The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-08-29
THE RECORD OF 1T.

=, THE RECORD OF IT.
After prolonged possession of power,
extending over a period of seventeen
years, and embracing every department
of the Government, except the House of
= Representatives since 1875, the Republi-
can leaders, with rare effrontery, are now
appealing for vote of confidence at the
Congress elections this fall, and De Col
yer Garfield, whose record is stained all
over with corruption, audaciously de-
Clares that "the continuation in power of
the Republican party is necessary to pro-
teCt the Treasury from spoliation |" In
other words, he asks that public plund-
erers shall mount guard over the vaults
holding the public treasure.
There is no example in the history of
free government which compares with
the open defiance of Constitution and
law, the excesses of power the prodigal.
ity, the corruption, the nepotism, the
social restraints, and the license which
mark the career Of the Republican party
since the close of the war, and especially
during the era of Grantism, when even
the external forms of decency were
thrown aside, and a government of rings
ruled the country like an absolute des-
potism. These rings controlled every
branch of the public service. There
was Treasury ring, a Military ring,
Naval ring, Postal ring, a Whisky ring,
Customs ring, Land ring, Judiciary
ring, Railroad ring, Patent ring, an
Indian rigg, Washington ring, a Claims
ring, with agencies and ramifcations ex-
tending in all directions
Though independent of each other,
they made common cause, furnished the
money for Presidential campaigns, and
for the election of Senators and Repre-
sentatiyes, in order to preserve their as
cendancy, and to continue the atrOcious
system by which they were enriched at
the cost Of the taxpayers. They owned
the committees in Congress that prepar
ed egislation, dictated by their rattorneys,
and by combinations were always sure of
subservient of majorities in both Houses,
Even now, after all the exposures, some
OF these rings, under new names, are as
powerful as they ever were.
Under this sway the carpet.bag and
bayonet rule in the South was created,
not only to fill the pockets of the swarm
OF adventurers who rushed there under
the promise of the fullest protection, but
to secure the votes of the States thus
held in bondage for the Presidency. and
to swell the majorities in Congress by
frauds, misCal led Senators and Represen.
tatives. When the end came, there was
legacy Of two hundred millions of
deb! for an impoverished people to stag.
ger under, in addition to their other mis-.
fortunes.
The Civil Service Reform Commission, 1
headed by Mr.. G. W. Curtis, reported
that one hundred millions a year had
been stolen from the revenue from i'm
ports, by devices that depended for sue
cess on the colusion of the Custom Hous.
es with the fraudulent importers at home {
and abroad, who organized the methods
by which this wholesale swindling was
carried on, to the injury of honest mer.
chants, whose legitimate business was
sacrificed by the underselling of fraud
ulent class, that were enabled to drive
them from the market.
Different Republican Congresses voted
away two hundred millions of the choic-
est parts of the public domain to railroad 4,
corporations, besides sixty four millions
Of subsidy in money, and the interest on (
This large sum, not dollar of which, y
under decision of the Supreme Court Z
is payable until 1900. After establishing
one OF the greatest monopolies in the
world, and appropriating to its use the
most valuable lands, the party that did (
his, at their national conventions now \
'reatfirm opposition to further grants of
he puDllc lands to corporations and
and demand that the public
tomain be devoted to free homes for the
they had already given
he best of these lands to rings.
The record of expenditures in the last .
en- years of profound peace, as compared a
With the decade Immediately preceding
he civil war, is appalling to contemplate =
n Its exhibition of extravaganza and Il
eckless waste of the peoples money.
Between 1868 and 1877 the total expen-
litures for the civil service, war, navy.
md Indians, exclusive of pensions and
interest on the public debt, aggregated d
il 1853 l72 l66 72. In this statement the
ast fiscal year is included, when the
House of Representatives, against the
forts of the Executive and the vote of re-
he Senate, reduced the appropriations
1ore than twentythree millions.
Between 1852 and 1861 the total ex
enditures for the civil service, wal, navy
nd Indians, exclusive of interest on the
ubliC debt and pensions, aggregated
572 81, ,260,62. The difference between Of
ne two periods of peace is $500 209 ,9O6 dlI
0, or more than eighty.nine millions ~
ear in round numbers! Taken in con-
ection with the waste of the civil war,
MS system which burned the candle at th
9th ends was bound to end in the bank. go so
1ptcy and rum which for five years past ac
ave prostrated all business This is the ~ ~
onsumnation of Republican policy, ad. mi
mustered without check or effective re. of of
stance. And De Golyer Garfield and mi
le men who brought il about, cry aloud IN,
lat they must be continued to save the %.
reasury from spoliaLion"-N Y. Sun. an an
sn az,
THERE is desperate effort being made fec