Rensselaer Union, Volume 2, Number 25, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1870 — A Year Ago. [ARTICLE]

A Year Ago.

A year ago to-day, Andrew Johnson abdicated his throne and started for Greenville ria Baltimore, denouncing the administration that was to succeed him, and. . hurling parthian execrations over his shoulder as he went. A year ago to day, General Grant took theffietnrdr state without any ostentatious trumpeting, and only announced that he ■would try to reduce the national debt, and do hie simple duty in all things, * A year ago to day, thcffe wont s up a maligaant cry of rage from the baffled Democracy; a declaration that Grant’s election meant national distress, and a savage prediction that it would be followed by a, plunder of the people, official diss.duteneas, and an increasehf the debt. A year has passed. One-quarter of Grant’s term has expired. Has a single one of the predictions of the flatulent oraeteartf the Democracy beeq realized? Has,lbe American tsanison been shorn of any of his locks? Has personal liberty been narrowed down? Have popular franchises diminished? Has our honotf among the nations suffered any decline ? Everyone of the-modest promises, of the incoming President has been redeemed. Our revenue for the year is twentysix millions greater than in and our national expenses are sixty millions - lesa ’ Our debt has been largely reduced. Our taxes also are about to be diminished at those points -where they are the heaviest burden to indus'ry. The national credit is improving month by month and week by week, under the unconditional and unanimous assurance of the Republicans, “The debt shall be paid.’’ Credit is the blood of the national life, and,burs is assuming a new color day by day, judging by the Infallible pulses that throb in Wall street and Lombard street. The popular verdict rendered to-day is—Grant’s first year is a success!— Chicago 'Pont, March 4.