The Findlay Jeffersonian. [volume] (Findlay, Hancock County, Ohio) 1870-1881, 1877-09-21
no NOT BE NISLED.

pFciallV IilOse tiiSinPiOS SO, eJo ''PS " 3
fancy that the adninistratiou-Cr the |
party ia powers directly responsible |
for the result. They do not stop 70 |
consider it possible that ike crisis or
depression exists in any other country, |
or :Lat governments controlled by a
different form are suffering from simi
lar causes; and for which it would be
impossible TO hold any administration
OF party in power in this country re-
sponsibie Demago gues taking advan-
iage Of this tendency OF men, however,
preach to them the same idea IN hopes
OF advancing their political fortunes
or that o, their party. AUd 50 we find
the Democracy arrayed to-day, and
charging upon Republicanism the re-
sponsibiiity for the business depression
which las existed for several years
pgst-thc woes which laboring men
have suffered, and the losses which
business men have sustained.
II would seem but natural that when !
a rule Is SO well established thar it is /
deemed reliable in weighing the defects
Of an OPPONENT, or infallible in pro
nouncing judgment upon one party.
that the same rule would be valid in
determining the merits. especially, OF
the party which originated and applied
the rule IN the first place; otherwise il
could only be one of those &c pcfte
affairs 10 which no one has confidence.
Admitting its correctness, for the sake
of argument. only, let Us apply it to
the Democracy and see how they will
stand the crucial test of scrutin; and
whether, when thus tried. they are el,
titled TO the confidence of the people
whom they are endeavoriug 30 iutiu-
ence by charging responsibility upon
the Republican party for the present
depressed condition of the country.
The Republican party sprang into
existence in 1854, and met with its first
national success in 1860. In 1861 the
government passed into ifs HANDS, and
with the reins of power came legacy
of division and anarchy. left by the
outgoing Democratic administration.
States had already severed their con
nection with the general government,
81
the military stores of arseneis had been
distributed among the States 50 seced
ed; the army was so parceled out
among those States, and SO at their
mercy, that scarcely nucleus Of an
army remained; the navy had been
scattered all over the world and the
navy yards OF the South fell an easy
prey; war had actually begun, aud a
force of United States troops was in
reality beseiged IL Forts Moultrie and
| Sumpter, before James Buchanan, the
corrupt tool OF a corrupter party, re
signed the reins of authority into the
hands of his successor. From 1S2Stiil
1860, had the Democracy held almost
uninterrupted possession of the gov
ernment-short interregnums after 1910
and 1913, only interveniDg-yet that
was the grand result Of their long lease
Of power-the crowning glory of their
achievements. And we opine there i
little in this to allure the people TO
fresh deposit of confidence in it. But
what was thele before
At the close of Gerelal Jacksons
second term, or in 1886, there came
crash much like he crack of doom.
which swept eway fortunes in day
and beegared the children of opulence
as well asstarved the children of pen
ury,-when the laboring men wasted b
strength for fifty cents a day, aud re-
ceived his earnings in store pay or the
''wild cat currency"of the great west, "
more unsatisfactory and much less Sc
cure. Thirty-eight cents a day was
then regarded, in this vicinity, as
standard wages (As compared with
the prices of to-day not one third, and
as compared with the price of supplies
then aud now, was much less.) This
period of depression existed with but
slight change up till the winter of
| 1910 when it eliminated 10 the gen
eral suspension of the iron manufac
tories o. the country aud hopeless
condition of labor everywhere. Those
who could get work were satisfied TO
obtain from Sc TO Sc per week, and
often worked from S O'Clock in the
morning till 9 O'clock at night without
extra compensation. TBis Uas in the
halcyon days of Democracy and at the
close of twelve years uninterrupted
lease OF power. The country exper
fenced DO relief until it obtained it un
der the ministrstion of the Whig party,
and under the operations of the Tariff
of 1912. The fall of 1874 saw the D.
nocracy again triumphant, and 1s45
beheld its renewed lease of power.
Thel, came the Mexican war, under
declaration of James X. Polk, in con-