Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-10-19
DRY to the Raotsi

Dry to the Roots!
The Republican party was founded on
the basis of free soil, grew on the princi-
pie of abolition, fattened on its war
record, and is now sustained only by the
cohesive principle of public plumber and
the support extended to it by favored
capitalists and protected barons. Dis
missing any claims it may have to
appreciation for its legislative record,
and it would be sorely tried to make out
a case in its defense before any lutelli-
gent and impartial tribunal. Its position
to-day is enough to condemn it in the
eyes of every true lover Of his country.
We see this powerful organization,
once absolute in the councils of the Re
public, rent in twain and disputlng over
the distribution of the spoils of office.
Whenever any measure of harmony pre-
walls in its ranks it will be found that
the quota of patronage is comparatively
small. The temper of the party found
expression but year ago in the crack of
the assassin's pistol, but the warning
that the murder of the Chief Magistrate
of the Republic afforded has gone un.
needed. In fact, bitter as was the
struggle for place before the awful
tragedy which that struggle melted was
enacted, it has grown the fiercer and has
eliminated in open revolts in hitherto
Republican strongholds against Arthur
and his methods.
This mad battle has reused thought
full men who have hitherto followed the
fortunes of Radicalism, and they are
questioning its claims TO be entrusted
longer with the conduct of public affairs.
Appeals to the party's past sway them
not. They look at its present and see
naught in it that promises well for the
Republic.
The party's fsvorite cry has heretofore
been, Let things alone" 1t is its main
plea now. But things cannot be let
alone. Reform is needed. The pistol
of Guiteau precipitated the demand for
change, and the conduct of the Radical
leaders during the past year has empha-
sized that demand.
The civil service is made the stake of
faction, and its incumbents are made
whippers-in to swell the support
of the grand old party" and
are taxed to furnish the where
withal to purchase ballots where
ever needed. The attitude of Radicalsm
has been dangerous time and oft to the
life of the Republic, but its present po-
sitiOn is not only dangerous but also
contemplate. 1t has abandoned the tao
tics of the thief and substitutes therefor
those of the highwayman.
But low as it has sunk, it has not
broken faith with its allies, the great
capitalists and the favored barons. They
are still solid for its supremacy and
ready to contribute to its success. The
Radical leaders have ridiculed the claims
of the masses for justice, and have
steadily refused to lift the burdens of
taxation from the shoulders of all save
those who feel them least. They have
by their utterances and through their
organs treated the great mass of the
toilers of the land with an indifference
born of long continued power, and have
been deaf to all calls for redress. Radi-
calism is pledged to nothing but con-
tInuance of the status quo. Let things
alone" is still its cry, and it is cry
which will be echoed and re-echoed
while that party holds sway.
The sure cure for an evil is to go to
the root of it. The roots of Radical
supremacy, with all the ills that it entails,
are to be found in the prostitution of the
civil service and the burdening of the
people for the benefit of its allies
through the medium of a protective
tariff The remedy is to reform the
civil service by placing it on a purely
business footing and to cut down taxa
ton to point sufficient to meet the just
needs of the government. To continue
the civil service on its present footing is
to perpetuate an army of mercenarIes,
and to sanction the present protective
system of taxation is to wink at spolia-
ton. The party is literally dry to the
roots, and the time has come for it to be
dug up and cast away.