Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-02-07
THE VITAL QUESTIONS.

-Four years ago there were many VINO
said and some who believed that the
question of Civil Service reform was the
one foremost in Importance. The idea
that some verbal shackles in the forms
of law would suffice to transform bad
party into good party had taken firm
root in the minds of not a few.
After four years of experience under
a Democratic President the Republican
party comes to its own again and finds
at least four distinct issues holding a
more important place in public thought
and effort than the question of Civil
Service. These are the questions of
free suffrage at the South, the question
of ballot reform everywhere, the ques
ton of disfranchisement of Territories,
and the question of protection for home
industry Either of these has now in
comparably more weight in public con-
sideration than the issue regarding the
mode of selecting minor officials and
clerks. Each is essentially fundamental,
and concerns the very framework of
government. If there cannot be free
dom of choice in all States, honest cleo
tions in all States, respects for the rights
of a million citizens who have settled in
the Territories, and defence for Ameri-
cans in their industry, no scientific Sc
lection of clerks will make the govern
ment satisfactory to the people.
So much fruit four Democratic years
have borne. Democratic suppression of
suffrage has made freedom of elections
at the South vital issue for all Amer
leans. Democratic crimes at elections
in Northern States have proved that
present methods of balloting do not
guard the Nation from theft of its
honors and powers. Dakota, raising
more wheat last year and in 1887 than
in any State in the Union, and yet al
lowed by Democrats to cast not sin
gle vote for President, presents an issue
with which no honest upholder of self
government will falter. President Cleve-
lands attempt to overthrow the system
under which the industries of the coun-
try have grown more rapidly and grand
ly than those of any other nation, his
decree that surplus revenue which
threatens public prosperity should not
be reduced, unless by abandonment of
chances of reelection. On the great
question millions of voters now earnesS-
" desire speedy action, and they have
intrusted the power to a Republican
President, a Republican Senate and
Republican House.
Each of these questions touches the
issue of loyalty. Historically, free trade
has been the parent of notification and
rebellion, and when rebels formed a
Confederacy they made free trade its
corner stone Historically, also, the
same disloyal element prepared for
civil war by keeping out of the Union
citizens who settled in Kansas because
they preferred freedom. Historically,
the Plaquemine fraud of Louisiana and
the coffee pot naturalizations of Penn
sylvania compelled the countrytO adopt
defences against Democratic fraud
which further dishonesty by the same
party has now rendered insufficient.
The spirit which instigated secession is
the spirit which has made elections in
many Southern States a farce.
1t has taken only four years of Dem
ocracy to teach the people that loyalty
to the Nation, its Constitution, its popu
lar decisions, its rights and its industries,
is more essential than the reformatory
professions with which Nh. Cleveland
captivated the innocent in 1884. 1t was
folly to suppose that every hungry
and very thirsty" party would be found
the fittest instrument of any reform,
even in the method of selecting clerks.
But it was far greater folly to sup
pose that the Democratic party with all
its past history could be trusted to 10y
ally obey and enforce the will of free
people. So it comes to pass that ses-
sion of Congress controlled by loyal
Republicans, at the earliest possible
moment, is by many considered neces-
sary, that elections may represent the
will of the people, that citizens in Terri
tories may no longer be disfranchised,
and that revenue may be reduced with
out breaking down the defence of home
industries.