The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1877-08-09
THE CAUSES OF THE TROUBLE.

THE CAUSES OF THE TROUBLE.
The present lamentable condition
of things is not the result of sudden
impulse or paroxysm Of passion. 1t
is the elimination Of many causes
which have been augumenting in
volume since the close of the civil
war, and have finally burst the
bounds of restraint and law. The
New York Sun sums up a long edi-
torial on the causes which led to the
present deplorable state of affairs as
follows:
Most of the legislation for ban ks
was manipulated bya committee of
which the chairman vas a shrewd
bank president and others were bank
directors. Those institutions, under
fostering charters and friendly pro-
lection at Washington, grew rapidly
into wealth, and many of them paid
fabulous dividends before the crash
came. Manufacturers likewise OBJ
tanned any legislation they needed,
and the tariff to-day is q mass Of
protected monopolies, without rule
or reason. In this wild and reckless
career the public expenditures were
multiplied under every conceivable
pretext, the currency was expanded,
offices were created, and extrava-
gance without accountability dom
mated. The public revenues were
stolen, and every department of the
government was run by a ring.
After several years of fictitious
success, the bubble burst by the
bankruptcy of n Of the pillars of
the vicious system, and in spite of
the illegal efforts of the then Secre-
tary of the Treasury to prevent an
inevitable catastrophe. The ruin
and misery inflicted by the collapse
of 1873, and by its consequences
since then, cannot be measured in
money. OF all the sufferers, the La.
boring men and their families have
had most to endure, not only in the
reduction of wages, but also in the
increase of their burdens, for it is
not the rich class, by any means,
who pay the bulk Of the taxes. They
are the favored few, who do not fee
the turn of the screw which make:
poverty shrek in agony.
S~uperadded to these and other
causes came the presidential election
of last year. Everybody knows thai
Mr.. Tilden was chosen by a large
majority of the people, white and col
lored by a majority ofthe electoral co.
leges. A conspiracy was deliberate.
ly connected to deprive the country
of the victory thus won, and it sue,
ceeded. MI. Hays is administering
tie Government by a bare-facee
fraud on the people, and through thu
combination of some of the very
men who were leaders during the
period we have above described
They could not afford to have theil
past misdeeds brought to light, al
Mr.. Tilden would have unearthet
f them; and they were determined tt
| hold ON to power and patronage a
, any cost.
It is not to be supposed that tn
workingmen, laborers and others
} were indifferent spectators to thes,
events, They saw great corpora
!, lions and rings combining to in
). crease their wealth, and they com
bined also for their own interests
They saw the Constitution practic
ally overthrow and the laws tram
pied under foot, to install a delicate,
candidate in the White House, AM
the example has had its bad effect
Desperate and dangerous men hav
improved the chance to make CON
8 mon cause with the strikers, and tn
enemies of social order may be sal
to have taken the case of the stril
ers out of their hands, and subst
s tuted for it terrorism and plumber.
9 What will be the outcome, tim
alone can tell; but one thing is ce
. tain, we are 10Y reaping the bite
fruits of the excuses, plumber, CO.
rupt legislation, frauds and iniqu
ties of the Republican party, an
e especially of the GROWING outrag
by which a successful ~conspiratt
i. was installed in the White Hous
We must deplore the sad scenes an
E the awful events of the past weel
:. but certainly no rejecting and cal
T. did man, who recalls the recent pa
D and observes the actual present, CO
entirely wonder at them.