The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1883-01-10

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the present fiscal year would amount tC
$402, 100000 or $404, ,000, ,OO0-nearly so a
head for every man, woman and child
in the United States-mOre money than
was appropriated for all the expenses
of the Government during the first forty
years of its existence l will venture to
say, though do not speak by the book.
HarbOr and river appropriation bills
Of $18,OOO,OO0l Thirty-twO new build
ings commenced in the states, almost
every one of which has had buildings
befOrel Two millions FIVE hundred thou
sand dollars appropriated for the COM
mencement of those buildings, for lay
ing the fOundationsl Before they are
finished 25,000,000 will be needed to
| complete theml While these enormous
| appropriations were in progress, there
came from the country a demand for a
revision of the tariff, which was confess
sedly greatly needed; for revision Of
| the internal-reVenue laws, which was
equally necessary; for a reduction of
taxation pressing 80 heavily upon all
the interests Of the country, Our hon
OTable friends upon the other side of the
Chamber choose to answer that demand
by bill repeating the taxes upon per-
fumery and cosmetics and bank checks,
and met with sneer of derisiOn and
ridicule, every effort made on this side
side of the Chamber for a reduction Of
taxation.
Mr.. President, it was these methods
of administration, it was these acts of
the Republican party, which made it
possible for the Democratic party, and
other men who priced their country
higher than they did their party, to elect
in Ohio Democratic ticket by eighteen
OF twenty thousand majority, and elect
sixteen out of the twenty-One Congress
men assigned to that state. l say we
elected siXteen perfectly conscious of
the fact that thirteen of them only have
received their certificates at present. If
three of them, against whom the aggre-
gate majority is only sixty votes, do not
receive a certificate under the action of
the returning board, OF under the pow
ers of our judiciary which have been in
VOked, they will be seated, as they shO'd
be, at the beginning of the next session
of Congress, in the other House.
Under the impulse of this election in
Ohio, upon these facts and influences
which / have stated as being of great
Importance there, it became possible for
the Democratic party and its allies,
whom have described, to elect Demo-
cratic Governor in New York, in Massa-
chusetts, in Kansas, and various other
states in which there has been none but
Republican Governor for many years
past. The same influences enabled us,
having aceessiOns from Iowa, and Wis
cOnsin, and Michigan and Pennsylvania
to have at the beginning of the next ses-
sion of Congress, an aggregate of per-
haps sixty or more Democratic majority
in the House of Representatives.
l begged gentlemen on this side of
the Chamber, and beg the Democratic
party throughout the country, not to
mistake this result of last fall as purely
a Democratic triumph. 1t was achieved
by the Democratic party, with the assis-
tance of men of all parties upon whom
their love of country sat heavier than
their love of party. 1t was a protest
made by an awakened people who were
indignant at the wrongs which had
been practiced upon them. 1t was ten
tative stretching out of that same peO-
pie to find instrumenIaltttes by which
those wrongs could be righted.
The people demanded economy and the
Republican party gave them extraVa-
gance. The people demanded reduc-
ton of taxation; the Republican party
gave them an increase OF expenditure;
the people demanded purity of admins
tratiOn, the Republicans reveled in prof
ligacy; and when the Republican party
came to put themselves on trial before
that same people, the people gave them
a day of calamity,
l beg gentlemen on this side theCham-
Der to remember, that if they wish to es-
cape the fate that now seems to be i'm
pending upon their adVersaries, they
must avoid the example those adversa-
Ties have set them.
Mr.. President, the bill which I have
the honor to advocate today, and which
Is reported by a committee of the SEN
ate, is the commencement, in my hum
BILE judgment, of an attempt to answer
to one of the demands which the people
have authOritatively made. l speak ad
Visedly. 1t is the commencement of an
attempt to organize a system which
shall respond to one Of the demands the
people have made.
The bill has for its foundation the sin
gle and simple idea that the offices of
the Government are trusts for the peO-
pie; that the performance of the duties
of those offices is to be in the interest of
the people; that there is no excuse for
the being of one office, or the paying of
one salary, except it is in the highest
practical degree necessary for the well
fare of the people: that every superhuOus
OfficehOlder should be cut off; that every
incompetent OficehOlder be dismissed; !;
that the employment of two where one
will suffice, is robbery; that salaries so
large that they can submit to the extor-
tiOn, the forced payment of or 10 per
cent are excessive and ought to be di-
minished. 1 am not speaking of purely
voluntary contributions.
If it be true that the offices are trusts
for the people, then it is also true that
the offices should be filled by those who
can best perform and discharge the du-
ties. Fidelity, capacity, honesty. were
the tests established by Mr.. Jefferson
when he assumed the Teins of govern
ment in 1901. He said then, and said
truly, that these elements in the public
offices of the government were necessary
to an honest civil seTvice-was essential
to the purity and efficiency of admins
| tration, necessary to the preservation of
| republican institutions.
| Mr.. jefferson was right. The expert
ence of eighty years has shown it's The
man best fitted should be the man plac
ed in office, especially if the appoint
ment is made by the servants of the peo.
pie. 1t is as true as truth can be that
fidelity, capacity, honesty, are essential
elements of fitness, and that the man
who is most capable and most faithful
and most honest is the man who is the
most fit, and he should be appointed to
Office.
put it to gentlemen, particularly ia
friends on this side OF the Chamber, be-