Democratic Sentinel, Volume 4, Number 17, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 June 1880 — DAVID DAVIS. [ARTICLE]

DAVID DAVIS.

Letter from the Senator from Illinois on the Volitical Questions of the Day. Quincy. 111., Mhy 6, 1880. My Dear Judge : The approaching dose of the present session of Congress will, it is to be feared, leave questions unsettled which are of large public interest, and which materially affect the peace and the prosperity of the Union. Many of your friends in this State and throughout the West had hoped, and indeed had expected, that an opportunity would have been offered in the Senate by which your views on these matters could have been made known to the country. It unfortunately happens, amidst the distractions of party and the strifes of rival ambitions, that the voice of statesmanship is hushed too often, when wise counsel is most needed. This was never more true than at the present time. The country is just emerging from a long period of trial and suffering. The people seek rest from angry discords, and desire to avoid a repetition of the perils through which they have passed. They crave good government, stability, and perfect reconciliation between the sections. The statesman who can achieve these objects will be blessed as a public benefactor. I have ventured to embody in the form of inquiries appended to this letter some, of the subjects upon which your opinions are desired, if it be agreeable to you to comply with the request of a large body of voters and friends, without distinction of party. Truly, your friend, O. H. Browning. lion. David Davis, United States Senate. Washington, May 14, 1880. My Dear Sir : I have bad the pleasure to receive your letter of the 6th inst. As a constituent, a friend, and an honored citizen of Illinois, you have a perfect right to ask for my views on public questions, and I have no hesitation in expressing them, taking the inquiries in the order presented. PEACE IN THE UNION. Permanent prosperity and fraternal fellowship are only to be attained by silencing sectional strife. A faithful adherence to the constitution and all the amendments ; strict observance of the laws in conformity therewith, and equal rights and equal protection for every citizen in every part of the republic, will soon end the discords that have too long vexed the country and injured its material welfare. The people arc weary of agitation and want peace. CENTRALIZATION. 'The constitution wisely defines the respective limits of the Federal and State Governments, under a happy and harmonious system, wherein each is independent in its appropriate sphere and both operate concurrently to protect the integrity and the stability of the Union. Any encroachment of one on the distinctive domain of the other necessarily dislocates the machinery of the constitution, and involves danger to the whole body politic. In fact, every departure from the great charter of liberty and law is attended with peril. The demand made by adherents of one of the great parties for a strong Government means, substantially, a centralized Government, destructive of home rule in the States, and the very reverse of what Mr. Lincoln well described as a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. Carried to its'logical conclusion, such a change would finally overthrow the republic. THE THIRD TERM. An innovation upon the sanctified traditions of the Presidency, first established by the example of Washington, is urgently demanded by a powerful interest in the Republican party. If the limitation of two terms, heretofore universally accepted, be destroyed, the way to a selfperpetuating Presidency will lie opened, by the use and the abuse of the enormous public patronage. Break down this barrier, and an end of the experiment of republican government looms up darkly as the cost of a fatal concession. GREAT CORPORATIONS. The rapid growth of corporate power and the malign influence which it exerts by combinations on the national and State Legislatures is a well-grounded cause of alarm. A struggle is impending in the near future between this overgrown power, with its vast ramifications all over the Union, and a hard grip on much of the political machinery on the one hand, and the people in an unorganized condition on the other, for control of the Government. It will be watched by every patriot with intense anxiety. CIVIL SERVICE. Neither laws nor commissions created under them will effectually reform the many and glaring abuses of the civil service. The former have been constantly evaded, and the latter are powerless for good. An honest Executive, bent on real and not simulated reform, has abundant authority to make it effective everywhere, if he has the capacity to see his duty and the courage to perform it. SUBSIDIES. Experience has demonstrated that subsidies in any form are sources of corruption and ought to bo forbidden. Private enterprises that depend for success upon legislation procured by venal agencies do not deserve public favor. PUBLIC LANDS. More than 150,000,000 of acres of valuable land, more than if 100,000,000, principal and interest, have been voted by Congress to railroad corporations. The remaining lands should be sacredly reserved for cultivators of the soil, so that the laboring man should have a chance to improve his condition, and to open up a future for his children away from the seductions of the great cities. REVISION OF THE TARIFF. Tariff practically means taxation, and all taxation not equitably adjusted is odious. While the interest on an oppressive public debt; the pensions earned with the blood of soldiers and sailors who fought for the Union, and the reg ular expenses of carrying on the Government, are to be met, duties on imports must continue to furnish one of the sources of revenue. So Jong as those duties are levied manufacturers will be benefited, according to the degree or the mode in which the duties may be distributed. The existing tariff is regarded as a confused mass of incongruities and monopolies, created by special legislation, and open to constant frauds on the revenue. It taxes the consumer heavily, on those articles especially that are most needed by the toiling masses. It taxes every newspaper, every school-book, every Bible, and the salt of the workingman, with gross injustice, because the poor pretense of revenue docs not exist to cover the wrong. A revision, therefore, which shall be j,t once searching and fair, is demanded, and should be promptly and efficiently made.

THE PUBLIC DEBT. The debt of the United States, in round numbers, is two thousand millions, deducting the hoarded coin in the treasury. The interest upon it last year was over one hundred millions. ’These are appalling figures. The rapid extinction of this debt is to be desired. First, because it would diminish present burdens, and for the additional reason that one of the effects of a permanent national debt is to create a preferred class, to live on incomes, and free from taxes, under our laws. Having the protection of the Government at home and abroad, they would contribute notliing to its support. . ECONOMY. It is practicable by co-operation between the Executive and Congress to reduce the public expenditures many millions annually, without impairing the efficiency of the public service. Retrenchment is needed for the reduction of taxes, but it is also needed because, properly administered, it would become a potent factor in ref owning the civil service. ELECTIONS. The ballot-box should be the safeguard of the republic, for it is intended to express the free will of a free people. Therefore, elections ought to be exempt from the presence of any menacing force, and to be free from the contamination of corrupt Returning Boards. No

party deserves confidence that seeks as-'Diiden-cy by striking down honest suffrage, either by the use of troops, by fraud, or by intimidation/ It would not be proper for me to express any opinion upon the measures pending, or proposed, in Cong ss. My votes will speak for themselves at the fitting time. Having thus freely answered your inquiries, I may add,.in conclusion, that my support will be cheerfully given to any candidate for President who, in good faith, will strive to carry out this general line of policy, which, in my judgment, is of far more importance than the ambition of any man, or even than the success of any party. As'ever, your friend. David Davis. Hon. O." H. Browning, Quincy, 111.