Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1878-08-21

J remedy for disease that only "constitu-
tional treatment' can cure. TheTemedy
for dishonesty in politics lies in the cleo
| ton Of honest men only to every elective
office The remedy for incompetent gov
eminent lies in the election of able men
only. 1t rests with the people to apply
these remedies-for men both honest and
able abound in every state, and will read
lily respond to the people who desire them
as representatives,. Competitive eXami.
nations, according to the formulas hith-
erto devised, would be mere tests of mem
ory-not of executive capacity and, I'm.
der it's operation, every government de-
partmeut would be an organized regi-
ment of spies and informers. Establish
an inflexible system of promotions in line,
and every inferior officer would become
the natural enemy Of his immediate SUI
Derior Piety does not consist of cor
rect knowledge of the longer or shorter
catechism nor is the capacity to admin
lister affairs to be determined by compel
tive examinations. A lady may be duly
qualified to be an excellent copyist and
still not bowed down with the weight of
her erudition concerning the isOthermal
line. Yet an applicant lost her chance
for employment under the civil service
rules by failure to define this scientific
term. All such empiric methods are
mere ropes of sand Elm the hands of ex-
pert politicians. f MI. .....
Again, the commercial business Of this
nation is not conducted SO honestly as
the business of the government. Read
ing the diatribes of ''reformers," one
would think, if unfamiliar with the facts,
that a large majority Of the federal office
holders are dishonest. There were esti-
mated to be about eighty thousand per-
sons employed in civil offices in the ser
vice of the United States. Yet, outside
of Johnson's administration, (wllen of
ticers were appointed to inaugurate a
southern policy,'D not eighty dishonest
men were ever discovered Mr. Spinner
was treasurer OF the United States for fiji
teen years, and thousands upon thousands
of millions of dollars went through his
office. III e had regiment of subOrdl-
mates. How much was lost and stolen
Less than one ten-thOusandth Of one per
cent, and even this percentage was large
ly owing to three robberies against which
no ordinary precautions could prevail
Of these three robberies, two Of the per
petrators were discovered and punished
Can "legitimate business present SO ia
vorable a record? Let us see. During
the three years ending with 1875, or in
the beginning of 1876, Nhe latest returns
at this writing within my reach), the ag-
gregate liabilities of the bankrupts in the
United States amounted to $3.50, coo, 900
Their aggregate assets did not reach 80 =
cents on the dollar. Commenting on this
fact, commercial journal at the time re-
marked: - 2
SIS there any one who believes that the greater
part of this wide margin is not lost under circum
| stances little better than plain stealing? After
allowing for the shrinkage. Of values, for losses
counted twice, and for inevitable mlsf0rtunes, the
loss is too great to be incurred honestly. The
bankrupts have not only lost every dollar Of their
own, but two-thirds of all they could borrow; and
as no man Knowingly gives credit to an nsolvent
it is not an Over-estimate to say that the bank
rupts of the United States have dishonesty made
away with at least $50 OOO,O of the of then
cont1ding creditors within three years. 1t will
lhardly do for private life, to assume a superior
4 morality, and affect to dread any contagion from
political corruption. 'T.'' -F='-s e.- ..
/ Dismissing then, as literary Quackery
the civil-service reform panacea, and as
ignorant SANDER the charges Of political
rruption-asserting and believing that
the affairs Of the nation have not only
been more honestly, but, on the whole
far more ably administered under recent
: republican rule than at any other period
of our history, and that it is vastly supe
rior in both respects, and in almost every
respect, to the government Of any nation
on the earth-I come to the questions Of
greater importance and of more immedi
ate interest "#4 f ."- .-' 5l
But admitting, for the sake Of argu
mentor cOnciliation-that civil service
reform as vital issue, does any sane mar
believe that it can be accomplished under
. national democratic rule? Let the enter
taining history of theadoorkeepers of the
4 house CT representatives answer for me
8 Every appointment made by .themuhas
been governed by the old maxim of the
democracy: "To the victors belong the
spoils." | pass on. .,' I'D -..'..''i
..-.sg CAPITAL AND LABOR. g8E
Capital and labor. the house of Have
l and the house Of Want, present to us al
i issue not yet decided. & .3! t'''7
! Would the wealth-llolders of the ma
ttion be benefited by a national democrat
ic victory? Mould taXation be less bur
densome with the south encamped in the
white house and in the both houses OF
/ congress? Would the national debt be
secure under southern dolninition? a.y:
1t is time to speak the truth in plain
NOIuS, duu tut I'll uIu Shall SpCdh, ILL
pugn it whose listeth.p# E i1 -fA "'
The south constantly PIRATES of its hon
or. The word is its substitute for the
I Irishman's coat-tail at Donnibrook fair
Whose treads on it must fight. But the
commercial history Of America shows
I that no section is so thoroughly devoid
of commercial honor as the south has
always been in its dealings with its cred
itors Of the north. 1t is almost impossi
BILE to collect debts there today, even
when the debtors are solvent. gase
/ What has been the financial record OF
the ex-rebel states since the close Of the
war; Ibelieve that every one of them
certainly nearly every one Of them-as
soon as it passed under democratic con
troll, has sealed or ''graded' or "com
promised" or "repudiated" or silently
refused to pay it's state and county and
municipal debts. The history'of theil
/ financial action has been an unbroken
chronicle of bad faith with their credit
Ors When these thin ps are done in al