New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-04-20


or to bring clearly to the clerical comprehension
one gold dollar is today worth but an eighth part OF
| a copper cent more than one silver dollar,
Having thus strictly ignored sternly msstated all
the facts touching the silver question: you advance ny
short and easy stages to its philosophy Because Con-
gress does not agree with yOu you pronounce IL un-
worthy. " Because Congress- so far from containing
| enough virtue and statesmansbip to withstand
! the popular mania, did not even contain ehous"
| to give it vigorous opposition, we nave
| felt Justified in regarding this as Legislature
which by no means fairly represents the Umted
States" That is, because "a Congress- elected ny the
| people does not antagonist the people, there
| fore il does not represent the people nav
| ing settled this TO your satisfaction py
/ process which must have come from mspfanOh
! since il is not deducble from reason, you
next address yourself the task Of discovering why.
Congress is 90 unworthy Task 1t might be to others,
! but not to you I've need spend little time IN the
search" you cry you nimby cut around the corner
and announce that Congressional office rokery Is the
reason why In your swash OF loose statements
! on this subject, it is difficult to find any with
root enough to be eTadcaed When you say "the
members OF the dominant party in Congress, as rule,
have claimed federal patronage in order that they might
use that power for personal ends you simply speak IKE
the theoocian who las long dealt in statements inca
pabe OF proof dsproof because beyond the realm Of
knowledge that he has lost ali sense OF the difference DC
tween knowledge and speculation. Wien you say, "to
suppose that CoHTessmcn lay claim to inc
Government offices from lofty desire Tor
the country's good, would show simplicity
little less remarkable than than that which should Dc
displayed by who should thuk that bank ToDocis
commit their depredatIons from righteous wish to pre-
vent the banks from making much money" you add
to your rashncss an excessive might say u brutal
degree of thai personal discOuItesy which so often
attaches to the OF souls. When you approach tan
gibe misstaemcnts it becomes possible to show ho"
glaringly you misinicrmcd. how ptaby you
are uniformed, on the grave questions WHEREOF
you assume to teach your people from the pulpit
and all people from the newspaper am appalled, when
see you lending the weight Of your respectable name
and the influence OF your sacred Office 10 the assertion
that thousands Of offices hare Lccn maze solely 10 pro
ride places for friends Of members Of Congress- ana mar
millions Of money ericd in dres upon me people an
nurHy 10 feed these supple servants Of Of our great
mem" When The proofreader replied TO Horace Gree
leys reproaches for an incorrect election return IN the
morning TRIBUNE, that he did not see the mistake,
"see il 2" retored the angry editor, could smell It!
II YOU Mr. Hincks, believe your startling statement
you have not sufficiently keen scent for truth to be
safe spiritual adviser II you do not believe IT, you be-
come the slauderer OF your country and Of the great
mass of its public uncomfortable wckedncss In
clergyman or layman. II you give IL Endorsement ana
circulation without knowing It to be true you assume
moral responsibility of him who repeats evil stories
concerning his neighbor without inquirng or caring
whether they be true or false
UNwARRANTED CHARGES.
Reverend sir. thousands Of Offices" must mean az
least rO thousand Combining your charge to Its mar
rowest possible limit, tell OF how many Of these two
thousand offices made solely to provide places for
friends of members OF Congress " have you personal
knowiedgel Can YOU aided by all the slanderous In
fOrmauts who have misled you, name one hundred OF
these offices Can you fftyl Can you name
tWentydvel Will you name tent VIII you name h'e
l pray you to name one And when you name it, will
you add the name particular Senator Represent
alive who caused it to be created for his riend Let
us 20 TO the very bottom Of this thing Mr. ncks, and
then may perhaps hope 10 ascend.
Millions Of money must mean at least hco millions.
That is the annual interest forty millions OF our pub
lie debt Do you the magnitude OF yoar accusation,
the prOd Ous dimensions OF the statement it embraces
await with Impotence your proof or your retraction
am sure The Portland Advertiser will gladly honor itself
by obhging you and beg the same unknown friend
who furnished with your TO forward me your
manly justification your stil more manly confession
have confined assertions to the narroweSt limits
your language would aow-twO thousand offices, two
millions OF money. DO you not know that the popular
acceptaon would carry your assertions far beyond these
fgures2 Did you not intend that your meaning should
be unlimited If not limiabel There no metes ard
bounds to alsehood 1t Is only truth that is hcmmed in
| by rigid lines and impossible barriers.
Accepting these limitations Of truth, let me give
the actual facts which did not know until your wild
harangue shocked into a search for them.
which your statements more mon
strous mendacity than even suspected, and
| which stand over against them palpably
and defantly to cast upon them shadow not only
backenng but balefu discover then, upon inquiry,
that Congressman whom you so dishOnOraby depict dd
| during the administration Of President Grant abolish
more than thousand offices, aud did decrease our
taxes for the salaries Of these officers by far more
than two millions per annum. assert the authority
| OF official and undeniable Reports, that as soon
! as the war closed, the Republicans In Con
! gress began the great work OF Retrenchment, aud
that every Congress reduced enormously the number OF
Offices and reduced taxation In every form; not merely
by 1.-TWO millions" annually, but by tens Of Millions and
it will not shock your large generic Of arithmetic
to hear -hundreds OF millions in the aggregate Of the
several years. SO that merely your statement I'M
verified, but the opposite OF your statement Is
true Not only Is it untrue that offices were
created and taxes levied for the support Of friends Of
Congress Een br these Congressman abolished by
the hundred aud the thousand offices held by Their
friends and repealed by the tens OF millions the taxes
levied the people. Not only was hs true under Pres
| ident Grant; 1t true under the Republican Con
crosses President JohnsOns time. Under every year
| of both JohnsOns and Grants administrations. more
offices were abolished and more taxes repealed than
during the year OF President Hayes administration
To one who has so lofty dlsdain for
| facts 1t is difficult TO join logical issue In ar
| gument. To maintain the total deprayty OF
Congress on the Silver Bill you put laws Of your own
manufacture into your cOuntrys code To give yourself
ground for assang the relations Of Congressman to tho
Civil Service you stand before your people and create
offices Just the point where they have been nOto-
riousy abolished; you levy and increase taxes at the
precise time when they diminished and repealed
Then you press vaantly through serried columns Of
your fancies TO prove that Congress Is corrpty
aggregated through the fundamentally OF the officers
they control and that this the sure cause Of the
| deterioration Of Congress-"
"THE DETERIORATION OF CONGRESS-"
Is not this also a fancy You give for be
leyiDg that Congress deterOracd except that