Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1879-02-22

formly given in the present day,
whenever protests may be raised
against the sacrifice Of principle or
the postpOnenient of the public well
fare to party expediency. That
answer is that party always has and
always must be the leading motive
power in popular and representative
governments. There Is no baseness
Of political tergivisation, no trifling |
with great national interests which |
is not defended by the glib repeti |
ton of this truism. We are far
from denying its truth as an isolated |
fact, but when that truth is made {,
stand alone as a motive force in
politics, and all political movement
made subordinate TO the demand
of party interest-when, in short
party becomes all in all, and pOliti-
cal principle is only consulted so far
IS it may be mate subservient Il
the interests of conflicting factions
then the time arrives when pOpula:
and representative government be-
come impossible, and would not bt
worth preserving If it were possible
to maintain them.
We have been led to this train o.
thought by contemplation of thu
now closing days of the Forty-tiftf
Congress. To one who looks foi
practical legislation affecting thu
welfare of the nation, the retrospecl
presents a terrible blank, but if al
exciting spectacle of party warfar,
carried on with almost unprece
dented fierceness is sought, the
seeker will be amply satisfied. II
Is not only that the two great par
ties have been embroiled In renew
al of the old war issues which the
enemies of peace and harmony will
on no consideration permit to rest,
but that the two conflicting section
of the Republican party have prose.
cuted the differences between then;
with an animOsitys scarcely at all les,
intense than that between the Re
publicans and Democrats; and ever
within the Democratic party itself
whenever the Southern Democrats
claim that equality in the disburse
ment of the public funds which al
equality in taxation enjOins, they
are made to feel that their OWL
allies are only in a limited degre'
prepared to recognize practically
that restored equality which in the
Org they are conteGding for Thus
much for the party strategics of the
Forty-fifth Congress.
Under the head of actual states
manship, of legislation directed to
the substantial welfare of the ma
ton, the two measures which will
be claimed for the FOrty-fifth Con-
gress are the resumption of specie
payments and the silver bill. We
do not propose to discuss the merits
of these two measures, to attack the
one or to vindicate the other in the
present paper. Let the advocate
of each assume that his favOrite bill
is conceived on true financial prin-
ciples. We are considering now the
forces which carried them through
Congress, and we are constrained to
the conclusion that there was more
of party tactics in it than of political
economy. Take resumption first.
In the first place, il was not the act
of the FOrty-fifth Congress at all il
was passed in a former Congress,
and the present one had nothing to
do with it except to resist its repeal (;
and when it was passed it was
adopted not from any conviction OF
its expediency in a financial point
of view, but strictly as a party
measure. Its intention was, by fix
Ing the day for resumption at the
commencement of the present year
to stave off financial controversy
which at the time of the late Presi-
Dental election would have been
embarrassing to the party. So far
indeed was it from having been the
result of conviction in the party
which proposed and carried it, that
the very statesman who is now
claiming unlimited glory for carry
ing it out, Secretary Sherman, OPP
posed it in the caucus of the Repub-
lican party at which it was adopted;
SO we are informed by Senator Ed
monds, who does not desire Sher-
mans record to stand too high.
When we said, however, that the
present Congress had nothing to do
with the measure, we ought to have
said that it did introduce the most
obnoxious feature now incorporated
in it, that of giving the Secretary OF
the Treasury unlimited license for
the issuance of four per cent. bonds
for the purchase Of gold, which is
nothing less than saddling the cOun-
AEN Will a lACAN y AhNAOtN7C Va AAeSA
est-bearing debt in time of peace,
that the administration may get the
credit of that which is only de-
m0nstration at once and a gross
abuse of the unlimited credit which
the nation possesses.
But the silver bill; was not that
q triumph of craftsmanship over
party? We are known to have fla
vored this bill, and we still believe
that it will be found of great benefit
TO the nation whenever we shall
have an administration willing to
carry it out in good faith. To use it
in settlement with the public cred
itor as was intended by its authors
and to abstain from iutrigues with
bankers to discredit the metal with
the nation. The character of the
measure, however, is not now the
question, but the motive forces
which gave ii a place upon the