The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1882-08-12


Clarksburg News.
AS some of our State republican
exchanges seem to think the assess
ment of the office-holder is a good
thing and has no tendency to de-
bauch politics, we reproduce couple
of the so-called voluntary requests"
for money and comments thereon, of
such staunch republican journals as
Harper's Weekly and the Chicago
Tribune;
Sample number one:
Firth AVENUE HOTEL, New YORK,
October 9th, 1880.
Nv Dear Sir:--Below you will find q
schedule of your subordinates, who have
several times been asked to contribute the
sums set opposite their respective names
toward the expenses of the campaign in
this State.
You will find opposite each name the
amount yet due. The total unpaid at this
date and due from the employees in your
Office appears to be
Your Immediate attention to this matter
is very important. Ja.F9
By order of the Executive Comm ittee.
VI
Sample number two: te
PHILADELPHIA, October rs, 1890.
Dear Sir:-Our books show that you have
paid no heed to either of the requests of the
committee for funds. The time for action
is short. need not say to you that an i'm
portant canvass like the one now being
made in State like Pennsylvania requires
q great outlay of money and we look to you
as one of the Federal benefciaries 10 help
bear the burden. Two per cent. of your
salary is Please remit promptly.
At the close of the campaign we shall
place list of those who have not paid in
the hands of the head of the department
you are in. Truly yours,
JOHN CESSNA, Chairman.
These alleged requests, it will be
observed were issued during the late
Presidential campaign. The circular
which Hubbell, chairman of the pres
ent republican committee, is issuing,
is of a much more persuasive quality,
and simply means contribution or liza
hility to loss Of position.
Below is the way Harper's Weekly
talks about these circulars, in its is
sue of the 22nd ult:
''There could be nothing more in
solent than such demand as this,
except the assertion that it is re-
quest for voluntary contribution,
and it was the situation revealed by
such performances which led Con-
gress to attempt the defense Of the
public employees at least against the
rapacity Of other employees. Both
the circulars treat the money required
as due, not as gift; and it is only
necessary to imagine Mr.. Glidden or
Mr.. Cessna signing such demand
for money upon Mr.. Astor or Mr..
Childs to see the impudence of call
ing it an invitation for voluntary
contribution. But however cautious
ly expressed, the circular commands
under virtual threat A request
for money in what is called a COM
mon cause, when addressed to per-
son who holds place dependent upon
the favor of the authority which re-
quests, is command, and compli-
ance cannot be regarded as voluntary.
This is the essential meanness of
these assessments. They are levied
upon those who cannot refuse except
at dangerous risk, and the amount
is determined by those who cant and
twaddle about voluntary contribu-
tions. Under the spoils system
this kind of demand for free gift is
the call of general for volunteers
who announces that those who do
not volunteer will be shot. The re-
publican newspapers which insist
that to correct disgraceful and
menancing abuse is to destroy the
party, have certainly an extraordi-
nary conception both of the republi-
can party and of politics. Let those
in New York at least ponder the
words of the great republican leader,
Mr. Seward, when he deliberately
left the Wing party because, as he
believed, the Wing party had left the
path of courage, honor and patriot
ism. Of the new republican organi-
cation he said: "Its principles are
equal and exact justice, its speech
open, decided, frank.......I do not
know that it will always, or even
long, preserve its courage, its moder-
alton, and it's consistency. If it
shall do so. it will rescue and save
the country. If it too shall become
unfaithful, as all preceding parties
have done, it will, with out sorrow or
regret on my part, perish as they are
perishing, and will give place to an
other truer and better one.
x \ \
"The objects Of the party to-day
can not be greater than those which
called it into existence, and if, with
out a single national office holder to
assess, it was able to overthrow an
INSCRIPTIONS organization intrench-
| ed in patronage and spoils, it need
not suppose that if it still have OBJ
jects which the intelligent judgment
of the country approves, it must de-
pend upon petty robbery to pay the
just expenses Of its campaigns. If
such abuses are the condition of its
existence, it ought to perish. And
still further, those who insist that its
| life depends upon such meanness are