The Columbus journal., 1879-03-19
TURN BACK THE HANDS!,

In the Senate Mr. Salisbury, for his party. arre=
gantly assumes the responsibility of power. al
with resonant crack of the whip that brings bac.
the old days bids the Republicans that body be
not only patient but silent and submissive, while
sweet will. Confederate generals direct the coun-
sells of the organization that controls the Senate.
apportlon among themselves the committees and
among Their constituents the patronage, dictate the
course of legislation. and shape the policy of the
party. At the other end OF the Capitol Mr..
Mr.. Reagan. late Postmaster-General of the Con-
| federacy, Mr.. Chalmers. late Brgadier
General of the Confederate Army, with
with that disastrous political venture, have
given out that the people having called the Demo-
cratic party back to power to relieve the country
from the evil consequences of eighteen years OF
Radical msTule, it is the duty of the present Con-
| gress to enter immediately upon the task. In both
senate and House there is uncommon anxiety on
the part of the gentlemen newly invested with
power to enter at once upon its exercise Instead
of shrinking from its responsibilities, they are
eager to assume them. And we must give them
| credit at least for apparent sincerity. They GER
taInly do act as though they fully believed in them
selves, and believe that they had actually been sent
for in a crisis. In their expressions their tOne their
manner, their whole behavior, they indicate as
plainly possible their belief that their reappear-
ance IN Congress is the result not of their own, but
of the cOunrys confession of and repentance.
They have come back, they say, IN so many words,
to correct the msta es and sweep away the legsla-
tiOn of the past eighteen years. They have conf
dence IN themselves, to say the least.
And who. pray, are the gentlemen stepping so
confidently to the front, and bidding everybody
else stand back while they take the Government in
hand Their unsparing condemnation of existing
laws and their startling proposals of radical
changes invite to a scrutiny of their record, and
inquiry to their fitness for the revolutionary
proceedings they havein contemplation. What Is
the record of these men who assume responsibility
with such jaunty self-cOnldencef 1t is not far to
seek. In 1852 they were intrusted with almost
questioned power in all departments of the Govern
ment and nearly all the States There was scarcely
an opposition. What was their craftsmanship In
three years they had set on foot agitation which
naCff fhaf NuVnr inf fha and afaI
sectional division IN parties; and this continued
without their gaining anything they set out for,
until the Government passed completely out
of their hands in 1860. and then they
entered upon Q conspiracy to break up and
destroy 1t. What fitness, does the record
years Government of their own. Does that
cord show suci large capacity fer craftsmanship
that we should send out for them to come back and
take the old Union in cnarce7 Here are financial
questions to be solved by legislation. What Ger
ltcate of fitness for this work do they bring7 Only
this that they left the Government in 1861 i'm
such Strengthened circumstances and impaired credit
that its bonds at discount. and it could
scarcely borrow money in the markets of the world:
and that IN their own experience of a cOnfederary
they succeeded only IN making a currency which
was so worthless as to be a source OF mirth among
themselves. And they have come back to a Gov
ernment whose credit has been raised by the legi>-
latlOn of these eighteen years to par with that Of
the weathieSt nations in the world To a Govern
ment which the same legislation has mt i'm a most
ton to redeem its obligations the money of the
world. This Is the legislation they feel called upon
= AZ
ness for financial administration.
Here are serious questions of the relations between
capital and labor: what special fitness have they
shown OrlegislatlOn upon this subiectf Only this:
that eighteen years ago they struck out for them
selves i'll a new Government whose cornerstone
was the system of slave labor. There is to-day no
such system III existence. and their acquaintance
with that of flee labor aud its relations with
CAPITAL dates only from the fall of their abortiye
COnfcderacy. Here is the system of internal rev
enue which seems TO have aroused the interest of
the late Confederate Nice-President, Mr. Stephens
hos bl,rl1 ha
changed what constitutes their fitness for this
wOrkf Only this that their rebellion made the
system necessary, and that its collection in the
Southern States Is attended with more trouble
and expense than anywhere else because resistance
to the law Is more general there. There are laws
To be passed ana appropriations to be made for
the postal service: what constitutes the Guali-
fcI Itions of these gentlemen for this duty Moth
ing that we know of, except that they come from
section which has never paid for its own postai
facilities, out has always exhausted the surplus de-
rived from the profits of the service in the Northern
States and required additional appropriations from
the Treasury 10 furnish ITS mail accommodations
Did Mr.. Reagan. the ex-Postmaster-General of the
COnfcderacy, show special fitness for lecislafiug
1pOn this subject when he recommended the pay
ncnt of a mail contractor who was shown by the
records of hls own department. TO have been paid
JnCe already Mr.. stephens expresses a purpose To
epeal the law taxing state Banks so that the spy-
,Tal states may charter banks of issue, as of old
10 one who Is Oil enough to remember the con
yenience and the beauties of the State hank cur
ency enjoyed before the war Will after tins
question Mr. stephens wisdom as a legislator upon
hat subject. States which reDudiate their bonds
night perhaps charter banks whose notes wouId
circulate with those of the National banks or with
1t does not now seem urOba bic tbougb
But the great thing which all Democrats unite in
aging that the party was brought back to power
or is to repeal the infamous election laws And
What is their special fitness for this of eOisa-
ion9 Well, only this that among the first of
enCes fOr which this party Tepudated by the
eOpe twenty years ago Its outrageous frauds
pOn the ballOt-bOX il Kansas, III the attempt of
hese gentlemen who have come back to govern us
o steal that state; that from that time on. they
ave VIGOROUSLY detTauded the ballOt-bOx when
yer and wherever their needs required and OpD0r-
unity offered notably this city and that thew
ave Tegained their ascendancy in the National
legislature by means of the most unblushinr
rauds at the polls the Southern States that were
yer known even IN that party's history. That
uaies them TO be the protectors of the ballot and