The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1894-09-06
THE HEART OF THE MATTER.

A ShlI1 lAN NONNl Va GbOAAAi Va NuS
raised by much paving the earth ant
| believing over the "robber tariff
Gigantic trusts and monopolies," 6
pension roll honeycombed with fraud,
"the criminal demonstration of silver,
" outrageous suppression of the State
banks" and similar demagogery, the ele.
ment which SO years ago plotted and
precipitated the rebellion, managed to
again seize complete control of the
National Government.
The fraudulence of the pretenses by
which it gained power has been
thoroughly demonstrated. Except in
wicked raids upon the Union veterans,
and upon the prosperity and Interests of
that part of the Nation which did not
60 into the rebellion, ii has shown the
greatest disregard for all the issues upon
which it appealed to the people. In
stead Of attacking the trusts and moDop-
olies. it has foStered and favored them to
an extent unprecedented in the history
of the country. They seem to have
taken the place in its affections once held
BY the "divine institution of slavery"
Silver has not been remonetized, or a
single step taken looking to that end.
The State banks have not been rehabili-
tated, nor are they apparently any nearer
that condition than they were prior to
the last National election. And so On
to the end of the chapter.
But hundreds of thousands Of dollars
have been spent In fruitless search for
the loudly-trumpeted pension frauds,
and billions of dollars have been taken
from the working people, the merchants,
manufacturers, and farmers of the coun-
try, and the community has had to suf-
fer untold miseries and anxieties, dur
ing the most malevolent and senseless
tariff agitation the Nation has ever been
afflicted with.
The animus of the whole matter is
clear to sight. 1t is policy of destruc-
ton and revenge, deliberately planned
By those men who were foiled in their
attempt to break up the Government.
1t is campaign of hatred and retalia-
ton against those who foiled them. The
late rebels saw that seven-eighths of the
wealth Of the country was in the hands
of the people who were loyal to the
Union. They saw that large por-
ton of the revenues were going out in
payment of the Nations debts to those
who saved its life. They organized a
cunningIy-masked attack upon these
two conditions While they secured
plenty of Northern men for accomplices
and allies, the direction of the manuvers
was carefully kept in the hands of South
ern men and ex-rebels. The control of
the House was placed in the hands of a
reliable man who had served four years
in the Confederate army, the latter part
Of the time as prisoner-of-war in Fort
Delaware. All the important commit
tees of the House were placed with SINH
lar care In the hands Of men of I'M
doubted loyalty to the South, generally
Of those who had given proof of the
same by fighting in the rebel army. a
veteran Northern Democrat was dis
placed from the Craftsmanship of the
highly-important Committee On Ways
and Means to put there a West Vir-
ginian who had done all that his arms
could to make the rebellion a success.
In like manner the control of the
Senate was given to a man who, as
Governor Of Tennessee, had dragged his
State into secession by aid of rebel troops
and against the will of the people, and
then prosecuted with hellish maignity
those who remained loyal to the flag.
Consequently, the operations of the
past year have been continuation of
the rebellion under another form. Those
who surrendered at Appomattox and at
Durham Station have been fighting for
the same ideas as before they laid down
their arms. They have only been DOING it
in another way. Their animus has been
hatred Of those who opposed them in the
field, and desire to do them all possible
injury. How well they have sue
oaa5ad ,,alac n Iyaorz, raoi+al Tbo;r