The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1888-03-07

Uo1to into the oxo0d coQtooox9oy @ oo11o1-
che Union; oitizsnship vhioh meant not only
political dignity and independence but inoel-
oulsbls COMMERCIAL and business sdv,sns.s:s
which made the West, and these were the edu
Gators of the dominant power in the nation for
the the child Of the Union. met the slave power
with determined resistance, and its threats
with DEFIANT assertion Of the inherent powers
and heroic life for their endorsements.
COMPLETENESS oFuNcoLNs WORK
This double sentiment found its oracle and
representative in Abraham Lincoln. He con-
soildated the Northwest by declaring that the
Mississippi shall flow unvexed to the sea. In
the great debate with Douglas his challenge
battle. "A house divided against itself," he
said, @can not stand. / believe this Govern
and half free. / do not Expect the Union to be
dissovsd-I do not expect the house to fall
but do expect IL will cease to be divided
of mon to arms. he emancpated four millions
Of slaves by Presidential proclamation, and
when the victory was won for liberty and unity.
this most majestic figure OF our time clothed
with the unlimited powers of a triumphant
Government, stood between the passions Of
the strife, and commanded peace and forgive
ness. When he fell b. the hands OF the assas-
sin the one hundred years struggle for ma
tional existence was ended. He throttled Sec
tionalism and buried il. The republic for
which half million mon had died and mill
| ion been wounded was so firmly imbedded In tho
hearts, the minds and the blood of its people,
that the question Of dissolution will never more
form part of the schemes Of its politicians, or
require the wisdom Of its statesmen and the
patriotism OF its people.
our material and moral development of the
disappearance of the dread and deadly issue OF
dissolution and civil war from our politics. The
Nation, em ancipated from the thralldom OF
perpetual peril, advanced by leaps and bounds
in it's fiscal policy and industrial progress. Our
substantial growth in every element of national
afr anOth Qfr1na no wa haQ
| in all the years which preceded. But the very
conditions of this tremendous development
and the mighty forces concentrated and in
volved, present grave problems which must be
solved II would DO safe. Said De Tocque-
Vile, in 1884, II can not believe in the duration
| OF a government whose task Is to hold together
| forty different peoples, spread over surface
equal to the half Of Europe, to avoid rivalries,
ambitions, and struggles among them, and to
| unite the action of their independent Wills
| for che accomplishment OF the same plans.
Unless / greatly mistaken, the Federal
| Government of the United States tends to be-
/ como daily weaker; 1t draws back from one
| kind of business after another; IL more and
more restricts the sphere Of its action. Natur-
ally feeble. 1t abandons even the appe arance Of
force"
| THE HAMILToNIAN EXTREME REACHED.
| With the admission of the Territories already
knocking at the door and fully qualified to be-
| como States we will have reached DeIocque-
ville's fatal forty. But in the meantime the
pendulum Of our politics has swung back from
the Jenersonian to the Hamiltonian extreme.
The Federal Government is everything. the
States, in a National sense, nothing. The abo-
| lition OF slavery, and with it sectional lines, and
| the cvilswar. have done much to produce this
but commerce has done more. The application
| of steam and electricity to trade has made
| forty commemorative one. 1t Is not distance
alone which creates the dangers OF the disnte-
grafton of a government, but difficulty OF inter-
| communication. Sixty millions Of people COW
ering continent are in much closer commun-
| ion to-day than were the 400, 900 along the
| Atlantic coast at the time OF the adoption of
the Constitution. The President whose au-
thority DeTocqueville thought weak and grad
ually being reduced to shadow, has acquired
power beyond the dreams and fears of the
| fathers. The arbitrary arrests, the proclamn-
tions of far-reaching import at which Mr.. Lin
coin did not hesitate. indicate what u President
| may do in time OF war; civil service four
4 times as large as our standing army, and sub
Jet to executive appointment and removal, and
the frequent exercise OF the veto power by Pres
| ident Cleveland, exhibit the extent OF his pow
| ers, even in peace.
| The United States has Teen fortunate in its
| Presidents The poorest and weakest OF them
had patriotism and sense of public duty which
| prevented the resort to desperate expedients
! for the retention Of power. But, as the country
| increases in population and in now commune
| ties the functions of the Executive become
more potent. The legislative and judicial
| branches remain the same. but the President
1 grows as q potential factor of government. We
are always at the mercy of the majority, but
its intelligence has heretofore protected us from
its easily stated and possible perils. But with
| hundred millions of people and O commensu-
rate civil service; with the blind fury of in
| tense political passions; with able. auda-
cious, and unscrupulous President anxious for
| reelection and sustained by his party in any
thing which secures 1t. the situation will be full
Of danger.
NEED OF oNE-TERM PRES IDENcY.
| The best of Presidents have lowered the
standard of administration when seeking
second term. The present Executive is an officer
| highly esteemed for singular honesty aud di-
rectness of purpose, and remarkable for mex
| perience in the duties of government and for
| ignorance Of the great issues before the coun-
~ s..ta,
ton to carry out his pledges, he defed the ira
ditions OF his party in his bold utterances for
civil service reform. He both understood
what he was promising and believed he had the
courage and the power to make good his word.
The best sentiment OF the country is over
whelmingly behind him on this question. And
yet, as the canvass of 1885 opens, the tremen-
dous advantages Of an auxiliary force of l00, 700
faithful workers has RELOCATED Roman virtue to
the rear and brought the spells system to the
front. Methods have changed. and the bor-
| rowed nomenclature OF reform means the old
practices, with the familiar result of the con-
slant substitution OF the partisan recruit for the
| veteran official.
With the growth of the Republic the known
and implied powers of the President become OF
increasing value. AS, with larger and more
populous districts, Congress becomes moro
distant aud vague. the people will need and de-
| mand an Executive to whom appeal can be
immediate and whose responsibility Is direct.
He should, however, by constitutional prohibit
ton, be made ineligible for n second term. AS
the peculiarites Of his position retiremen t
from office prevent his partc ipation i'll the or
binary business avocations of the citizen, he
should receive adequate pension for life,
and on the retired list, though still in the SER
vice, be subject to call for any public duty
where his experience, character and ability
would be Of value. Thus his administration,
free from temptation and the baser ambitions,
would be impelled with resolute and unfinch-
ing endeavor to win the plaudits of the present
and tho admiration and gratitude of posterity.
| DANGER OF REFRESHING INDEPENDENCE.
While no act or thought should tend TO resur-
rect the baneful doctrine of State sovereignty,
we need not be educated in the Objection OF
state rights. The immensely of our national
ity and it's centralizing tendencies create a
feeling OF dependence upon government which
enfeebles the American character and is hostile
to American liberty. Home rule is the SC ool
and inspiration OF manliness and inder endence.
The town meeting brings power directly to the
people whore it belongs and clearly and sh arply
draws the line between public business and
private business. The American travelling in