The Bainbridge weekly democrat. (Bainbridge, Ga.) 1872-18??, August 17, 1876, Image 1

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Newspaper Page Text\ / The Bainbridge Weekly Democrat. published Every Thursday } "HERE SHALL TnE PRESS THE PEOPLE'S RIGHTS MAINTAIN, i y-l WED D TISFL UENCE AND UNBRIBED BY GAIN" -j Two Dollars Per Annum- Volume "V". BAINBRIDGE, GEORGIA, THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1876. NuialSw 44 f - ydre Cliairman County Executive Com mittee- IUiMimnoE, Ga., August 2d, 1876, JfrmorraSc and Cvnserratice party of ipraUtr County.— fti i.ow Citizens: By resolution of your jjjcuiire Committee it has been made my dt as Chairman of said Committee, to dress you on this occasion. The time is • approaching when we must place before , pc»ple our candidates for the Legislature, well as county officers. To that end, each Kc’.-er of the Executive Committee, in the 1 Districts in the county, will call a ijr of the Democratic and Conservative iter- of said Districts (o assemble at their pcctive precincts, and select three dele- to represent said District in the nomi- r convention, to be held in Bainbridge Wednesday the 6th day of September it. I would here suggest that fifteen or renty days notice be given before the time meeting, in order that the voters of the hole District may be informed of the time mi place of meeting. And the Committee wild also urge upon every voter the im- rtance of attending those primary mcet- ja. and to select true and capable men to like nominations for the several high and portant offices in your county, for in .(•-e primary assemblies lie the power of llln people. We do earnestly request every Lcr to come out and exercise the authority bnaranteod to him in these conventions. The Executive Committee also desire and (►jiicst the several Districts to organize one trimsc Campaign Clubs, on or before the hh Saturday in August, and to furnish the Chairman of this Committee with a full list oflhe officers of the same, and their respec tin'post office addresses. The Executive Committee directs me as Chairman to urge upon the people, and especially the voters of the county, the peat importance of faking our home or wunty newspaper, the BAiNBitfnGE Demo- !it.it. It is a channel of information to .the L.yih on all county affair*, as well as State j„,j n it inn'll politics. The Democrat labor- [el zealously and with great effect in our U<l campaign, and there is no doubt but our unprecedented success as a party in this (.unity and Congressional District was in no jsnall degree effected by the repeated as- zinlts and blows, skillfully directed, by the puion: vr against our opponents. Several kiuhe 1 copies of the Democrat were dis- tvilmtfd iii 1X74, partly at the expense of the Central DeiunMillie Club of Baiubriilge, 11,1 nri'.ti* by the Editor. Bon E. Bussell, throughout our county. The Executive f.mimitiee earnestly request that the sever al (Tubs in the county take this matter specially in charge, and procure as many smscribers for the Democr at ns possible, aii.l where parties are unable to pay tor the pqur. each club should make up a small taml to furnish it to them, at least during the campaign. By this means the Democrat I will lie distributed broadcast throughout the Ifoiintv, and while this will sustain our (home paper, it will at the same time have a idling effect for good in the coming elec- | lions. 1 find by reference to the Tax Digest for 118T6 for this county, that there are 1145 I white polls, 1084 colored polls returned, I showing 61 more white than colored voters. Iqj course this does not represent truly all I the voters in the county, but it is a pretty correct approximation to the true numbers. I The census of 1870 show that (he white peo ■ pie in this county were in the majority at ■that time about one hundred, and it is Ibelicvedby some of our most intelligent eiti- Itens that more of the colored people have (migrated from the county than of the whites Vince that date. This being true, and the Let that the Republican party in this couu- |ty look, I may say, almost wholly to the [colored race for their strength and support, I should we not be encouraged at the outlook? | Ve«; at a fair prospect of success at our elec tions this fall. Then let us rally the Demo cratic and Conservative h osts of our county around our standard ! the standard of Reform, Economy and Retrenchment—the standard that has emblazoned on its folds—eqtwl and exact Jus tin tv all—Injury to none. To do this let us not enter the campaign with the extre mists argument, the fiery abuse of our oppo nents, nor with the language of the “milk and cider” politician, but with bold decla rations of riyht and justice let us deal with facts. We have enough of them.. As “eternal vigilance is the price of liber ty,“so nre unity, harmony and activity flie only guarantees of political success. Let us, beyond all things, have unity and harmony incur ranks—forget whatever of dissadsfac- lion may have heretofore marred our feel ings or relaxed our patriotic efforts, and now push forward in one common cause for the good of our country ; and as a party, with I ihat activity that guarantees success, arise I as one max, on the day of election, and tri umphantly bear our candidates into office, 1 And now, in conclusion, as the party of progress in securing reform, retrenchment and economy in the administration of gov ernment and the ultimate redemption and prosperity of the country, we earnestly in vite all persons of whatever nationality, race.. or former political creed, who are willing to conform to the principles of the Democratic sml Conservative parjy, to allign themselves with us in our patriotic efforts to obtain good government, and we will hail their advent with pleasure, and guarantee them a cordial reception. Respectfully Maston O’Neal Chairman Democratic Committee Decatur County. -A GIFT WORTHY OF A ROTHSCHILD FOR OKS CENT, A copy of Brown's Illlusirated Shakes pearian Almanac, together with a copy of hi'illustrated paper, the Growing World, *hich is devoted to natural history, wlli be sent to any one free who will se.-d us their address on a one cent postal card. Address DR. 0. 1\ BROWN 21 Grand Street, Jersey City, N. j. The Weokly Democrat. BEN. E. RUSSELL, - Proprietor. Bainbridge, Georgia. August 17, ’76. Mr. Jso. D. Harrell is the General Agent of the Democrat, and is authorized to receipt for subscriptions and advertising. TILDEN & HENDRICKS! UNCLE SAMUEL’S LETTER He Accepts the Democratic Nomina tion for President- And tells What Ought to be Done- A Pithy Explanation of the Financial Situation- Albany, N. Y. ; July 31,1876. Gentlemen: When I had the honor to receive a personal delivery of your letter on behalf of the Democratic Nutional Convention, held on the 28th of June, at St. Louis, advising me of my nomination as the candidate of the constituency represented by that body for the office of President of the United States, I answered that at my earliest convenience, and in conformity with usage, I would prepare and transmit to you a formal acceptance. I now avail myself of the first interval, in unavoida ble occupation, to fulfill that engage ment. The Convcn ion before making its nominations adopted a declaration of principles which, as a whole, seems to me a wise exposition of the necessities of our country and of the reforms need ed to bring back the government to its true functions, to restore purity of ad ministration and to renew the prosperi ty of the people; but some of these reforms are so upright that they claim more than a passing approval. REFORM IN PUBLIC EXPENSE. The necessity of a reform ‘ in the scale of public expense, Federal, State' and municipal,” and ‘-in the modes of Federal taxation,” justifies all the prominence given to it in the declara tion of the St. Louis Convention. The present d 'pression in all the business and industries of the people, which is depriving labor of its employment and carrying want into so many homes, has its principal cause in excessive govern mental consumption. Under the illu sions of a specious prosper! y engender ed by the false policies of the Federal Government a waste of capital has been going on ever since the peace of 1865; which could only end in universal dis aster. The Federal taxes of the last eleven years reach the gigantic sum of $4,500,000,000 Local taxation has amounted to two-thirds and much more. The vast aggregate is not less than 87 - 500,000,000. This enormous taxation followed a civil conflict that had greatly impaired onr aggregate wealth, and had made a prompt reduction of expenses indispensable. It was aggravated by most unscientific and ill-adjusted meth ods of taxation that increased the sac rifices of the people far beyond the re ceipts of the treasury. It was aggravat ed moreover, by a financial policy which tended to diminish the energy, skill and economy of production and the frugality of private consumption, and induced miscalculation in business and unremunerative use of capital and labor. Even in prosperous times the daily wants of industrious communities press closely upon their daily earnings. The margin of possible national savings is at best a small percentage of national earn ings. Yet, now for these eleven years, governmental consumption has been a larger portion of the national earnings than the whole people can possibly save even in prosperous times for all new in vestments. The consequences of these errors a.e now a present public calami ty; but they were never doubtful—never invisible. They were necessary and inev itabic, and were foreseen aud depicted when the waves of that fictitious proa- perity ran highest, In a speech made by me on the 24th of September, 1868, it was said of these taxes : “They bear heavily upon every man’s income, upon every industry, and every business in the country, and year by year they are distined to press still more heavily unless we airest the sys tem that gives rise to them. It was comparatively easy when values were doubling under repeated issues of legal tender paper money to pay out ot the froth of our growing and apparent wealth these taxes, but when values re cede and sink toward their natural scale the tax-gatherer takes from us not only our income, not only our profits, but also a portion of our capital.* * * I do not wish to exagerate or alarm. I sim ply say that we cannot afford the costly and ruinous policy of the Radical ma jority of Congress. We cannot afford that policy towards the South—we can not afford the magnificent and oppres sive centralism into which our govern ment is being converted. We cannot afford the present magnificent scale of taxation.” To the Secretary of the Treasury I said early in 1865; “There is no royal road for a government more than for an individual or corporation. What you want to do now is to cut down your expenses and live within your income. I would :,ivc all the leg erdemain of finance and financiering— I would give the whole of it—for the old homely maxim, ‘Live within your income.’ ” This reform will be resist ed at every step, bat it must be pressed persistently. We see to-day the imme diate representatives of the people in one branch of Congress, while strug gling to reduce expenditures, compelled to confront the menace of the Senate and the Executive, that unless the ob jectionable appropriation be consented to, the operation'* of the government thereunder shall suffer detriment or cease! In my judgment an amendment of the constitution ought to be devised separating into distinct bills the appro- piiations for the various departments of the public service, and excluding from each bill all appropriations for other ob jects, aud all independent legislation. In that way alone can the revisory pow er of each of the two houses and of the Executive be preserved and exempted from the moral duress which often com pels essent to objectionable appropria tions rather than stop the wheels of government. THE SOUTH. An accessory cause, enhancing the distress in.business, is to be found in the systematic and insupportable mis- government imposed on the States of the South. B- sides the ordinary ef fects of ignorant and dishonest, admin istration, it has inflicted upon them enormous issues of fraudulent bonds, the scanty avail of which were wasted or stolen, and the existence of which is a public discredit, tending U bankrupt cy or repudiation. Taxes, generally oppressive, in some instances have con fiscated the entire income of property and totally destroyed its market value. It is impossible that these evils should not react upon the prosperity of the whole country. The nobler motives of humanity concur with the material in terests of all in requiring that every obstacle be removed to a complete and durable reconciliation between kindred populations once unnaturally estranged, on the basis recognized by the St. Lou is platform of the “Constitution of the United States, with its amendments universally accepted as a final settlement of controversies which engendered the civil war.” But in aid ot a result so beneficent to the moral influence of every good citizen, as well a- every gov ernmental authority ought to be exert* ed not alone to maintain their just equality before the law, but likewise to establish a cordial fraternity and good will among citizens, whatever their race or-eolor, who are now united in the one destiny of a common self-government. If the duty shall be assigned to me I should not fail to exercise the powers with which the laws and the constitu tion of our country clothe its chief mag istrate to project all its citizens, what ever their condition, in every political and personal right. CURRENCY REFORM. “Reform is necessary,” declares the St. Louis Convention, ‘ 'to establish a sound currency, restore the public cred it and maintain the national honor,” and it goes on to “demand a judicious system of preparation by public econo mies. by official retrenchments and by wise finance, which shall enable the na tion soon to assure the whole world of its perfect ability and its perfect readi ness to meet any of its promises at the call of the creditor entitled to payment.” The object demanded by the conven tion is a resumption of specie payments on legal tender notes of the United States. That would not only “restore the public credit” and “maintain the national honor,’: but it would “establish a sound currency” for the The methods by which this object is to he pursued and the means by which it ia to be attained are disclosed by what the convention demanded for the future, and by what it denounced ;■ the past, BANK-NOTE RESUMPTION. Resumption of specie p '.ymenta by the Government of the Un ted States on its legal tender notes wots d establish specie payments by all the banks on all their notes. The officia statement made on the 12th of May, shews that the amonnt of the bank notes was $300, 000,000, less $20,000,000 held by them selves. Against these two hundred and eighty millions of notes the banks held 8141,000,000 of legal tender notes, or a little more than fifty per cent, of their amount, but they also had on deposit in the Federal Treasury, as security for these notes, bonds of the United States worth in go’d about $360,000,000, available and current in all tne foreign mono/ markets. In resuming, the banks, even if it were possible for all their notes to be presented for payment, would have $500,000,000 of specie funds to pay $280,000,000 of notes without contracting their loans to theit customers, or calling .on any private debtors for payment. Suspended banks undertaking to resume have usually beep obliged to collect from needy borrowers the means to redeem exces sive issues and provide revenues as re. serves. A vague idea of distress is therefore often associated with the pro cess of resumption, but the conditions which caused distress in those former instances do not now exist. The gov ernment lias only to make good its own promises, and the hanks can take care of themselves without distressing any body. The government is therefore the sole delinquent. LEGAL TENDER RESUMPTION. The amount of the legal tender notes of the United States now outstanding is less than $370,000,000, besides $3,4,- 000. 000 of fractional currency. How shall the government make these notes it all times as gwod as specie? It has to provide in reference to the mats which would be kept in use by the wants of business a central reservoir of coin adequate to the adjustment of temporary fluctuations of .international balances, and as a guarantee against transient drains artificially created by panic or by speculation. It lias also to provide for the payment in coin of such fractional currency as may be present ed for redemption, and such inconsid erable portions of the legal tenders as individuals may from time to time, desire to convert for special use, or in order to lay by in coin their little stores of money. RESUMPTION NOT DIFFICULT. To make the coin now in the treasu ry available for the objects of this reserve, to gradually strengthen and enlarge that reserve, and to provide for such other exceptional coins as may arise, does not seem to me a work of difficulty. If wisely plann-’d and dis creetly pursued it ought not to cost any sacrifice to the business of the country. It should tend, on the contrary, to a revival of hope and confidence. The coin in the treasury on 30th of June, including what is held against coin certificates, amounted to nearly $74,000,000. The current of precious metals which has flowed out of our country for the eleven year? from July 1, 1865, to June 30, 1876, averaging nearly $76,000,000 a year, was $832,- 000.000 id the whole period, of which $617,000,000 were the product of our own mines. To amass the requisite quantity by intercepting from the cur rent flowing out of the country, aud by acquiring from the stocks which exist abroad without disturbing the equilib rium of foreign money markets, is a result to be easily worked out by prac tical knowlege and judgment. .With respect to whatever surplus of legal-ten ders the wants-of business may fail to keep in use, and which, in ord ;rtq save interest, will be returned for redemp tion, they can be either paid or they can be funded. Whether they con tinue as currency or be absorbed into the vast mass of securities held as invest ments, is merely a question of the rate of interest they draw. Even if they were to remain in their present form and the gov ernment were to agree to pay on them a rate of interest making them desirable as investments, they would cease to circulate and take their place with government, State municipal and other coporatc and private bonds, of which thousands of millions exist among us. In the perfect ease with which they can be changed from currency into investments lies the only danger to be guarded against in the adop tion of general measures intended to remove a clearly ascertained surplus— that is, the withdrawal of any which are not a permanent excess beyond the wants of business. Evan more mischievous would be any measure which Affects the public imagination with the fear of an ap prehended scarcity. In a community where credit is so much used, fluctuations of values and vicissitudes in business are largely caused by the temporary beliefs of men, even before these beliefs con form to ascertained realities. AMOUNT OF NECESSARY CURRENCY. The amount of the necessary currency at a given time cannot he determined ar bitrarily and should not he assumed on conjecture. That amount is subject to both permanent and temporary changes. An enlargement of it, which seemed to be durable, happened at the beginning of the civil war by a substituted use of currency in place of individual credits. It varies with certain states of business. It fluc tuates with considerable regularity at dif ferent seasons of the year. In the autum, for instance, when buyers of grain and other agricultural products begin their operations, they usually need to borrow capital or circulating credits by which to make their purchases, and want these funds in a currency capable of being dis tributed in small sums among numerous sellers. The additional need of currency at such a time is five or more per cent, of the whole volume,and if a surplus beyond what is required for ordinary use does not happen to have been on hand at the money cenfres, a scarcity of currency ensues, and also a stringency in the loan markets. It was in reference to such ex periences that in a discussion of this sub ject in my annual message to the New York Legislature of January 5th, 1875,the suggestion is made “that the Federel Gov ernment is hound to redeem every portion of its issues which the public do not wish to i^se. Having assumed to monopolize the supply ofjcurrency and enacted exclu sions against every body else, it Is bound to furnish all which the wants of business require. * * * The system should posi tively allow the volume of circulating -credit? to ebb and flow according to the everebanging wants of business. It should imitate as closely as possible the natural of trade which it has superceded by artificial contrivances." And in a similar discussion in my message of January 4, 1875, it was said that resumption should be effected “by such measures as would keep the aggregate amount of the cur rency self-adjusting during all the process without creating at any time an artificial scarcity and without exciting the public imagination with alarms which impair confidence, contract the whole large machinery of credit, and disturb the natu ral operations of business.” MEANS OF RESUMPTION. “Public economies, official retrench ments and wise finance” are the means which the St. Louis Convention indi cates as provision for reserves and re demptions. The best resource is a re duction of the expenses of the govern ment below its income, for that imposes no new charge .on the people. If, however, the improvidence and waste which have conducted us to a period of falling revenues, oblige us to supple ment the results of economies and re trenchments by some resort to loans, we should net hesitate. The government ought not to speculate on its own dis honor in order to save the interest of its broken promises which it still com pels private dealers to accept at a ficti tious par. The highest national honor is not only right, but would prove pro fitable. Of the public debt $985,000,- 000 bear interest at six per cent, in gold and $712,000,000 at five per cent, in gold The average interest is 5.58 per cent. A financial policy which should secure the highest credit wisely availed of ought gradually to obtain a reduction of one per cent, in the intes- est on most of the loans. A saving of one per cent, on the average would be $17,000,000 a year in gold- That sav ing regularly invested at 4} per cent, would, in less than thirty-eight years, extinguish the principal. The whole $1,700 000,000 of funded debt might be paid by this saving alone, without cost to the people. PROPER TIME FOB RESUMPTION. The proper time for resumption is the time when wise preparations shall have ripened into a perfect ability to accomplish the object with a certainty and ease that will inspire confidence and encourage the reviving of business. The earliest time in which such a re sult can be brought about is best. Even when th i preparations shall have been matured, the exact date would have to be chosen with reference to the then existing state of trade and credit ope rations in our own country, the course of foreign commerce and the condition of the exchanges with other nations. The specific measures and actual date are matters of detail having reference to ever-changing conditions that belong to the domain of practical administra tive statesmanship. The captain of a steamer about starting from New York to Liverpool does not assemble a coun - cil over his ocean chart and fix an angle by which to lash the rudder for the whole voyage. A human intelligence must be at the helm to discern the shifting forces of the waters and the winds—a human hand must be on the helm to feel the elements day by day and guide to a mastery over them. PREPATION FOR RESUMPTION. Such preparations arc everything. Of ficial promises fixing a day are a snare and a delusion to all who trust them. They destroy all confidence among thoughtful men. An attempt to act on such a command or on such a promise without preparation would end in a new suspension. It would be afresh calamity prolific of confusion,distrust and distress. TnE ACT OF JANUARY 14, 1875. The act of Congress of the 14th of Janu ary, 1875, enacted that on and after the 1st of January, 1879, the Secretary of the Treasury shall redeem in coin legal tender notes of the United Statesmen presentation at the office of the Assistant Treasurer in the city of New York. It authorized the Secretary to prepare and provid' for such resumption of specie payments by the use of any surplus revenues not otherwise ap propriated, and by issuing iu his discre tion certain classes pf bonds. More than one and a half of the four years have passed, and Congress and the President have continued ever since to unite in acts which have legislated out of existence every possible surplus applicable to this purpose. The coin in the Treasury claim ed to belong to the government had, on the 30th of June,, fallen to less than $45,- 000,0000, as against $59,000,000 on the first of January, 1875, aud the availibili- ty of a part of that now is said to be ques tionable. The revenues are falling faster than the appropriatious-and expenditures arc reduced, leaving tJje treasury with di ; minishing resources. ' The Secretary has done nothing under his power to issue bonds. The legislative command, the of ficial promise,'fixing a day for resump tion, have thus far been barren. No prac tical preparations towards resumption lmve been made. There has been no progress. There have been steps backward. There is no necromancy in the operations of the government. The homely maxims of every day life are the best standards of its conduct. A debtor who should promise to pay a loan out of a surplus income, yet be seen every day spending all lie could lay his bands ou in riotous living, would lose all character for honesty and veracity. His offer of a new promise, or his profes sion as to the value of the old promise, would alike provoke derision. THE RESUMPTION PLAN OF TIIE ST. LOUIS PLATFORM. The St. Louis platform denounces tha failure for eleven years to make ood the promise of legal-tender notes. It denounces the omission to accumu late “any reserve for theirredemption.” it denounces the conduct “which, dur- eleven years of peace, has made no advances to resumption and no prepara tion for resumption, but, instead, has obstructed resumption by wasting our resources and exhausting all our sur- ‘necessary to its purification, necessary to plus income, and, while professing to intend a speedy return to specie pay ments, has annually enacted fresh hind rances theretoand having first de nounced the barrenness of the promise of a day oi resumption it next denoun ces that barren promise of a “hindrance” to resumption and demands its repeal, and also demands the establishment of a judicious system of preparation for resumption. It cannot be doubted that the substitution of “a system of prepa ration” without the promise of a day for the worthless promise of a day with out a system of preparation would be the gain of the substance resumption in exchange for its shadows ; nor is the de nunciation unmerited, of that improvi dence, which, in the elevan years since the peace, has consumed $450,000,000 and yet could not afford to give the people a sound and stable currency. Two and a half per cent, on the expen ditures of these eleven years, or even less, would have provided all the addi tional coin needful to resumption. RELIEF TO BUSINESS DISTRESS. The distress now folt by the people in all their business and industries, though it has its principal cause in the enormous waste of capital occasioned by the false policies of our government, has been greatly aggravated by the mismanagement of the currency. Un certainty is the prolific parent of viie , chiefs in all business?. Never were its evils more felt than now. Men do nothing because they are unable to make any calculations on which they can safely rely. They understand nothing because they fear a loss in everything they would attempt. They stop and wait. The merchant dares not buy for the future consumption of his customers. The manufacturer dare not make fabrics which may not refund his outlay. He shuts his factory and discharges his workmen. Capitalists cannot lend on security they consider safe, and their funds lie almost without interest. Men of enterprise who have credit or securities to pledge will not borrow. Consumption has fallen below the natural limits of a reasonable econ omy. The prices of many things aro under their range in frugal specie-pay- ing timos before the civil war. Vast masses of currency lie in the banks un used. A year and a half ago the legal tenders were at their largest volume, and the $12,000,000 since retired have been replaced by fresh issues of $15,- 000,000 of bank notes. In the mean time, the banks have been surrend ring about $4,000,000 a month, because they cannot find a profitable use for so many of their notes. The public mind will no longer accept shams. It has suf • fered enough from illusions. An in sincere policy increases distrust—an unstable policy increases uncertainty. The pe pie need to know that the government, is moving iu the direction of ultimate safety and prosperity, and that it is doing so through prudent, safe and conservative * methods which wit! be suro to inflict no new sacrifice on the business of the country! Then the inspiration of new hope and wellfound- ed confidence will hasten the restoring proces of nature and prosperity will be gin to return. Tlie St. Louis Convention concludes its expression in regard to the currency by a declaration of ito coxrvicLiuub' ab to Uio. practical results of the system of prepara- tions it demands. It says: “We believe such a system, well devised aud above all intrusted to competent hands for execu tion,creating at no time an artificial scarc ity of currency and at no time alarming the public mind into a withdrawal of that vaster machinery of credit, by which ninety five per cent, of all business trans actions are performed—a system open, public, and inspring general confidence, would, from the day of its adoption,bring healing on its wings to all our harassed industries, set in motion the wheels of commerce,manufactures and the machanic arts restore employment to labor and renew in all its natural sources the pros perity of the people.” The Government of the United States, in my opinion, can advance to a resumption of specie pay ments on its legal tender notes by a gradual and safe process, tending to relieve the present business distress. If I am charged by the people with the ad ministration of the Executive office I should deem it a duty so to exercise the powers with which it lias been or may be invested by Congress as best and soonest to conduct the country to that beneficent result. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. The Convention justly affirms that reform is necessary in the civil service, its economy and its efficiency, necessary in order that the ordinary employment of public business may not be “a prize fougbt for at the baliot-box,a brief reward of pafty zeal, instead of posts of honor assigned for proved competency and held for fidelity in the public employ.” The Convention wisely added that “reform ia necessary even more in the higher grades of the public service. President, Vice President, Judges, Senators, Representa tives, Cabinet officers—these and all others in authority are the people’s ser vants. Their offices are not a private perquisite; they are a public trust." Two evils infest the official service of the Federal Government. One is the preva lent and demoralizing notion that the public service exists not for the business and benefit of the whole people, but for the interest of the office-holders, who are in truth but servants of the people. Under the influence of tills pernicious error public employments have been multiplied and the numbers of those gathered into ranks of office-holders have been steadily increased beyond any possible require ment of the public business, while ineffi cency, peculation, fraud, and malversa tion of the public funds, from the high places of power to the lowest, have spread over the whole service like a leprosy. The other evil is the organization of the official class into a body of political mercenaries, governing the caucuses and dictating the nominations of their own party and at tempting to carry the elections of the peo ple by undue influence and by immense corruption funds systematically collected from the salaries or fees of office-holders. The official class in other countries, some* CONCLUDED ON FOURTH PAGE

Georgia Historic Newspapers

The Bainbridge weekly democrat. (Bainbridge, Ga.) 1872-18??, August 17, 1876, Image 1