The daily gazette., 1878-09-10

a railroad president were to make such a
report to his stockholders, he would be
Instantly driven into disgrace. And yet
the people are told that the cry for re-
trenchment and reform Is hollow and in
sincere. Why should the expenses of the
Government now be almost twice as
mach per capita as before the war? The
last fiscal year Of Democrauc adminis-
tration closed June 30, 1850, and the or
binary expenses, excluding interest and
pensions, were under $50, ,0O0 The
last fiscal year Of absolute Republican
control ended June 80, 1873. and the or
dinary expenses, excluding interest and
pensions, were over S142, 600. The
increase in our population cannot &C
count for this alarming increase in our
annual expenses, nor can 1t be charged
to the war, for all claims resulting from
The war-such A. pensions and interest
on the public debt-are excluded. 1t is
the result of official Incompetence, ex-,
travagance, and corruption. 1t cost
yearly about 81 95 per head to govern us
before the war; it costs Iow nearly SO 80
per head. ... .,
STATE PLATFORM OF THE REPUBLICANs.
After having donated to railroad cor
porations over 2o0, 900 900 of acres of the
public lands the Republicans, in their
platform, in impudent mockery, declare
"that the public lands belong to the peo-
pie and should be reserved exclusively
for actual settlers" This means, | sup
pose, If the railroads don't want any
more of them. And yet about the time
the Republicans i'm Pennsylvania were
were adopting this resolution the Re-
publicans in the United State Senate
We're voting regrant of public lands 10
the Northern Pacific Railroad Company
of 40, ,000, 900 of acres,
The same platform makes earnest dec
laration in favor of home industry, and
yet the people do not forget that Ite-
publican Congress In 1872 reduced the
tariff on bituminous coal, iron steel, and
other articles In the mining and manu-
facture OF which Pennsylvania labor and
capita, were and are largely employed. /.
And the same PLATFORM is loud ih pro-
test against the payment of Southern
claims. This cry has served many a po-
litical villain convepientpurpOse.f But
let the truth be known. What are South
ern clairnsp A persistent effort has been
made 70 have the people believe that
these claims are demands upon the Gov
ernment, made ex xclusiveIy by persons in
the South who were engaged in the Re
bt lion. Instead of this being true, o vast
majority Of the claims thus far allowed
by Congress have been presented by
Northern and Union men for losses al
legged to have been sustained by them in
or on account of the war. And how
stand the two parties on this question
In the Forty-second Congress (Republ-
CAM bills were passed for claims amount
ing to So, ,498, ,172 80. In the Forty-third
Congress (Republican) the amount was
S2,41 ,23865. Now the Forty,fourth
Congress (Democratic) passed tlaims
amounting only to 81 ,S7S, ,26743, about
81 900 900 less than had been allowed by
the Republicans in the Forty-second and
the Forty-third Congress. Instead of
bills for the pa, ment of 100000, 900
Southern claims having been introduced d
in Congress, the actual amonnt pending
is $4,000, ,107 In magnify ing the mum ber
one bill for the same purpose, but pre-
sented by different members, has been
county fifty-four times another, forty
four; another, twenty-nine another,
twenty-nine; and so on. By such means
are tho people to be misled and the Re-
publican party kept in power.
THR CURRENCY QUESTION.
tits a remarkable fact that the Repub-
lican State platform is silent on the ques-
ton of the currency. Why? Not be-
cause the people feel no interest in this
question, nor because q political party
asking q renewed lease of power should
not define Its positions upon an issue so
vital: but because 1t was deemed safest
for success to leave the subject open, that
the managers of the campaign might take
any position that party necessity should
require. The quest on, to some extent, is
supposed to be one of lat tude and longi-
tude, and nence it was thought cruel to
compel the same speakers to deliver the
same speech in Lancaster as inAllegheny.
After an unbroken silence of three
months, the Republican bugle-call is for
hard mooey and national banksl The
currency that sustained our armies in
the field-thst carried our flag to VIC
that paid for the torn limbs and mangled
body of the living soldier and for the
precious life of the dead. must be with
drawn as worthless ragsl And in its
place the people must take currency
founded upon the interest-bearing debt
OF the Government, and whose circala-
tion has already cost the nation over
500, ,O00, ,000i ~
On the 1st of November last there were
in existence 2,08O national bankt, with o
capital stock paid Ia of S479, ,467 I'll, and
with surplus fund and other undivided
profits of $166 ,348, ,799 Sc. These figures
tell the story. These banks have been
organized for about twelve years, and
have annually declared dividends never
less than and often 20 per cent; and yet
| in this brief period they have accumulat-
ed undividt d profits held now by them
as surplus fund amounting to more than
oue-third of all their pald-in-capitai.--
Thus their stock becomes enormously
enhanced in value, as is seen by recent
quotations of the stock of the Centen-
NAL National Bank of New York, whose
par value, l believe Is 500 per share,
while the value In the market is $1700
per share. A system OF finance that per-
inits such profits when labor is idle and
industry paralyzed Is oppressive 10 the
people and dangerous to free institutio ons
1t tends to Capitalization; 1t builds up
vast money power, born of the same
parent, sucking the same breast, and de,
voted to acommonpurpose. If General
jackson had cause to fear one bank con-
trolling $50, 0,0OO0O0 or $40,0O0,0OO, what
| would he have thought of 1900 banks,
organized under one law, with the same
interest and aims, and having $5OO,OOO,'
600 of capital?
ITO BE CONTINUED.
WARD GREENBACK CLUB.
The Greenback Labor Party of the
H.. a....4 4 wIx4