The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-09-20

values have decreased one-third, and the
debtor class, unable to meet their obligations
after long and desperate struggle, have
yielded to the inexorable logic of events and
goue down in hopeless ruin. | need not point
you to the endless list ofappIicatious for the
benefit of the bankrupt law which is now
repealed. For the last five years every hour
that the clock has struck, day and night, has
tolled the financial failure of an American
citizen. Like DEATH the iron heel of dis
aster has crushed both high and low. The
manufacturer, giving employment to a thous-
and men, and the country merchant, pro-
viding for himself and family an humble
support, have alike bowed beneath the fury
of the storm and now lie powerlcss except to
mark the path of its desolation. Driven by
the sheriff from the home of their childhood
and from the graves Of their dead, in the
bitterness of their agony and beneath star
less sky, they summon their oppressors to
the judgment hall.
More than thirteen years have elapsed
since the close of the war. The south, pros
trated and exhausted, addressed herself to
replacing the ravages of war with the fruits
of peace, but state after state was overrun
with cormorants and adventures, who fed
upon disorder and fattened upon plunder
They secured control of the local and state
governments and roted in the substance of
the people. In few years the debts and
Liabilities Of the eleven states that had en-
gagged in the rebellion were increased over
| two hundred millions of dollars. In Miss
issippi one-sixth of all the land was sold for
taxes. If discomfort prevailed, the army
was at hand to deepen the oppression by
aiding the oppressor. When these political
vampires had loaded themselves with plum.
der they would flee the scene of their crimes
not always unpunished by the avenging
minister of justice.
This policy, long supported by the federal
government, entailed great burdens upon
the people. The south, literally robbed, wa,
unable to pay her share of our common deb
and the national expenses were largely in
creased by maintaining an army whose en-
ly employment was the maintenance of So
called state governments, which rested alone
not on the popular will, but on the bayo
| net.
Strangely enough carpet bag rule expired
in its last gigantic crime And now thesC
eleven states, under rulers of their choice
are as peaceful as Pennsylvania, and theil
citizens, white and colored, as secure il
their rights of person and Of property as ou
own.
By reference to the finance report for 1877
pages | and -, it will be seen that the ne
ordinary receipts of the treasury since tn,
republican party came into power are s.,
057, 500, 22l, So, and if you will turn to tn,
report of the civil service commission, ap
| pointed by President Grant, of which Georg,
William Curtis was a member, made to th,
| Forty-second congress, you will find it esti
mated that one.fourth of the revenues of tn
United States are annually lost in the col
lection Hence, if the five billions receiv
ed represent but three fourths of the amour
levied by law, the remaining fourth lost O
stolen, but paid by the people, is 81 ,6S5 ,956,
4O7 ,2l, a sum greater than the assessed valu
of all the property, real and personal, il
| Pennsylvania, and a sum, too, which, witt
interest from the time it was collected ,woul,
more than pay every dollar of the nationa
debt. The payment of taxes is never til
most pleasant duty but it becomes especial
| ly hard in these times, when the tax payer
has every reason to believe that out of ever
| four dollars paid by him for the support of tn
government one dollar is lost by negligenc
or directly stolen. What private citize
would so conduct his business? What cor
poraton would exist an honr under sue
management If II railroad president wer
to make such a report to his stockholder,
he would be instantly driven into disgrace
And yet the people are told that the Cry io
retrenchmept and reform is hollow and in
sincere. Why should the expenses of tn
government now be almost twice as muc
per capita as before the war? The last fl
cal year OF democratic administration close
June 80, 1860, and the ordinary expenses
excluding interest and pensions, were owe
one hundred aud forty-two millions. Th
increase in our population cannot accour
tor this alarming increase in our annual eX
penses, nor can it be charged to the war, to
all claims resulting from the wal-such Il
pensions and interest on the public debt
are excluded. 1t is the result OF official ii
competency, extravaganza and corruption
1t cost yearly about sl.95 per head to gov
ern us before the war it costs now nearl
1880 per head.
STATE PLATFORM
After having donated to railroad corpora
tions over two hundred millions of acres O
the public lands the republicans, in thei
platform, in impudent mockery, declar
that the public lands belong to the people
and should be reserved exclusively for act