Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-08-25
Hnhhell,s C0rruntion Eund.

HubbelIs Corruption Fund.
Never before in the history of the
country have such strenuous efforts been
put forth by any political party to main.
tain itself in power by the use of money
as are now being manifested by the Re
publicans. Under Mr.. Jay A. Hubbell's
management a corruption fund vaster in
proportions than ever before heard of in
our political history Is being accumu.
lated. While few feeble attempts by
so-called civil service reformers have
been made to excite indignation over
such proceedings, the Republican party,
as party, fully indorses Hubbell's &C
ton, and it has been stated that even the
most prominent of the leaders of these So
called civil service reformers has himself
made a liberal contribution to his fund.
1t is announced further that Hubbell's
Congressional Campaign Committee has
been at work in the various departments
at Washington with unprecedented
success, and that voluntary contribu
tons" have been extracted from nearly
every emplOye of the government 1t is
safe to say then that on an average Hub
bell will receive from the one hundred
thousand Ofice-holders of the govern.
ment-man and boy, woman and girl
at least ten dollars each, and this of
itself will give him a corruption fund of
one million dollars to start with, to say
nothing of private contributions, which
will probably double these figures.
Now, the first question which naturally
suggests itself, is, what is to be done
with all this large sum of money! The
answer is plain. 1t is to be used for the
purchase and corruption of American
voters. Every campaign is naturally
attended by certain legitimate expenses,
such as printing and distributing cam
paign documents, employing public
speakers, paying clerks, etc., but such
service as this requires nothing like the
expenditures of a sum such IS Hubbell
and his cOnfederates have exacted from
Federal employees. 1t IS evident, there
fore, that it is contemplated by the Radi-
cal leaders of the country to use the bulk
of this fund either in buying up votes
just as Indiana was bought in 1890-or
in colOnizing Republican voters in doubt
full districts, as has been the custom of
that party for many years past.
This being so, the next question which
suggests itself is, "are the American
people so debased as to be thus willing
tOsbe purchased as sheep in the sham
bles?" The coming elections will con-
clusively answer this question. There
is no doubt that at heart the country is
Democratic. This was shown by the
election of Mr. Tilden in 1876, and from
the fact that Garfield was elected ia
1880 only through the purchase of In
diana, and the selling out of New YORK
to the Republicans by John Kelly. And if
the country was Democratic before, there
is every reason to believe that it is more
so than ever now. The Republican
Congress recently in session made for
itselfa reputation for puerile imbecility,
narrow minded partizanship, and reck.
lessly greedy desire to rake the treasu-
ry" which must have disguised all fair
minded and right thinking men through
out the land. This the Republicans
know and feel, yet they insOlently be
lieve that with the unlimited money re-
sources at their command, they can do
anything they please and still secure the
Endorsement of the voters of the country
by bribery.
1t remains to be seen whether or not
they are calculating without their host.
Time was when the hint of any such
course would have been sufficient to
have reused the American people to such
a pitch of indignation as to have deter
mined them to promptly consign to OBJ
livion any party attempting it. If ma
| iOrity of the voters of the United States
have not lost all sense of virtue, this will
be the fate of the Republican party this
fall. The coming elections then will de
eide whether our boosted virtue is a
reality, or whether we have become
simply a money wOrshiping, corrupt
people.