Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1884-08-12
A REPUBLICAN REVIEW OF THE RE-
PUBLICAN PARTY'S RECORD.

PUBLICAN PARTY'S RECORD.
The address 10 the public BY the Com
mittee Of One Hundred, representing the
an6-BlA1xE Republicans of Massachusetts,,
has Just been issued. 1t contains the fol
lowing:
We are told that the past ofthat party
is glorious, and that We are therefore bound
to support its candidate to-day. We yield
TO none in orr pride at its great achieve
ments or in our devotion to its principles,
but when the lesson Of its past is forgotten
and its principles are abandoned its name
alone canuo. command our allegiance. The
question is not what the Republican party
has done, but what it will do; not what 1t
was, but wha. it is; not whether LINCOLN
and SEWARD and SUMNER and ANDREW and
STANTON and FESSENDEN were great men
and leaders, but whether BLAINE and ROBE
son and KErFgR and ELEINS and CLAYTON
and kELLOGG are men to whom we can safe
" confde the future of our country.
For many years corruption IN
high Office has been conspicuous
1t has shown itself in every department OF
the public service. We have seen Vice
President driven into private life by proof
of personal dishonesty; a Secretary Of War
impeachcd for participation in felony;
Secretary Of the Navy charged with corrupt
practices and leaving Office under cloud
OF suspicion, only 10 appear as a RePubh
can leader in the House of Representatives;
a Secretary Of the Interior forced from his
office BY charges affecting his personal and
official character; an Attorney General
compromised by evidence ofPetty fraud.
We have not forgotten COlfaN and BelknaP
and Robson and DelsnO and Williams.
"In the Treasury Department we have
seen prominent officers implicated in San
born contracts and suspected Of completely
in the gigantic conspiracy to detraud the
revenue known as the Whisky Ring, and
the private secretary OF the President IN
dicted as cOnspiratOr, while the Minister
who sought to punish the criminals was dis
missed from office. In the POstOtice De
partment We have seen an Assistant Secre-
tary conSpiring with Senators Of the United
States in Star route frauds, and the con-
spiratOrs boldly defying the Government,
which was powerleSs TO secure justice IN It's
own capital city. We have seen the last
Republican Speaker disgraced by proof that
he had shametully abused his power, and in
face Of this evidence, which has destroyed
the confidence OF his constituents, again the
chosen candidate Of the Republican party
for the same high office. In the Signal
Service We have seen a Superintendent,
in the Treasury Department chief
clerk, and in other Departments trusted
officers guilty of stealing the psbEc money.
We have seen the guilty protected, but We
have vet to see them punished. We have
seen the whole patronage OF the Federal
Government used openly to support leader
in Virginia whose principle is Reputation
and whose methods violate every rule of
political morality. We have seen the pub
lie business neglected, the reform of the civil
service Sneered al, and political assessments
levied in defiance Of party promises and pub
lie opinion, until the wave Of popular indig-
nation forced reluctant Congress TO inau-
gurate reform The evils Of a debased cur
rency have Seen disregarded; our navy
monument Of maladministration; the sur
plus, with all its temptations to eXtraya-
cauee remains substantially undiminished.
Finally, We have seen the Republican
party relying for its continuance in power
not on its own achievements, but on the
mistakes of its opponents, and we have seen
its leaders not seeking to prevent, but to
encourage these mistakes in order that
thereby, at their couutrys expense, they
might be furnished with arguments for their
continuance in power. We have seen all |
these things, and have been told that the |
party must be reformed from within; that |
our remedy lay in It's caucusses and conyen-
tions. For years we have yielded to this /
advice, and have struggled against the men
Who have sought to use the party for base, 7
personal ends At times We have thought .
Them beaten and have hoped that the party, !
which vas ouce so great, might emancipate .
itself from the control Of the men who had
degraded It and reassert its original eharae-
ter Instead We now see these men pro- .
mOted and their influence increased while .
urder their inspiration the party turns its .
lack rPCn iIs principles and, in place OF