The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1886-07-15
THE COLUMBUS RING.

If we mistake not, our special c0rre-
sDOndent writing from Columbus has
sounded the death -knell Of the Repubh
can ring of that city, as he did In the
case of a similar ring In Gallipolis,
which had grown so defiant that IL
laughed at the Idea Of exposure, but fell
limp and lifeless upon receiVing we'll
directed thrut.
TIE correspondent, In his hunt for
fraud il Gallipolis, found no evidence of
wholesale malVersatiOn until be came
to the open door of the violated Munich
pal Code, and, from Its threshold on, he
found nothing but corruption, fraud and
public robbery.
In his explorations of the Republican
labyrinth at Columbus he finds the same
door wide open, and all the available
proofs going to show that what was
done at Galiipolis has been repeated at
Columbus; and he probably has stronger
evidences of Wror G doing than he cares
1T present to disclose. 1t ts not a matter
Of surprise to learn that there are tangt-
Ole grounds for the belief that the Capt.
tai City of the State has been crucitied,
not between thieves, but by thieves,
during Its five or six years of serfdOm
to the ring,
The use, the Importance and the neces-
sity of the 1693d section of the Revised
Statutes are made very plain In the
light of it's violation. With that section
carried out to its letter, no COuncilmsnic
job could be carried out without being
detected by the most casual observer.
When violated and ignored there Is no
scheme, no job, no robbery, that may
not be cleverly covered up by he collu-
sion of COuncilmen and contractors bent
Oh filling their p ckets at the public ex-
pense.
This section was Systematically and
studiOusly violated by GallipOlls ring
sters. We know why the Gallipolis
ring violated the law and set its manda.
tory provisions at nsught. Now, why
should the Columbus ring violate the
same section, save for the purpose of
accomplishing the same ends accom-
plished by the Gsllipolis ringP Are we
not justified In assuming even now that
the object in both cases Is the same, and
that that object is public spOliatiOnr
1t was only little while ago that
this same Columbus ring raised a vir.
tuOus howl about what they pleased to
denominate a ripper bill" and sue
cessfully resisted the enforcement Of q
law designed to deliver Columbus from
the hands of the spOiler. One would
have thought to hear them talk that
they were the conserVatCrs Of all the
virtue and all the honesty In the State
of Ohio.
Their sOlicitude on that occasion was
not because reform and q Te0rgallza-
tion of the Columbus City Government
would jeOpardize the city's intert 81, but
because 1t would break up their schemes
of plunder and compel them to disgOrge
at least part of their i'll gotten gains
because IL would have broken the
power of the Republican gang in the
third city In the State, and weakened
the chances of the party to carry the
State election.
The unceasing gable Of the RepUbii-
can press about Democratic dishonesty
Ia we'll answered and we'll exemplitied
In the cases of Gallipolis and Columbus.
Democrats have their share o! human
nature, and there are Democratic thieves
OF course. But Democrats do not put on
the robes of angels when they make a
raid. When they steal 1t IS plain,
every day, common case of larceny; dis
covered by the usual methods and pun
ished In the usual way.
But your sleek Republican thief dO6s
things differently to day. as he did
eighteen and half centuries ago. He
goes about thanking God that he Is made
of finer clay, and Is too gOJd and too
holv tn mix with Democratic DQbliCAl6
While he Is praying and pretending in
public, he Is privately cutting and carv-
ing the meshes of the low and tunnel
ing into the public treasure house and
rO9bing the people with his left hand of
their last dollar, while his right Is
raised In impiOus invocation to the
multitude to beware of the wicked
Dem0crats
It Is about time these Pharisees were
broken upon the wheel of justice. They
have received dose In GallipOlis; now
for COlumbUs.-[ Enquirer.
N