Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1883-01-11
II e Remarkable Record Of the Repub-
lican Party.

with rs m. 'ch truth as vigor. ..the worst
in Amer ga. I history -is at lasti in q
fair way for thorough ventilation and
adequate pi,ais. ,Inent, it will be instrnc-
! 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 office-hold-
er from highest to lowest would be as
| honest and honorable as human nature
allowed. and the peoples money as jeat-
/ if the guardians and spenders were ham
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 promptnesss
and severity the knaves and fools-f
any such there were-cou.d be punished
! Yet it is no exaggeration to say that
from March 4, 1861, to March 4, 1852
| there was more rascalitv 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
4 their party. But setting this portion of
the account entirely aside and opening
the books in 1865. what do we findP
ANY effort to redeem the past by rigid
i ECONOMY. sharp investigation and the
speedy detection 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
4 " 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, 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, q good
navy, but to make poor one poorer.
so that to-day we have practically none
worth mentioning. Yetnobody has been
caught and convicted except two or three
of the little naval rogues, and Robson
himself was twice elected to Congress
by Republican votes. BY merest, acct
dent Belknap's performances in the
I War Department were discovered, and
the pressure of popular opinion COM
PEELED his designations; which was re-
ceived by a Republican President with
profound regret" and compliments for
| '.valuable services rem Tered. How
! much Belknap and his friends sgot
away with is, of course, unknown: but
no member of the combination suffered
in purse or person, and the ex-Secre-
tary occasionally adorns the highest
circles in Washington with his welcome
presence. Space will not permit us to
I notice as they deserve the various In
Y dian rings and d strict of Columbia
rings which have risen, flour shed and
fallen within the last fifteen years. The
disgraceful history thereof is known
and read of all men," but unpleasant
notoretv was the only penalty in fiicted1
fIn every instance Republican Congress
refused to investigate as long as refusal
was possible, and then contrived to
get as little truth as poss Bile and
let the criminals escape. The whisky
ring threw all its predecessors into the
j shade: but, thanks to their Republican
i allies, from President downward, the
thieves kept the, product of systematic
theft. and the heaviest punishment adj
m;ristered to any of them was less than
4 is usually awarded for stealing a horse
so far from being shocked into decency
by the whisky ring and its aecompani-
ments, was actually anxious to have
{ four years more of the regime. under
which it grew and by which it was en-
abled to defy the law when exposed;
and nothing but a species OF providen-
tial ,interposition defeated, the third
termers at Chicago in 1880. And now,
in the twenty year OF Republican
! rule, the Star-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 nee
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.
Such is the Republican record in that
branch of admin stration only which
involves the public pocket. 1t is UNI
matched by any civilized governments
in modern times All the scandals,
} from 1901 to 1861, for which the Demo-
cratic party is directly or, indirectly re-
sponsible, are as a drop to the ocean
compared with those from 1861 to 1882,
for which the Republican party is sole
" and exclusively responsible. and
makes no attempt to disclaim the re-
sponsbility. The party of great
moral ideas has been guilty Of more
and greater imm oralities, in pecnniary
matters alone, than all other parties in
American political history combined
Yet with this unimpeachable and noto-