Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-12-18
CONGRESs AND THE DEMOCRAT
nc PARTY
New YORK World Dec. Q.

actual house of Representatives t,
decide within the next three month
whether this possibility shall o
shall not become a probability. Tht
question really at issue to-day il
Washington hath this extent, nei
ther more nor less. The democrat
ic party may forfeit during the cur
rent session its own future without
thereby insuring the future of tht
republican party. But the future O
the democratic party as at present
constituted is not the less at stake
to-day.
After fourteen years of complete
republican domination at both ends
of the avenue, the people Of the Uni.
ted States in 1864 elected a demo-
cratic majority in the house of rep
resentatives. Many causes conspried
to this result, but two causes were
most efficient in producing it. One
was the prostration of the public
prosperity by the panic of 1873. The
other was the disgust of the people
with scandals of Grantism. Both
of these causes still in full force Sc
cured in 1876 the election of a dem
ocratic executive as well as of an
other democratic majority in the
house of representatives. They
were reinforced, however, in 1876
by the precise and explicit terms
in which the democratic PARTY in
convention assembled pledged itself
in that year to certain leading meas
ures of political and economical re-
form.
The election by the people of
democratic executive in 1876 was
defeated after the fact by contriv-
ances of which it is Unnecessary in
this connection more particularly to
| speak. But a democratic majority
1 took control Of the house of repre-
santatives anew in 1876, and from
that majority the country expected
and had a right to expect the fulfil
ment of the pledges given by the
party in its convention. Were the
expectations of the country met
In 1878 the country once more re-
turned a democratic majority to the
house of representatives. The
pledges of 1876 were binding on the
house of 1878. Have the expecta-
tiOns excited by those pledges been
l.
yes. The democrats in congress be-
tween the year 1874 and the year
1880 have undoubtedly enforced the
public economies and the official re-
trenchments which the party in IS
rs promised to enforce. But have
the pledges of 1876 concerning a
sound currency been redeemed ?
Have the pledges of 1876 touching
that subject been fulfilled in the
silver legislation of the last four
years ? Have the pledges of 1876 |
conserving reform in the civil SER
vice been kept? What did the
democrats say on this theme in 1876?
"RefOrm is necessary in the civil |
service. Experience proves that
efficient economical conduct !
of the governmental business is not |
possible if its civil service be subject |
to change to every election, be a
prize fought for at every bollot-box,
be brief reward of party zeal, in
stead of posts of honor assigned for |
proved competency and held for fl
deity in the public employ; that
the dispensing of patronage should |
neither be tax upon the time of |
all our public men nor the instru-
ment of their ambition. Here again
promises falsified in the perfor-
nance attest that the party in pow
er can work out no practical or sal
utary reform"
Have the democrats, being in t
power, worked out this salutary re-
form? Have they so much as hon
estly tried to work it out !? In 1876,
too, the democrats promised an eff
fectual reform in our tariff. Moth
ing could be more plain or emphat-
ic than their language on this sub.
iect:
"Reform is necessary in the sum
and modes of fede,al taxation to
the end that capital may be set free
from distrust and labor lightly bur-
dened. We denounce the present
tariff levied upon nearly four thou
sand articles as a masterpiece of in
Justice, inequality and false pretense.
1t yields dwindling, not a yearly
rising revenue. 1t has impoverish-
ed many industries to subsidie a
few. 1t prohibits imports that
might purchase the products of
labor. 1t has degraded
commerce from the first
TO an inferior rank upon the high
seas. 1t has cut down the sales of
manufactures at home
and abroad and depleted the returns
of American agriculture, and indus.
try followed by half our people. 1t
costs the people five times more
than it produces to the treasury, OBJ
5tructs the processes of production
and wastes the fruits of labor. 1t
promotes fraud. fosters smuggling,
dishonest otficialsand bank
rupts honest merchants. We de-
mand that all custom-house taxa
ion shall be only for revenue"
What have democrats in congress
lnne ? What has the democratic
of Ways and Means done
% remedy this masterpiece of in !
ustice, inequality and false pre- !
ense"? !
Much has been done by the dem
)cratS in congress to rid the civil
power of the pressure and control of I
he military power in elections and :
in spite of a reluctant and {
obstinate executive in the person of >
President Hayes, and for this the 9
congress which beginning '
Is last session to-day deserves and G
yill receive a high meed of praise; s
,ut what one thing beyond that and 8
he reduction of federal expenses I
AVE the democratic leaders in con-
.ress brought to pass? Have they i
wen so much rs matured ana sent 4
o the president legislation looking Z
0 tariff reform or to civil-service 4
eform These are questions which Z
he country asked itself in Novem- O
'er. Are the democrats in congress e
atisfied with the answer which the +
ountry has given to these que5- y
ions? Ifnot, there is time enough 4
-et in the next three months for the Q
in congress to exert an y
ther and very different answer to .
hese questions from the country /
wo years hence, but this can only 8
'e done by prompt, full and resolute 5
ealing with these questions and n
With other questions analogous with Q
hese.
The country to-day, though pros $
,erous and promising, is far from 7
Ound in respect to the financial and Z
economical basis on which this pros P
'erity and this promise repOse. The !,
in congress have not only q
one nothing to cure-they have i
one only too much to aggrayate Il
!, a r4neoT1pI N aac (Which dafo, haalz ( "