New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1889-04-29
THE PROGRESS OF 4 CENTURY.

This is the last day of the first century OF
successful popular government. With the
bnndreth anniversary of Washington's inaugu-
ration to-morrow. a new century begins. we
are at q point where the gaze of every thought
full man is turned backward as well as forward
to see whether we have held straight course
in the past. as we'll as whittier we are bound.
We are not likely to accept at their full figure
all the compliments to ourselves with which the
oratory that will flood the newspapers for two
or three days is likely to he surharged. The
croaker is out Of place at the banquet and the
tone of the occasion is naturally one OF gratu-
lation. Neither are we called upon to believe
implicitly those who bewail the degeneracy of
the present day. because they have eyes only
for the flaws in the form and body OF the
time" and cannot see the grandeur of its out
lines.
The question of the material progress and
development Of the country may well be put
aside There are higher themes than these.
Has the experiment of popular government been
truly successful or has it been demonstrated.
as has so often been asserted that democracy is
a synonym for corruption? How does the tone
of public life, and of social life Also compare
with that in the days Of our fOrefathers? Are
we gaining in the essentials Of sound and
healthy National existence or are we growing
rotten in our riches, and laying up for ourselves
day of disaster? The pessimists will point to
the fact that there is unquestionably far more
of corruption in politics as well as far less OF
simplicity in society than there was hundred
years ago. They will point to the days when
there was a Civil Service, but no talk of Civil
Service reform because there was no need Of
it. when bribery, either in elections or legisla-
ton was little known, though they would have
to admit that some of our most venerated
statesmen could have given the politicians of
this generation hints as to bargains and
deals'; when the gulf between the rich and
the poor did not yawn so wide as it docs to-day
when tho whole atmosphere seems to those who
are looking from distance to have been much
clearer and pupr than that of the present.
That it was so hardly admits of a doubt but
it is equally apparent that the enormous ma
tela development of the country was bound to
bring great changes and present new and ter
rble problems. If there are many changes
for the worse. it does not follow that we are
lighting losing battle. We have gigantic
and malevolent forces to contend with. of whose
very existence the fathers never dreamed. The
development of National wealth has been be-
yond parallel bringing in its train a long series
of evils There has been a vast influx of
foreign population, much of it, latterly, of the
most degraded class and the whole of it repre-
scnting a mass OF raw material such as no
people ever attempted before to digest. We
have passed successfully through the severest
ordeal to which Nation can be subjected-a
civil war. and that too the greatest war in
history. 1t was by means Of this mighty con-
vulsion that the poison of slavery was thrown
off from the body polite. The founders OF the
Government forcsaw the danger. and vanly
sought way to meet it. They passed the prob
lem on to their descendants as one which they
did not know how TO solve. The advance Of
science with the invention of the railroad and
the telegraph, has brought us face to face with
a horde of new and perpleXing questions. 1t
was inevitable that in growing from petty
Nation to be one of the great Powers of the
earth and in new country, we should encoun-
ter great variety of unexpected difficulties. 1t
is easy to believe that if the fathers of the Re-
public could revisit the scene, instead Of be-
waling the degeneracy Of their offspring, they
would be filled with admiration for the splendid
energy with which many Of these dangers have
been surmounted
They left us, because they could not do other
wise, the legacy Of slavery. We are rid of it
now, at an awful cost it is true, but the coun-
try is reunited more peaceful and harmonious
than ever before. II is true that corruption
has existed, and still exists, but he must be
blind who cannot see a steady improvement in
this respect. We have never descended to the
depths that were seen century ago in England,
for example, and our condition is already mend
ing. A glance at the public morality of Con-
gress Immediately after the war and now will
show how true this is. We need Civil Service
reform, and we are getting it by slow degrees.
Again comparing our history with that of Eng
land, we see that the agitation has not needed
to he long. Here, as with regard to the evil Of
bribery in elections, the American people have
been quick to perceive the evil and to seek the
remedy. The comparison might be carried a
long way. We suffer under many abuses. Nc
man who loves his country will conceal Oh
| paliate them. But a contemplation Of them
must not blind us to the great gains the century
| has seen in demonstrating the possibility. the
wisdom, and the durability of popular govern
ment.