Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1883-01-12
The Remarkable Record OF the Repub.
lican Party.


which Attorney General Brewster calls,
with as much truth as vigor, 1.-The worst
in American historv'-is at last in a
fair way for thorough ventilation and
adequate punishment, it will be instruo-
tive as well as interesting to briefly no
tice the remarkable record the Repub-
lican party has made in this line of
business during its twenty-one years of
Federal administration.
+ While the main tissue upon which that
party fought its first battles and won its
first victories was slavery. yet scarcely
less prominent were the charges urged
against the Democracy in regard to al
legged abuses and corruption. and the
pledges of reform. in all departments of
Government made in Republican
platforms and seconded by Republican
organs and orators. According to the
authorities, the country, by turning
Democrats out and putting their OPP
ponents in, would inaugurate political
millennium, in which every ofice-hold-
er from highest to lowest would be as
honest and honorable as human nature
allowed. and the peoples moneyas jea!-
Ously guarded and carefully expended as
If the guardians and spenders were han
ding their own funds. The world in
general and Democrats in particular
were to be shown how party OF great
moral ideas could protect the National
Treasury and the National reputation
from the assaults of knaves and
fools; with what eternal vigilance the
Governmental machine could be
watched and with what -promptness
and severity the knaves and fOOls-if
any such there were-cou be punished.
Yet it is no eXaggeration to say that
from March 4, 1861, to March 4, 1852,
there was more rascality and robbery of
every sort and size than there had been
in the half century previous, and when
the war closed the aggregate of stealage
and wastage had become simply incalcu-
liable. 1t is not, and never will be,
known how much the war cost, in
money alone, more than it ought; more
than it would, if the Republican man
ayers had given half as much attention
to their agents as to the interests of
their party. But setting this portion of
the account entirely aside and opening
the books in 1865, what do we find?
Amy effort to redeem the past by rigid
economy, sharp investigation and the
speedy detect on and chastisement of
offenders? Nothing of the kind Take
the navy, for instance, where the re-
suits of gross inconvenience and neglect
and shameless plumber are still so plain
ly and painfully visible. If the doings
in that one Department from the termi-
nation of the war until the retirement
of Robson from the Secretaryship
could be fully revealed, a picture would
be presented which no American could
look upon without amazement and dis,
gust. Millions were stolen and millions
thrown away; not to give us good
navy, but to make a poor one poorer,
so that to-day we have practically none
worth mentioning. Yetnobody has been
caught and convicted eycepttwo or three
OF the little naval rogues, and Robson
himself was twice elected to Congress
by Republican votes. By merest acct
d Mt Belknap's performances in the
War Department were discovered, and
the pressure of popular opinion COM
PEELED his resignation; which was re-
ceived by Republican President with
''profoun1 regret and compliments for
valuable services rem cred. How
much Belknap and his friends ..got
no member of the combination suffered
in purse or ! erson, and the ex-Secre-
tary occasionally adorns the h CHEST
circles in Washington with his welcome
presence. space will not permit us to
notice as they deserve the various In
dian rings and ID strict of Columbia
rings which have risen, flour shed and
ia len with the last fifteen years. The
disgracefl h story thereof is known
and read of all men," but unpleasant
notoriety was the only penalty in iicted.
In every instance Republican Congress
refused to investigate as long as refusal
was possible. AMI then contrived to
get as little truth as poss BILE and
let the criminals escape The whisky
ring threw all its predecessors into the
shade: but, thanks to their Republican
allies. from a President downward, the
thieves Ike t the product of systematic
theft, and the heaviest punishment adj
m nistered to any of them was less than
is usually awarded for stealing horse
or an overcoat. The Republican party,
so far from being shocked into deeency
blythe whisky ring and its ACCOMPANY
ments, was actually anxious to have
four years more of the regime Under
which it grew and by-which it was en-
alb ed to defy the law when exposed;
and nothing but species OF provi en-
'tial interpositon defeated the third
termers at Chicago in 1880. And now,
in the twenty year o. Republican.
rule, the st route ring comes to make
the whisky ring look small by compar-
ison, while the chief ringster. an ex-Re-.
publican Senator. does not deem it nec4
essary to resign his place as Secretary
OF the National Republican Committee,
and the leaders of the party do not seem
inclined to demand his withdrawal. Fts.
Such is the Republican record in that
branch of admin stration only which
involves the public pocket. 1T is I'M
matched by any civilized government
in modern times. All the scandals,
from 1901 to 1851, for which the Demo-
cratic party is directly or ind rectly re-
sponsible. are as drop to the ocean
compared with those from 1861 to 1882,
for which the Republi an party is sole
ly and exclusively responsible, and
makes no attempt to disclaim the re-
sponsibility. The party of .:great
moral ideas has been guilty of more
and frroafpr hmm RI IitioS in ,1oor,, 49,