The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1881-03-11
The national substance were brought to

the national substance were brought to
an end
The prohigate expenditures in the De
partmert of Justice, the Printing Bu-
reau, the Commissariat and other de
partments were exposed, and If unhap
PLY not punished, brought to an end.
The odous reign of the carpet-bag de
bauchees was overturned and the thrifty
knaves who had been living on the plum
der of helpless Commonwealth chased
from the haunts of civilized men. The
baleful interference of the army in civic
procedure was checked though not so
effectively as law-abiding citizens could
WISH The Forty.fourth Congress may
be said to have found the country in the
chaos that follows civil war, and though
| they and their successors were not able
to deal with the wrongs and anomalies
crowding upon them for redress, it must
be owned that they did not altogether
fall short of the trying mandate imposed
upon them. They rescued us from band
ed rings of thieves, law-breakers and
demagogues, to whom it would be a
feeble comparison to liken the merce-
nary legions of the Roman Senate in its
decadence or the corrupt Alsatians OF
the Stuarts in the worst days OF their
hagitious lawlessness. Nor will the fu-
ture historian dealing philosophically
with the untried group called to power,
while yet unprepared, hesitate TO accord
them certain glory for intrepid resolu-
ton in the face of an opposition more
powerful than most untricd men are call
ed upon to face. The Democracy had
been out of the habit of responsibility for
such term of years that time and prac-
tice alone could qualify them for the exc
cution of the vast work expected of them
All their ablcst men had been lured by
office and honor or by conviction into
the ranks of their adversaries. With
very rare exceptions the men who guided
the councils of the party knew only by
tradition the methods of Democratic
polity.
The misrule of ten years had plunged
the country into the most deplorable re-
suits that attend civil war, without that
reflex buoyancy that sustains great peo
pie who have Just emerged from success
full battle The credit of the govern
ment was doubtful, the trade of the
country was paralyzed, great section Of
the territory seething in revolutionary
} panic. The new Congress undertook
the colossal burden of re establishing
} peace and prosperity with certain un
shrinking confidence in itself and in the
country that shines out now as species
of heroic chivalry, recalling the vicissi
, tudes that the party has since under
, gone. Within two years the affairs o
the nation were brought back to thei
normal condition; the credit and curren
cy of the country were re established
, trade revived and an era of prosperity
akin to the good old times set in anC
g continues as the result of the wisdom
! moderation and sagacity of these mex
/. perienced but conscientious and scrupu
| lous public servants. There is, with al
< this, much undone that should have beel
l done and mach done that might hav
been left undone, but no criticism, from
: however hostile point of view, cal
: charge criminality encouraged or law
e lessness condoned. No monopoles hav
= been built up through their instrumen
. tality, no constitutional compacts infrin
: ged, no right of majority invaded, nj
: conspicuous law-breaker rewarded o
t armed with right to prey upon tn
e helpless. Wiser and better trained mel
8 might have made better laws, nigh
have more completely guarded the peo
pile against the swarming evils that thu
next few years are likely to let loose upol
us but no men who have yet been calle'
to power have so thoroughly, so consci
| entiously worked for the interest conf
ded them as the three Congresses who's
mission ends with the Forty sixth
Phila. Times.