The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-08-10
HARD TIM ES.
MADE RY HEWaTT's AAR0R COM
MHFTEE,

HiaFppF.
TSneeial Correspondence Of the Dem moetatT
NoRwtuH N, Y, August 4, 1875.
It may have escaped the public mind that:
shortly before the adjournment OF the lass
session Of Congress o select COMMITTEES Waa
constituted to sit during the recess. with
Abram s. Hewitt OF New York, as chairman
The duties Of this committee were rather
vaguely defined, but tho understanding waa
that it was organized and empowered to send
for persons, etc. with q view to Investigating
and reporting upon
THE CAUSES ETC, OF THE PENDING LARGE
DISTURBANCES
in order to facilitate congressional action f1g
the relief Of the country. At all events sUefa
was the understanding of the matter cBrrenG
at the time Just why Abram s. HeWfEG
should have been made chairman OF this coIn~
mttee was not quito clear to me, for II there
is in nominal fellowship with the Democratic
party and iu pretended sympathy with tHa
cause Of the people any politician W1ossa
actual associations are with the Inonsye1
oligarchy and whose instincts are all in favor
of the national banks, the bondhoders ana
the Shylocks of the time generally, that peE~
son Is
ABE HRWITr, OF NEW YORK.
| 1t was q queer thought Of Sam Randall NB
| put at the head Of such committee the rnam
who had at q crisis, declared in substance
| that he would rather sec a. Fraudulent Presf~
| dent inaugurated than TO see any blood
spilled for the assertion Of right-rneanfng
thereby that he was Indifferent to the Charaa-
| tor of the government under which the people
| lived. 50 long as ii maintained the quotations
Of bonds at tAa prevalent gratifying figure.
In short, Mr., Hewitt belongs in the Radioaa
party. According TO all the essentials Of tH8
| fitness of things he should now be bowling for
| the reelection Of Grant in order TO confirm
The happiness OF the millionaire element fR
our population by the muninHnts Of strong
| government.
| However Mr.. Hewitt was made chairmaEa
Of the committee ordained to examine fnto
the causes of the prevailing disturbance df
our social system, and to report
| SOME PLAN OF REMEDY.
| / presume that, to the average mind, tsaa
| proposition that suoh O committee sho1H
begin It's operations by an examination aF
general statistics touching the number OF Es-s
boring people unemployed, the causes Of their
employment, and the prior conditions
whence those causes arose, would not requfrs
demonstration. In point Of fact no duty
could be more motnentous, and no respafh
sibilitv graver or more intricate than tsfsS
properly devolving upon
| MIR. HEWtrrr'e; GOMMITrEE .s
The country is undergoing the preliminary
stages Of revolution, the future processes
and the inaity of which no man Can foreses.
AssuredEy there was never g. grander probefsa
presented for o statesman, O. philanthr0pish
Or @ political economist to grapple with tham
the problem involved In the causes ana
the possibilities OF this revolution. It Is in
deed task requiring the subtest knowIedga
of the science Of sociology, the keenest In
, sight into the philosophy Of popular thought
) and the most comprehensive grasp Of the
) springs Of public action.
The problem which such 81 statesman as
Sir Robert Peel forty years ago declared to-
be too vast for any human Intellect to SUR
rouud-that OF reforming the abuses Of cen@
t stitutional government In Great Britain-was
/. 8 plain and simple SUM In arithmetic by tha
< side Of that which to-day oonronts our Iegis@
} lators. The situation at which Sir Robert
I Peel stood aghast WAS simply that Of aH&
cient and for the most part approved institp-
tions thrown slightly out Of joint by purely
political j8rring. But our situation is that OF
, an experimental machine fearfuy and Wofaa
i derfuliy complicated at the best. but now bent
/ as to its most deliGtte mechanism by revoltt~
9 tion, and hogged aud twisted out Of all SEM
9 blance Of shape and symmetry as whole by
an explosion Of civil war, then smashed uEe
generally by the clumsy corruption OF Grant
ism, and finally turned exactly bottom sieta
. upward by the bungng fraud OF Hayesisssa.
There is growing belief in the mind Of tfia
$ masses that the existence of such
4 ENORMOUS FORTUNES
l. as have been piled up during the past twenty
4 years and mainly in the last ten, is ineoHf-
i patibIe with the .porpetuty Of the fact I not
) uf the form Of the institutions devised and
> bequeathed to us by the fathers; that In sur
= rendering or ,delegating through ignorant or
corrupt legislatures such enormous powers
and such lmitless privileges to bodies coz
porate, we have, in fact if not In form, torn
down those barriers which tho sires sought
9 to erect against tho establishment Of
IA AN ARtsroCRACy TN OUR MIDST;
"a and this belief is fast producing Convietf0n
r. that something must be done to re-estabIisis
upon something like It's old basis, or submit,
II quietly TO the new order Of things with all ifes
j. changes in our social system and all its alter
10 ations in the spirit and essence Of our polit5-
" cal institutions.
l. This is g. crude sketch of the situatfGn,
10 which Mr.. Hewitts committee was presuua~
b ably constituted to examine. In view Of tho
J. nagnitude of the work one would imagine
- with at least dignity and decent respect foE
et the inteliigenGeo OF the millions who Watefn
11tt ing him. But he has chosen TO proceed other
Il wise His m0daas opeyandi has been to sit a
10 York Postmaster for the purpose Of ezafnin~
g ing such representatives ~ OF the oppressed
T. working men y Of the country as JuHtua
D. Scwab, red headed and redder faced DutefE-
70 man. who runs o Gornmunistic side show for
- the purpose Of attracting custom to d beer
garden!! This Is Mr.. HeWitts conception of
statesmanship Bah And the following is a
sample Of his inquiries / select O. passage
o. from the "examinatou" Of
40 MR.. TOM ROCK,
70 an "inteligent stone-eutter," who began his
rt contribution to current political economy fV
- com planning that tho public work on the gov
q. ernment budingsin HeU YORK city was taken
"a away from the metropolitan stone-cu and
50 given to the artisans at Dig Island and etse~
er where outside the corporate limits, simply be-
,s. cause they happened TO be the lowest bidder
m according to law From these premises