The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-03-08
PRESIDENT HAYES.
His Wise and Patriotic Inaugural
Address.
A Policy of Cancellation Towards the
South.
Civil Service Reform in all Branches
of the Government.
PRESIDENT HAYES.

FELLOW CITIZENS We have assem-
bled to repeat the public ceremonial be-
gun by Washington, observed by all my
predecessors, and now q time-honored
custom, which marks the commencement
of new term in the Presidential Office.
Called to the duties of this great trust,
proceed, in compliance with usages, to
announce some of the leading principles
on the subjects that now chiefly engage
public attention, by which it is my de-
sire to be guided in the discharge of
those duties. L shall not undertake to
lay down irrevocably principles or meas
ures of administration, but rather to
speak of the motives which should ami
mate us, and to suggest certain import
ant ends to be obtained in accordance
with our institutions and essential to the
welfare of our country. At the outset of
the discussions which preceded the re-
cent Presidential election, it seemed to
me fitting that 1 should fully make
known my sentiments in regard to sew
eral of the important questions which
then appeared to demand the considera-
ton of the country. Following the ex-
ample, and in part adopting the language
of one of my predecessors, L wish now,
when every motive for misrepresentation
has passed away, to repeat what was said
before the election, trusting that my
countrymen will candidly weigh and I'M
derstand it, and that they will feel as
sured that the sentiments declared in ac-
cepting nv nomination for the Presl-
dency will be the standard of my con-
duct In the path before me, charged as L
now am with the grave and difficult task
of carrying them out in the practical adj
ministration of the government, SO far as
depends under the Constitution and laws
on the Chief Executive OF the nation.
The permanent paciication of the
country upon such principles and by such
measures as will secure the complete
protection of all its citizens in the free
enjoyment of all their constitutional
rights, is now the one subject of our
public affairs which all thoughtful and
patriotic citizens regard as of supreme
importance. Many of the calamitous eff
fects of the tremendous revolution which
passed over the Southern States still re-
main. The Unreasonable benefits which
will surely follow, sooner or later, the
hearty and generous acceptance of the
legitimate results of that revolution, have
not yet been realized. Difficult and en-
barrassing questions meet us at the
threshold of this subject. The people of
these States are still impoverished, and
the inestimable blessing of wise, honest.
and peaceful self-governmenti is not fully
enjoyed. Whatever difference of opin-
ion may exist as to the cause of this con-
dition of things, it is clear that in the
progress of events the time has come
when such government is an imperative
necessity, required by all the varied in
terests, public and private, of these
States. But it must not be forgotten
that only local government which rec
ognizes and maintains inyiolate the
rights of all is true elf-government.
With respect to the two distinct races
whose peculiar relations to each other
have brought upon us deplorable COM
plicatIons aud perplexities which exist
in these States, it must be government
which guards the interests of both races
carefully and equally it must be a gov
eminent which submits Loyalty and
heartily to the Constitution and laws
the laws of the nation and the laws of the
States themselves-acceptin and obey
ing faithfully the whole Constitution as
it is. Resting upon this sure and sub
stantial foundation, that superstructure
of benefcient local government can be
built up, and not otherwise. In further
ance of such obedience to the letter and
the spirit of the Constitution, and in be-
half of all that its attainment implies, all
SO called party interests lose their ap-
parent Importance, and party lines may
we'll be permitted to fall into insignifi-
canoe.
The question we have to consider for
the immediate welfare of those States of
the Union is the question of government
or no government-of social order and
all the peaceful industries and the hap
piness that belongs to it, or a return to
harbarism. 1t is a question in which
every citizen of the nation is deeply in
terested, and with respect to which we
ought not to be in q partisan sense either
Republicans or Democrats, but fellow
citizens and fellow-men, to whom the
interests of common country and COM
mon humanity are dear The sweeping
revolution of the entire labor system of
Il large portion of our country and the
advance of 4, 1000, 900 people from con-
dition of servitude to that of citizenship,
upon an equal footing with their former
masters, could not occur without pre-
senting problems of the gravest moment,
to be dealt with by the emancipated
race, by their former masters, and by
the General Government, the author of
the act of emancipation. That it was
wise, just, ana proyidential act, fraught
with good for all concerned, is now gen
orally conceded throughout the country.
That moral obligation rests upon the
National Government to employ its con-
stitutional power and influence to estab-
lish the rights of the people whom it has
emancipated. and to protect them in the
enjoyment of those rights when they
are infFiIged or assailed. is also gen
orally admitted. The evils which aff1ict
the Southern States can only be removed
or remedied by the united and harmon
ious efforts of both races, actuated by
motives OF mutual sympathy and regard,
and while in duty bonnd and fully deter
mined to protect the rights of all by
every constitutional means at the dis
posal of my administration, I am sin
cerely anxious to use every legitimate
Influence Ill favor Of honest and efficient
local government as the true resource of
those States for the promotion OF the
contentment and prosperity of their citi-
zens. In the effort I shall make to ac-
complish this purpose, ask the cordial
cooperation of all who cherish an inter
est in the welfare of the country, trust
ing that party ties and prejudice of race
will be freely surrendered in behalf of
the great purpose to be accomplished in
the important work of the restoration Of
the South.
1t is not the political situation alone
that merits attention. The material de-
veiopment OF that section os the country
has been arrested by tiaa social end po-