Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-08-27
REPUBLICANS VINCE.

Conviction That the Democracy Il the
True Party of Reform.
Nothing seems to make the Repub-
licans vince more than to realize that
it is the settled conviction of the peo-
pie that the Democracy is the true
party of reform. To combat this be.
lief all their batteries of misrepresenta.
ton and SANDER are leveled against
the Administration. Under Repub.
lican auspices. public Office was re-
garded as a mere question of spoih
and Civil Service reform was regarded
as a pleasant ante-election fiction.
Every department of the Government
was permeated with this belief, and the
natural result was corruption of the
most shameless description. President
Cleveland's famous utterance: Pub
lie office is public trust" has proved
something more than empty assertion
under his Administration. The people
are now convinced of the sincerity Of
his professions of reform. and the Re-
publicans see their hopes of . depart
ure on his part from the policy he laid
down at his entrance into public life
fading away.
All the misrepresentation, lies and
sophstries in the world can not blind
the people to the logic of facts. They
can see for themselves that the Dem
ocratic party agrees with the President
that offices under the Government are
to be held only as public trusts and are
not to be monopolized as the rights of
a favored class of politicians. The
President has won universal praise by
his selections, giving the preference in
every case to the man best fitted by his
record, business qualifications and rep
utation among business people. No
higher test of capability could be re-
quired. 1t is nonsense to say that in
such course he departs from the doc
trine of his party. The Democracy has
maintained its high principles of resist
ance to the spoils system for twenty
four years, without the assistance of a
single Office aud the attempts of the
Republicans to disturb the harmony Of
the party by engendering dissatisfac-
ton can only result in ridiculous failure.
Another cause of worry to the Repub-
icans is the constantly accommodating
mass of evidence of the fraud and cor
ruption practiced by them while they
were in possession Of the Government
They cry in vain: what discoveries
have been made? Nothing, absolutely
nothing" The relentless testimony Of
facts is against them. The systematic,
long continued frauds i'm the New York
Custom-House, by which the Govern
ment was swindled out of millions, the
naval frauds, the Land Office frauds, the
Agricultural Bureau frauds, the Star
route frauds and the Malone frauds
surely count for something. The DEM
ocratic Administration is q little over
four months old, and yet enough has
been discovered to condemn the Repub-
licans from ever being entrusted with
Office again These are not idle asser-
tons, but are backed by irrefragable
official evidence. The Republican par
ty may well use the language of Lady
Macbeth: IAN the perfumes of Arabia
will not sweeten this little hand +" Cor
ruption and base uses of the peoples
money have destroyed it and all the
bowling of its purblind organs will mot
avail against the settled conviction Of
the people of the country that it is not
fit to be trusted again in office. -AL
bany argus.