Rensselaer Union, Volume 11, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 May 1879 — “TURN BACK THE HANDS !” [ARTICLE]

“ TURN BACK THE HANDS !”

The party in power in the Legislative Department of the Government has served its notice upon the country. It may- as well l>o accepted at once, In the Senate Mr. Sanlsbnry, for his party, arrogantly aasnmea the responsibility of power, ana with a resonant crook of the whip that brings back the old days bids the Republicans in that body be not only patient, but sileut and submissive, while he and his political associates work |thoir own sweet will. Confederate generals direct the counsels of the organization that controls the Senate, apportion among themselves the committees and among their constituents the patronage, dictate the course of legislation, and shape the policy of tho party. At tho other end of the Capitol Mr. Stephens, late Vice-l’resident of the Confederacy, Air. Reagan, late Postmaster-General of the Confederacy, Mr. Chalmers, late a BrigadierGeneral of the Confederate Army, with others more or less prouiineDtly connected with that disastrous political venture, have given out that the people having called the Democratic party back to power to relieve the county from the evil consequences of eighteen years of Radical misrule, it is the duty of tne present Congress to enter immediately upon the task. In both'" Senate and Hottee there is uncommon anxiety oa . the part of the gentlemen newly invested with power to enter at once upon its exercise. Instead of shrinking from its responsibilities, they are eager to assume them. And we must give them credit at least for apparent sincerity. They certain ly do act as though they fully believed in themselves, and believe that they had actually been sent for in a crisis. In their expressions, their tone, their manner, their whole, behavior, they indicate as plainly as possible their belief that their reappearance m Congress is the result, not of their own, but of the country’s confession of error and repentance. They have come back, they say, in so mUny words, to correct the mistakes and sweep away thejegislation of the past eighteen years. They have confidence in themselves, to say the least. And who, pray, are the gentlemen stepping so confidently to tho tront, and bidding everybody else standback while they take the Government in hand f Their unsparing condemnation of existing laws and their startling proposals of radical changes invite us to a scrutiny of their record, and an inquiry as to their fitness for the revolutionary proceedings they hayein contemplation. What is the record of these men who assume responsibility with such jaunty self-confidence f It is not far to seek. In 1852 they were intrusted with almost unquestioned power in all departments of the Government and nearly all the States. There was scarcely an opposition. Wliat was their statesmanship T In three years they had set on foot an agitation which cost them their majority in the House and created sectional division in parties; and this continued without their gaining anything they set out for, until the Government passed completely out of their hands in 1800, aud then they entered upon a conspiracy to break up - aud destroy it. What fitness does the record of those eight years show? They tried for fotN; years a Government of their own. Does that re- * cord show such a large capacity for statesmanship that we should send out for them to come back and take the old Union iu charge? Here are finaueial questions to be solved by legislation. Wbat certificate of fitness for this work do they bring ? Only this: that they left the Government in 1861 iu such straightened circumstances and impaired credit that its bonds were at a discount, and it could scarocly borrow money in tho markets of the world; and that in their own experience of a confederacy they succeeded only in making a currency which was so worthless as to be a Bource of mirth among themselves. And they have come back to a Government wnoso credit has been raised by the legislation of these eighteen years to a par with that of the wealthiest nations in the world ; to a Government wnioh tho same legislation has put in a position to redeem its obligations in the money of the world. This is the legislation they feel called upon to sweep away, and this the certificate of tjieir fitness for financial administration. Here are serious questions of the relations between capital and labor: what special fitness have they shown for legislation upou this subject? Only this: that eighteen years ago they struck out for themselves in a new Government whose corner-stone was the system of slave labor. There is to-day no such system m existence, and their acquaintance with that of free labor aud its relations with capital dates only from the fall of their abortive Confederacy. Here is the system of internal revenue which seems to have aroused the interest of the late Confederate Vice-President, Mr. SteDhena. who says it should he thoroughly overhauled aud changed: wliat constitutes their fitness for this work! Only this: that their rebellion made the system necessary, and that, its collection in the Southern States is attended with more trouble and expense than anywhere else because resistance to tho law is more general there. There are laws to he passed and appropriations to be made for the postal service : what constitutes the qualifications of those gentlemon for this duty ? Nothing that wo know of, except, that they come from a section which has never paid for its own postal facilities, but has always exhausted the surplus derived from the profits of the service in the Northern States, and required additional appropriations from the Treasury to furnish it 6 mail accommodations. Did Air. Reagan, tho ex-Postmastcr-Generai of the Confederacy, show special fitness for legislating upon this subject when he recommended the payment of a mail contractor who was shown by the records of his own department to been paid oneo already ? Mr. Stephens expresses a purpose to repeal the law taxing State Bangs, so that the several States may charter banks of issue, as of old No one who is old enough to remember the convenience and tho beauties of the State hank efirrency we enjoyed before the war will after this question Air. Stephens’ wisdom as a legislator upbn that subject. States which repudiate their bonds might perhaps charter banks whose notes wvuld circulate with those of the National banks or with greenbacks. It does notnow seem probable though. But tho great thing which all Democrats uniteun saying that the party was brought back to povfer for is to repeal the infamous election laws. And what is their special fitness for tins sort of legislation ? Well, only this: that amoDg the first offences for which this party was repudiated by the people twenty years ago was its outrageous frandh upon the ballot-box iu Kansas, in tho attempt of these gentlemen who have come back to govern us to steal that State ; that, from that time on, they have notoriously defrauded the ballot-box whenever and wherever their needs required, and opportunity offered, notably so in this city and that they have regained their ascendancy in the National Legislature by means of the most unblushing frauds at the polls in the Southern States that Were ever known even in that. party’s history. That qualifies them to he the protectors of the ballot find to legislate wisely for the freedom of elections. These are the men and this the party who have come back to take charge of the Govern men Laud sweep away the legislation of “eighteen years of Radical misrule.” They make no bones of saying so. They are not slow to auuounce their minion nor are they modcßt in picking up the incidental official spoils. As for us, we make no complaint; disposition to say a word to revive, the animosities of the war. But the calmuess With '’which these people come forward to make our Jaws upon all these varied questions, aud the aßStufince with Which they assuiuo that they have beeu called' iu to overturn existing things aud build anew, must naturally challenge inquiry as to their qualifications for so large a task, and the preparatory school in which they were fitted for it*