence, it must have in its ranks
some general personality that will guar
antee the performance of its promises.
The Democratic party is In great part
composed of elements in which the pub
lie, for the very best reasons, have ut
| terly no confidence. All the protesta-
tons that they could make from this
until the great day of accounts, would
not inspire the people of the Union with
the belief in the honesty of that hungry
band who sail under Democratic ban
ners. As we stated at the outset, leav-
ing out the imminent danger of a return
of ex-rebels to power, there is every
thing in the administrative record of the
| Democracy tn condemn III as a marty
and there are in it elements so danger
Gus to public welfare as to make its
return to power an act of political has'i-