Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 October 1885 — HORATIO SEYMOUR'S VIEWS. [ARTICLE]

HORATIO SEYMOUR'S VIEWS.

Pulitzer, of the New York World hits the nail square on the h&ad ) when he says: “It is neither fidelity to party, to reform, nor to truth, to believe in the new mugwump theory that under a popular self, government there must be politics without politicians, or partiesithout partisanship.”

Hon. Will Cumback, a distin guished Republican leader of former years, but now the foremost temperance worker in this State* recently said: “It often that while the temperance peopl e are at church praying for divine help to arrest the evil of intemperance, the saloon-keepers are at the Court House making a ticke 1 for the saints to vote for at the next election.”

It is rather cheeky for republican chairmen of State committees to assess officeholders under a Democrat c admini >tration for republican electioneering purposes. But that is the rock upon which their admiration for the civil service law is founded. Once the republican government clerks refuse compliance to the assessment demands through fear of the operation pf the law, and their leaders will nolonger entertain any respect for it. The chairmen of the Ohio Dem. ocratic and Republican State Committees have had a correspondence, and the Democratic chairman fins scored his point—he has forced Foraker to the front to speak for h mself. But then isn’t Foraker a little too previous in his demand that Mr. flondly alone shall divide time with the prohibition candidate, Dr. Leonard? Mr. Forakesr too, should divide time. Read correspondpuce in'another column

A coprespon let 5 found <*■. Oov. Hoia.io , Y ; 'ruttful fann home th 1e ' i*ii; c ' a a !M v Gays siii.ee, in -good iicalih mul vigor. A- ( senior of.Y-.ov Turk; as a toad* x oi the Nation:*.! Democracy ; sm hop est, trim, s;* cious statesman who has ever deserved and retained the confidence of Democrats everywhere, his views will command attention.— Speaking of the present and future of this country, Gov. Seymour said:

“Twenty-five years from now we will have a population in this country of 100, 000,000 of people. A population of 100,*00,000 does 11 A mean simply a doubling of the mimber of office-seekers, but a tripling and quadrupling of them. A vast army will be holding office. It would be easy to su» vert the will of the people with suoh an army corruptly used.. The question cannot be treated in the way it has been in the past. Safety to ourse'ves arid to our institutions demands that this project should be handled intelligently and io the best interests of the people. Fr jm what I can judge, shut up as I am, I should say that there was grave danger of the Civil Service Commission r ecoming a greater abuse than the spoils system. I think a much simpler and more direct method could bo found than that under the present law and one which would meet with tee approval of the people. “There-can be no question that so long as we have a Civil Service Commission its members, the majority of them at least, should be in sympathy with the prevailing Administration. As a business MAN I SHOULD NOT EMPLOY A BOOKKEEPEB WHO WAS WOBKING AGAINST MY INTXBESTS AND PRAYING THAT I spotTU) fail. The same rule applied to administering the affairs of the Government. In the important offices where Mr. Cleveland must have aid and sympathy in the Execution of his policy to bring it to a successful issue, none BUT GOOD AND TRIED DEMOCRATS BJHOTLD BE APPOINTED. !

‘ It is surprising that active Republican partisans should expect to remain in after their defeat last fall. Then again as to the departments at ' ashing lon. How can fraud be detected in tlm records without making removals and put* ting new men in to lo ;!•:<>. r the books? I think there should be a checking up of the accounts. Continuing his conversation on other topics, he said:

“Our next serious difficulty to l e warded or met will be a conflict br - tween the East and the West. The North and South have finished their qnarr Is, but the East and West are growing more and more antagonistic. It would huve come up before this but for the relationship owing to emigration from the East to the West, and now that is dying out All people are fond of their native State. We have St George societies, St Elmo and others all over the country just to keep the nationalities together.— The great majorit of the Western people, so calle \ were born in the East, and so long retained their affection for their native States and have legislated in Congress almost exclusively from an Easte’n standpoint A change is coming. The native Western man is on top and will assert his rights as he understands them. I have heard mutterings of discontent and discord from the West for the last ten years. “What aids to keep up this feeling of discontent ia transportation rates and tjie tariff laws. I shall not say that the idea of protecting our manufactures is entirely wrong, but when a tariff was first thought of by our forsf.thers they only took into consideration the requirements of the Coast States. It has been enlarged-ainee, but it is chiefly adapted to the nee4a of the Eastern States. It is unequal and therefore is not fair to all parts of the country . “I will do a problem in the tariff for you to more clearly explain my meaning: Say, for distance, I am an importer doing business in New York. I import cloth worth $1 a yard; the duty is 60 per cent, that makes $1.50. I charge 10 per cent as my profit. The interest is figured on the duty too. Nowit goes to the wholesale man, who charges 10 per cent, profit, and thence to the jobber, who a Ids 25. per cent., and then it is scattered around the small storekeepers of t te West, who, some times, I 1>« novo, charge ns high rs 50 cr 00 per cent, profit. You see the pointI make. The oO cents duty in the fir tins ance soon mounts up to 1 >llr.r, and the heaviest tax comes Ait or the small consumer, who

I .n ill chord to :ay it. It seems to me it these manufacturers must be protected that the idea of the the Government giving them a bounty for every article produced —the amount to vary with the cost of production—would be one solution of the question, and would cheapen the prices of many articles in the Western States. The bounty plan would simplify matters wonderfully. “It is curious how the positions of States and men change in the course of time,” the Governor added, pointing to a legal looking document that was hanging on the wal'. _ “That is a bill of sale of a slave in Massachusetts in 1732. It b *.g ns ‘To all Christian people.’— To. tee it was done 111 the name of 1 eligion. New England first starte I slavery and only gave it up when her people found it unprofitable. At the Hartford Convention in 1810 tlit States >re referred to as Confederate States, and it is also declared that any State had aright to sece ie from the Confederacy at any r ; -ne she sees fit. All through New England, in the earliest formation t f this country, the term Confederate States is u;ed, going to show what their ideas were then on the subject of secession, and the next decade or so may find her back to the ;id doctrine.

Th? co ritry i; prosperous and will becoai • more prosperous with t,e accumu’ation of years. I look for a great :'u u 0 for the Democratic party. I cimiot but feel that we are entering upon a long Dase of power. It is highly important for that reason, that no mistakes are made now at the start. “With a wise administration at Washington the return again of the Democracy in 188 afwiil b 5 only a question of an election.” Speaking of President Cleveland, he said: “I do not know him. I only met him once, and that was at a dinner in Utica just after he bad been elected Governor. I c xn-

tu t recail the conversation, but 11 don’t think it was about politics ; I cannot, therefore, pass judgment i upon him.” j “But have you formed some opinion of the man from his record' made at Washington?” ] “The time is too short. I never 1 form hasty judgme ts. I find that ; one is often apt to be mistaken. It | m'ght be set down almost as an axiom that ‘You never can judge a new President until afbr the first j year.’ Mr. Cleveland has a very difficult post to fill. I believe he is trying to do his best. “I have been somewhat inter -deed in the| erm ‘offensive partisan,’ ” j continuedjthe Governor. “An of- J feusive partisan or strong party man is a very good sort of a fellow. He is generally more inclined t a be fair than the cold-blooded style of politician. It is a good thing to have strong and well-de-fined opinions. If IJshould have t j be tried before a jury of my opponents I should prefer the strongest kind of partisans I could find to the indifferent Republican who votes with his party from conviction without really knowing what that conviction is. The chances are that he would vote me guilty without listening to the evidence. Th strong party man would never d > that. “I will give you an instance.— When I was Governor of this State daring the war I had a hostile Assembly to face during my term. I believe I was called almost everything in debate* from rebel and traitor down.-- Yet »he very men who took so much pleasure in denouncing me would leave the Capitol, come over into my office and enter into a friendly conversation. They opposed- me politically, but reaognized what I was trying to do for the State when politics was not involved. The Assembly always v Ted me as much money as I wante 1 and often more. One of the greatest outrages committed during the war was the arrest of the New York agents. It was not Lincoln’s fault. He was muchjbetter than the men who surrounded him. I asked President Lincol i to investigate my action in cc nnection with the draft act, and he refused. I then asked that a commission be appointed to inquire into the matter —two to be appointed by him and one by me. This was agreed to. He named two army officers and I appointed a civilian. This investigation exonerated mo fully. Tke trial of the New York ag nts who had been taken to Washington and locked up, was be "ore a court-martial appointed by Stanton. The proceedings were secret, but after the court adjourned i was allowed to leak out that these men hud boon convi too, and et when the truth became known after Lincoln’s assassination it was found that they had been acquitted. When that fact was announced the. Republican Legislature at Albany passed me a vote of thanks, i only mention these incidents to show that the strong party man is not as dangerous as ho is painted, and we have much more to. fear from the other class.”