The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-03-12


plate the duty owe to all the people of the
land Nothing can relieve me from the
anxiety that lest by an act OF Inine their in
terests may suffer dec.h. and nothing rnlngtd is
to engage every faculty aud effort in
the promotion of their welfare. Amid the
din of party strifes the peoples choice
was made, but its attendant circumstances
have demonstrated rev strength and
safety of government by the people. In each
succeeding year il more clearly appears that
our Democratic principles need no apology,
and that in its faithful and fearless applica-
ton is to be found the surest guaranty of
good government. But the best results in
the operation of government wherein
every citizen has a share. largely depend
upon proper limitation of purely partisan
zeal and effort, and a correct appreciation of
the time when partisanship should be
merged into the patriotism of the citizen.
To-day the Executive branch of the Govern
ment is transferred TO new keeping:
But this is stu a government of all
the people, and it should be none the
less the object of their afectionate
solicitude. At this hour the animosities of
political strife, the bitterness of partisan de-
feat, and the eXultation of partisan triumph,
should be supplanted by ungrudging acquies-
cence to the popular will, and so by con-
scientiOus concern for the general veal
Moreover. if from this hour we chcerfully
and honestly abandon all sectional preju-
dice and diStruSt, and determine, with manly
confidence in one another, to work out har-
moniously the achievements of our national
destiny, we shall deserve TO realize all the
benefits which our happy form of Govern
ment can bestow.
On this auspicious occasion we may well
renew the pledge of our devotion to the Con-
stituton. which, launched by the founders
of the Republic and cOnsecrated by their
prayers and patriotic devotion. has for al
most a century borne the hopes and aSpira-
tons of a great people through prosperity
and peace, and through the shock of foreign
conflicts and the perilS of domestic strife and
VII fry
our Constitution was commended for adop-
ton as the result of spirit of mighty and
mutual concession. In that same spirit
it should be administered in order
TO promote the lasting welfare of
the country and to secure the
full measure of its priceless benefits
ings of our National life. The large variety
of diverse and competing interests subject
TO Federal control persistently seeking the
recognition of their claims need give US no
fear that the greatest good to the greatest
number will fail to be accomplished if in the
halls of National legislation that spirit of
am.ty and mutual concession shall prevail.
in which the Constitution had its birth. If
this involves the surrender or pOstpOnement
of private interests and the abandonment
of local advantages, remuneration will be
found in the thought that the common inter-
est is subServed and the general welfare adj
vanced.
In the discharge of my official duty, 1 shall
to be guided by Il just and I'M
strained construction of the Constitution,
careful observation of the distinction be-
tween the powers granted to the Federal
Government, and those reserved to the
States or to the people, and by 4 cautious APP
probation of those functions which by the
Constitution and laws have been especially
assigned to the executive branch of the
But he who takes the oath to-
day TO preserve, protect and defend the Con-
of the United States only assumes
the solemn obligation which every patriotic
citizen, on the farm, in the workshop, the
busy marts of trade and everywhere
should share with him. The constitution
which prescribeS his oath, my cOuntrymen,
is yours. The Government you have chosen
him to administer for a time is yours; the
suffrage which executes the Will OF freemen
is yours; the laws and the entire scheme of
state capitals and the national capital is
yours; your every voter as surely as every
chief magistrate under the same high sane
ton, though in different sphere. exercises
a public trust. Nor is this all. Every citizen
owes to the country a vigilant watch and
close scrutiny of its public servants and u
fair and reasonable estimate of their fidelity
and usefulness. Thus is the peoples will i'm
pressed upon the whole framework of our
civil policy, municipal, State and Federal, and
this is the price OF our liberty and inspira-
ton of our faith i'll our Republic.
1t is the duty of those serving the
people in public places to closely limit
the public expenditures to the actual
needs of the Government, economi-
the righ5 of the Government to exact tribute
from the earnings of labor or the property of
citizens, and because public extravaganza be-
gets extravaganza among the people. We
should never be ashamed of the simplicity
and prudential economics which are best
suited to the operation of a republican form
of Government and most compatible with the
mission of the American people. Those who
are selected for limited time to manage pub
lie affairs are still of the people and may do
much by their example to encourage consist
emily with the dignity of their official func-
tiOns that plain way of life which among their
fellow citizens creates integrity and promotes
thrift and prosperity.
The genius of our institutions, the needs of
our people to their home life and the atten-
tOn which is demanded for the settlement and
development of the resources of our vast
territory dictate the ScrupulOuS avoidance of
any departure from that foreign policy COM
mended by the history, the traditions and the
prosperity of our Republic. Ii is the policy of
favored by cur position and de-
Tended by our known love of justice and by
our power; il is the policy of peace suitable
to our interests; it is the policy of neutrality
rejecting any share in foreign broils and am
billions on other contestants and repelling
their intrusion here; il is the policy of Mon
roe and Washington and Jefferson. Peace,
and honest friendship with all ma
tionS and entangling alliance with none.
\ due regard for the interests and pros
perity of all people demand that our finances
shall be established upon such a sound and
of the business interests and make
the wages of labor sure and steady, and that
our system of revenue shall be so adjusted as
to relieve the people from unnecessary taxa
ton, having a due regard to the interests of
capital invested and workingmen employed,
and the accumulation of a surplus in the
treasury to tempt extravaganza and waste.
Care for the property of the nation and for the
needs of future settlers require that the public
land purloining and unlawful occupation
Of public lands be stopped. The conscience
Of the people demands that the Incians shall
be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the
Government, and their education and civiliza-
ton promoted with a view to their ultimate
citizenship. and that po!ygamy i'll the terrific
rieS destructive of the family relation and
offensive to the moral sense of the civilized
world, shall be repreSSed.
The laws should be rigidly enforced which
prohibit the immigration of u servie class to
compete with American labor with no inten-
ion of acquiring citizenship and bringing
With them and retaining of habits and Gus
oms repugnant to our civilization.
The people demand reform in the ad-
of the government and the
application of business principles to
public affairs. AS means to this
End, civil service reform should be in
rood faith enforced. Our citizens have the
If public employees who hold their places
solely as the reward of partisan service and
for the corruptionary influence of those who
promote the vicious methods of those who
expect such rewards, and those who
seek public employment have
he right TO insist that merit and
shall be recognized instead
If party subServiency and the surrender of
honest, patriotic belief. In the administra-
ion of a Government pledged to do equal
md exact justice TO all men there should be
10 preteXt for anxiety touching the prOtec-
ion of the freedmen in their rights or their
privileges under the constitution and its
All discussion as to their fit
less for the place accorded them as Ameri-
IAN citizens is idle and Improbable, except
Is it suggests the necessity for their i'm
orovement. The fact that they are citizens
sI.sitleS them to all the rights due to that re-
alton, and charges them with all its duties,
and RESPONSIBILITIES.
These topics and the constant and ever
-arying wants of an active and enterpriSing
NOnnlatiOn may raoaiya tho attention