New-York tribune., 1879-01-20


possession of certain election lists. ballot
boxes, etc, in order to preserve them as eViucnor
of fraud committed at the election an"
have thus far refused to surrender them 10 'n'
State authorities. The United States Marshall
who has the boxes and books which contain
the frauds themselves safely locked up III HIS
safe. is kept in confinement by the ota'o
authorities. If the State has rlEht 10
the nos.cssion of these records, 1t Is scarceiy
conceivable that the United States authoi1'ieS
would have taken the course they nave
follorea Whatever may be the outcome ol
,Lo disnutc. if Will serve as fresh iliustra-
ton of the purity of Southern elections
Orr Ncv-Orlcans letter gives the Official
Southcrp version of incendiary language
that is TO saw. language winch is considered as
;ncc,diorv when Republicans use it. The
authority quoted is the Speaker OF the
LNIiSiana House of Representatives, VINO
would not he likely, in testiiylng De'"re
the Teller Committee, to make MS Sla'c-
ments Of Republican atrocities less lurlo
than the facts. Mr. Moncure looks upon any
reference to the period of slavery, any re-
minder of the fact that the ncgIos political op-
poncnt of this day was once his master, and III
too many instances his oppressoT-as "lncen-
"diary:n and any attempt to discuss the pres
cnt relations of planter and laborer with the
remotest hint that the latter is paying the
former TOO much for bacon, is " "iniammatory'
When Southern gentleman, apparently OF
the best type in that region, talks in TINS
strain, it is easy to understand how the mere
announcement in any locality that the negroes,
after many of their number have been killed
in cold blood, were arming in sclf-defence, was
sufficient to rouse the whole white population
to a frenzy.
Governor RobinSon's somewhat eccentric
message had nothing quccrer IN 1t than h'S
recommendation fOr the abolition of the In
surance and Banking Departments. lie based
his suggestion upon the theory which holds
good in so many cases. that any governmental
interference in legitimate business Is mlschleV-
Gus, and enforced it with a statement
of the number of insurance companies ana
banks that had failed and brought loss upon
many thousands of people, i'll spite OF STATE
supervision. The LITTER half OF the Governors
argument might have been employed, with
equal pcrtincnce, III proving that insurance
companies and banks are dclusive by nature,
and altogether unnecessary anyhow 1t is true
that the history of the past five years has shown
a shocking degree of Encouragement, either
criminal or crimiually stupid, in such lnstltu-
tions, most of which might have been pre-
vented or rectitied if State supervision had
been always faithful hut 1t is also true that in
saving those institutions that could be saved,
and in closing up the affairs of those which
were hopclesSly weakened, the State De-
partments were about the only guardians
left to the policy-hOldcr and the dcpositor.
They are the best guardians, too, which the
sound banks and insurance companies them
selves can have, and the chorus Of protests
against abolition now going up from the
latter is the best evidence that they con-
slider State supervision their most cilec-
tive protection against the rivalry of dis
honest concerns. No doubt if the savings
banks also were called upon to speak,
their answer would be the same. And to
any one who persists in repeating Governor
RobinSon's argument that, because there have
been many failures and much suffering, the
Departments are failures, let it be suggested
that if there had been no Departments there
would inevitably have been many more fail
ures and much more suffering.