THE CONTRAST REPUBLICAN and DEMOCRATIC ADMINISTRATIONS Reviewed and Contrasted. Wilful misrepresentation is worse than downright lying. The former, if skillfully manipulated, is calculated to deceive, "while the latter often carries with it its own an- “tee national expenses. tidote—the evidences of its own falsity. For the past fifteen years the policy of the Democratic party has been to systemati¬ cally misrepresent, in every possible way, the men and measures of the Republican party. The official reports of the several departments have been garbled, and Re¬ publican measures falsely stated, all as a means of exciting prejudices and keeping alive the spirit of sectional animosity. The short-comings of a few officials have been gTeatly magnified, and, where losses have been recovered by the prompt prosecution oi bondsmen, the fact has been carefully concealed. In a word, the opposition has abandoned the field of honorable discussion, and adop¬ ted the mode of guerilla warfare, striking in the dark, using any and every means or weapon within reach, actuated by no hivher principle—no grander motive—than to de¬ stroy Republicanism, and thus again to get control of the “spoils 5 ’ of Government ! Anything to beat the Republican y the acts of July 14,1870, and January, 20, 1871—Drexel, Morgan & Co., for themselves and associates, bidding for the whole amount, ■ ($5,883',000,) at 103.73 7-16. Entrenchment in Internal Revenue Bureau. The number of officials and employees in Internal Revenue Bureau, July 1, 1875, aa compared with the number December 1,1866, was— December 1, 1SG6.8,599 J uly 1,1875 . 3,610 Total.4,989 with a corresponding heavy saving in an¬ nual expenses, and so in all the Executive Departments. Or, in brief, the Republican party lias accomplished— ‘ ‘A steady reduction of the public expen¬ ditures for ten consecutive years, with only two exceptions; ‘‘A reduction of $540,951,641.74 in the public debt; “A reduction of $40,688,047.34 per an¬ num of the interest on the debt; “A reduction of $203,419,553.54 per an¬ num in the Internal revenue taxes; ‘ ‘The abolishment of the direct or per¬ sonal income tax; “A reduction of $59,564,749.84 per an num in the customs taxes; “A material reduction in the rates of In¬ terna tional Postage; “The sinking fund provided for; “The expenses of the Oovemmen. paid, and a surplus from the year’s receipts in the Treasury.” These are the actual substantial results of Republicanism, and as a practical guar¬ antee of the future, give the ‘ ‘ lie direct ’ ’ to all the speculations of the pamphlet. “DEFALCATIONS AND FRAUDS.” The pamphlet’s meagre list of default¬ ers and frauds, considered in connection with the magnitude of the financial transactions of the government, extend¬ ing annually to hundreds of millions, is a showing, comparatively, in favor of Republicanism—a practical vindica¬ tion of its administrative integrity. It is not to be supposed that any within the knowledge of the pamphleteer have been omitted. But culled from the sen¬ sational newspaper, the dates of the re¬ spective delinquencies extending over years, even antedating the “six years of Grantism,” and the amounts and nature of the default in some exaggerated, and yet even such a list was only compiled by including such as “Paymaster Hodge,” the heaviest in the list, and notoriously a life-long Democrat—to-day, as always, a Democratic voter, and whose default oc¬ curred under the administration of his Department by another Democrat, Pay¬ master General B. W. Brice—and as F. A. McCartney, Disbursing Officer of the Post Office Department, now several years deceased, but in life a political writer of the Democratic school, and appointed by the Postmaster General, on personal grounds, against the earnest protest of Republicans. Is not such a list a shal- 18 low shift. It also conceals the important fact, that, as in the case of Bailey and others, a large proportion of the amounts of default was recovered Xpy the prompt prosecution of bondsmen. But what are the facts—what the offi¬ cial statement of the comparative losses from all causes by the Government ? In the Internal Revenue , the average losses on collections do not exceed one- fiftieth of one per cent! In the Customs the losses on collections are but one fifty-fifth of one per cent ! In the Treasurer'’s Bureau , in eleven and a half years, the losses have been less than $1 in $1,000,000 ! Through the National Banks, the losses to creditors are but a one-hundred-and- eighty-sixth part of one per cent! While in 1860, with a population of 31,000,000, the expenditures per capita were 2.004, in 1875, with a population of but 43,000,000 it was only 1.710! Is there anything in the “last six years of Democratic rule”—in any of the “ages of Democracy”—to equal such a showing of “the six years of Grantism ?” ‘“WHISKY FRAUDS,”—“FRAUDS AND DE¬ FALCATIONS,” &C. Under these heads all the vile slanders for years of a shameless press, again and again refuted, are urged by the pamphlet against Gen. Grant and Republicanism. Even the efforts of Republican officials, Secretary Bristow and Commissioners Douglass and Pratt, backed by Gen. Grant and his ringing fiat— u Let no gxnlty man escape ”—for the arrest and punishment of the guilty, are used as proofs of “a gigantic conspiracy to defraud the Gov¬ ernment.” Now, the notorious spoliation of the revenue by these “Whisky Rings” under Andrew Johnson should not be forgotten —nor the scandal created by the impuni- nity with which, under Andy’s Demo¬ cratic officials, their pillage was perpe¬ trated—nor the boast with which they were charged of having plundered the government of $800,000,000, in connec¬ tion with the official fact that, in 1868, under Johnson’s Democratic officials, like the James Steadmans & Co. , with a duty i of $2 per gall, on whiskey, only $13,419, j 093.74 were collected, while under Grant, j in 1870, with a tax of only 50 cts. per gall., j a revenue of $38,633,184.13 was paid into j the Treasury. It is equally certain that; now, as then, these “Whisky Rings,” or a ' majority of their members, are Democrats, i who in every election, National, State, and I municipal, the country over, vote with the j Democracy, and whose contributions form its principal support—in whose in¬ terest every Democratic State legislature and municipal council or board the nation through frame their liquor laws, and with¬ out whom and their active and open sup- 1 port and contributions the Democracy wonld pass forever out of all existence, both as a national and local party—yet they are strangely denounced by this Dem¬ ocratic pamphlet! And Douglass, drop¬ ped in the reorganization of the Revenue Department, is greatly lauded by the pamphlet for the vigor of his war upon its whisky friends, but only as a means of covering Republicanism with odium, by inflicting a blow upon General Grant in the inuendo that Douglass was removed, and removed because of his zeal in the prosecution. With an inconsistency which demonstrates its utter want of principle, it also eulogizes Bristow, w'ho at least must have consented to Doug¬ las’s removal. Bristow is also applauded as honest and in earnest—as forcing the prosecution in hostility to Grant. The integrity of one Republican officer is thus used to damn the character of another Republican official, and he the highest in power—the President. Is not its lie upon its face. Bristow, earnest and sincere, and encouraged by Grant’s noble fiat, u Let no guilty man escape” arraigned, and caused the punishment of the guilty. Had he encountered resistance in his chief, he would have resigned, and promptly. His honor as a man—his integrity as an officer, charged with responsibilities of a magni¬ tude so grave and vital, demanded it. Otherwise, Bristow could not escape a suspicion—a conviction—of collusion in crime. But this Democratic document, in its malignant pursuit of Gen. Grant, multi¬ plies its charges in every form. It says : “The President’s private secretary, Bab¬ cock, is pi'oved to have been the right- bower of these thieves at Washington, and has been indicted for sharing their plunder.” Mark you, these are Demo¬ cratic “thieves,” the “thieves” of the “Whisky Ring,” whose votes the Demo¬ cracy will count in the Presidential elec¬ tion, and without whose heavy contribu¬ tions in the campaign it will come to premature and irremediable grief. And yet this is a Democrat denouncing Demo¬ cratic “robbery of the revenue.” The Democracy thus select out its highest rascals—the most notorious and the deep¬ est in crime—their ehief support in all elections, in money and votes—expose and magnify their crimes, and charge their guilt upon Grant and the Repub¬ licans. But ‘ ‘Babcock is proved to be the right-bower.” Proved when, where, or how? Indicted, it is true, and tried by a jury of his countrymen; and after one of the severest trials in the history of crim¬ inal jurisprudence, and in which every effort was made to convict him, every effort made by those opposed to him per¬ sonally, and hostile to Gen. Grant and the Republicans, and as a means of convict¬ ing all—after such a trial he was tri- 14 umphantly acquitted. Where, then, are the proofs? But the pamphlet gloats over the names of the Republican officers arraigned and punished by their Republican chiefs for their crimes—McDonald, Avery, and Joyce. They have been convicted it cries. But found guilty of what? Why of com¬ plicity with their Democratic coadjutors in ,-robbing the revenue, and sharing the plunder. This fact, the arraignment and punishment of its guilty officials, great in itself and to the credit of a Republi¬ can administration—an uncontrovertible proof of its fidelity to its high and re¬ sponsible trusts: over this vindication of Republican administrative integrity, the pamphlet rejoicingly croaks as a proof of ‘Corruption. But were similar guilt and guilty officials ever punished under Dem*- ocracy ? As early as 1839, the Democratic mi¬ nority of the Harlan committee plead¬ ingly urges: “That the country has sus¬ tained great pecuniary loss no man can doubt; that the national character has suffered deep humiliation and disgrace no man can hesitate to admit. But losses like these are incident to all governments —no one is free from them. The annals of our own afford numerous instances of peculation, committed at every period of its short existence, under all and every administration, and all and every fiscal system which has been adopted and car¬ ried into practice—no matter who has been the fiscal agent, the Government has sustained loss: it must be so until man becomes honest .” But were the guilty punished? Martin Van Buren was President! From the Dem o- cratic minority the confession had been wrung that “the country had sustained great pecuniary loss;” “that the national character had suffered deep humiliation and disgrace ”—all through the Democracy—the wholesale systematic robbery through years by Democratic officials. Did the Presi¬ dent of the Democracy declare, “Let no guiity man escape?” Were any of the guilty punished? Was Swartwout, whose infamy was of such a magnitude and char¬ acter that his name, “ Swartwout passed into the dictionary and remained there for years as equivalent to “abscond after sys¬ tematic thievery”—whose crimes began within nine months after his appointment— within twelve months after the birth of the Democracy, in 1830, and continued through seven years—for years with the knowledge of the highest in authority— -for years , from 1833 to 1836, without a bond for the safe¬ keeping of the millions in his hands ? * Was Swartwout punished? W r as he not apprised in time to make his escape to Eng¬ land with his plunder? Was his confed¬ erate, Price, the United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New * See H, K. No. 313, 3d Seas,, 23th Congress. York? Was haraot pe rmitted to escape with his principal? Wat Gratiot punished ? Out of sixty-odd receiver's of public moneys, fifty turned up defaulters. Were any of them punished? Was Harris or Boyd or Allen?* Or any attempt made to punish them ? Forced from office by the notoriety of their guilt, were they not allowed by Democratic Presidents to nominate their successors, who robbed in their turn, while the original scamps passed into Congress, or the State Legislatures, f as judges on inves¬ tigating committees of the guilt of others? Was Secretary Woodbury impeached, under whose administration all this corruption culminated in national disgrace, and whose impeachment was demanded by the Whigs? Was Postmaster General Barry? Were any of the ‘ ‘ Spoils Cabinet ? ’ ’ Although compelled to resign by a unanimous vote of the Senate condemning the malpractices of his department, was not Barry promoted to the mission to Spain? Was not Wood¬ bury, after continuing in office till the close of Van Buren’s term, transferred to the United States Senate ? Did he not become a prominent candidate for the Democratic nomination to the Presidency ? Is not this, too, an epitome of every Democratic Administration up to Andy Johnson? James Iv. Polk, Frank Pierce, and James Buchanan were the Democratic successors in the Presidential office of An¬ drew Jackson and Martin Van Buren. All were present at the birth of the Democ¬ racy in 1829, or figured in the early subse¬ quent scenes attending or originating in the corruption and crimes of Jackson’s and Van Buren’s administrations. James Bu¬ chanan, in Congress, as the author of the infamous and cruel “bargain and corrup¬ tion’ ’ libel against Henry Clay, % upon which the first success of ‘ ‘the party’ ’ was based— upon which Jackson was first elected, and for which service Buchanan received from Jackson the mission to Russia ; James K. Polk, as Speaker of the House, openly packing committees to screen the guilty— the Swartouts, Prices, Harrises and Boyds, wallowing in notorious corruption; and Frank Pierce, as a member of those com- * Amount of Swartwout’s defalca¬ tion .$1,225,705169 Amount of Price’s defalcation . . 72 , 124.06 “ “ the fifty receivers’. . 825,078.28 “ “ Gratiot’s.. . 50,000.00 $2,173,508.03 (See H. R. 313,3d Sess.,25th Congress.) This, at the time, when the value of money relatively was so much greater than now, was a vast, sum, and yet it embraces but a third of the spoliation. Other departments were equally corrupt. An able authority state# that “$6,000,000 were actually stolen” at a time when the Democracy was denouncing the annual expenditures of $13,000,000 as prodigi- I ous—as evidence of corruption, extravagance and fraud. fHarris passed into Congress, and Boyd was elected to the Mississippi Senate. J. See History of this infamous “Conspiracy’’ in Coifcon’s lAi c of Henry Clay. 15 mittees, faithfully suppressing all proof of tlieir guilt!* TVere not this original corruption and fraud—this maladministration and malfeas¬ ance, these malpractices faithfully imitated and enforced through all their several ad¬ ministrations—Polk’s, Pierce’s and Bu¬ chanan’ sf—up to the latest hour of Buchan¬ an’s, the last hour of those “last six years of Democratic rule,” whose final scenes closed in wholesale spoliation of the Government as a climax of thirty years of Democratic conspiracy for the destruction of the nation —in a rebellion the magnitude and revolting «rimes of which have no parallel in. the his¬ tory )f man f Were the guilty under any one of them punished? Were the Denbies, Beards, or Collinses—the Scotts, Hewitts, Ken- nerlies, Wet mores, or Swifts? Was Cor¬ nelius Wend elL? Was any of the pillaging hosts, whose corruptions and cximes of every character, degree, and form, despoil¬ ing the nation of hundreds of thousands and millions, indicting, at the very close of those “last six years of Democratic rule,” as in the beginning under Jackson and Martin Van Buren, in addition to ‘ ‘a great pecuniary loss” upon the country, “deep humiliation and disgrace” upon “the na¬ tional character?” Did any fail in the teachings of their early faith—of the early principles and maxims of “the party “To the victors' belong the spoils?” In imitation of the* tyranny of the “Hero” “born to command, ” to rule despotically through Executive usurpation amid the min and sufferings of the people—such tyranny as produced, in 1837, in three weeks, the bankruptcy in New York of ‘ ‘one thousand financiers, mer- * See the record of the Garland and Wise Committees of 1837. tfSays Carroll: “ The aggregate amount of spoils under Pierce’s administration was $300,000,000 by tfee figures!” That is, in at¬ tempted spoliation by the Slave Power dur¬ ing those ‘Tast six years of Democratic rule” —$120,000,000 in compliance with the demands of the notorious Ostend Conference, held by Buchanan, Mason, and Slidell, for the acqui¬ sition of Cuba, and which, if adopted and forced on Spain, would have involved the nation in a war with England, France, and Spain—ia a consequent expenditure of untold millions and sacrifice of life; $20,000,000 for." the Gadsden purchase, and so on, in kindred' ifrems—all for the advancement and consoli¬ dation of the Slave Power—but which were greatly curtailed, or absolutely defeated, by the attitude of the Republican party; while ■the plunder of its Washington rings, in the building of the wings of the Capitol, and similar jobs, has only a parallel in». nose of Buchanan.—(See Debate in Ho. Of Reps., May, 1856, upon Mb. Ball’s A if Ohio! resolu¬ tions to investigate some of these jobs, and the Kept, of Covode in 1860.) chants, manufacturers, and ship-owners,” and “forty thousand more throughout the country,” entailing upon the people “a social calamity unparalleled:” “the wealthy fallen to penury; widows and orphans, left with a competency, driven to want; honest workingmen, who supported tlieir wives and children upon their daily wages, thrown out of employment; the savings of years swept off at a blow, and the prospects of many ruined forever”*—in imitation of such heroism and at the command of slavery, did they not, one and all— Polk, Pierce, and Buchanan—amid cor¬ rupt malpractices in administration, for¬ eign wars of conquest abroad and civil war at home—“border ruffianism,” supported by the military—establish a military tyran¬ ny, dragooning our cities, arresting, im¬ prisoning, and fining our citizens by mili¬ tary process, slaughtering our unoffending people, and staining even the streets of the National Capital with their blood? And did not all this frightful maladmin¬ istration, corruption, and tyranny again characterize Andrew Johnson’s attempted galvanizing of the old hulk into renewed plunder and crime ? CONCLUSION. Thus one by one, after its own manner, and under its own headings, have the slanderous charges and inuendoes of this pamphlet been reviewed and exposed in the light of history and facts. It is a doc¬ ument worffey of the Democracy—a party which, for thirty years, in control of the Government, striking down all the grand interests of the nation—manufactures, agriculture and commerce—subordinating all to the reign of slavery and the success of the party, and the one as a means to the other ; inaugurating at its origin, under the maxim, “ To the victors belong the spoils a system of appalling eorrupticas. and plunder pursued with impunity, rob¬ bing the nation of millions upon millions; held together throughout its long reign, as denounced by Calhoun, only “ by the cohesive power ef public plunder,” it sub¬ sisted by defalcation, fraaid, vile wars, ex¬ ecutive usurpations, legislative iniquity in vile acts begotten in tyranny, enacted in corruption, and enforced in blood; re¬ pudiating the consequences of its crimes, charging tlieir burdens »pon its oppo¬ nents and denouncing them before the people, and closing those terrible ‘ ‘last six yeans of Democratic rule’ ’ in open rebellion for the destruction of the nation! * Carroll’s Review , pp. 14, L5. A Political Science Monthly Magazine, In the future, as in the past, the Republic will advocate an honest administra- tion of Government, whether municipal, State, or National. It will favor loyalty, honesty, economy, and personal ability as pre-requisites for office. It will give credit where credit is due ; and impartial criticism whenever required. It will seek to hold up intelligence as the safeguard to National safety, and will defend our free school system as essential to its preservation. It will advocate improvements that experience may commend, in the education of the young ; but will oppose all efforts to divide the public school funds, or to intro¬ duce into the schools sectarian influences. It will advocate the perpetuation of the Republican party as the best, if not the only, means to secure the preservation of the Union and the impartial execution of the laws. It will labor earnestly to bring about such reforms as the spirit of progress may demand, and in all things seek to present those methods of administration which the wisdom and experience of a century have confirmed. It will give to its readers a clear insight into the various branches of Government, by a faithful record of their doings. These are among the leading features of the work to which the Republic is de¬ voted. It pledges anew its best energies to make the Centennial volumes worthy the Nation it serves and the year it enters upon. TERMS: The Republic is a magazine of sixty-four pages, published monthly at $2 a year, or six copies for $10. The postage in all cases will be paid by the publishers. A few copies of the back volumes may yet be obtained, either bound or in numbers. Remittances should be made by postal money-order or registered letter. ADDRESS, REPUBLIC PUBLISHING CONIPANY, WASHINGTON, D. C. LIST OS’ DOCTJMEWTS: No. 1.—Growth of the Nation Under Republican Rule. 8 pp. No. 2.—Vaticanism in Germany and in the United States. 8 pp. No. 3.—Can the Nation Trust the Democratic Party? 16 pp. No. 4.—Record and Platform of the Democratic Party. Speech by Senator Morton, at Urbana, Ohio, August 7, 1875. 8 pp. No. 5—The National Finances and the Currency, 1875. 8 pp. No. 6.—High and Low Tariffs and their Effects. 4 pp. No. 7.—Our Currency: Its Volume and character. Also, Taxes : Who Pays them? 4 pp. No. 8.—Vaticanism in Germany and in the United States. (In Gei'inan.) 8 pp. No. 9.—The People a Nation. 8 pp. No. 10.—The Southern Question: The Conspiracy to Rule or Destroy the Nation. 12 pp. No. 11.—Growth of the Nation Under Republican Rule. (In German.) 8 pp. No. 12.—Labor and Wages, f 4 pp. * Amnesty Debate. (Blaine, Garfield and Hill.) 32 pp. ^Senator Morton’s Speech on Mississippi. 24 pp. Rocord of the Democratic Speaker. 16 pp. f“Tlie Bible the Security of American Institutions.” Sermon by Rev. Dr. Ran¬ kin. 8 pp. |“Religious Liberty.” Sermon by Rev. Dr. J. P. Newman. 32 pp. “An Irredeemable Paper Currency.” Speech by Hon. J. G. Blaine. 8 pp. "“Centennial Celebration of American Independence.” Speech by Hon. M. Townsend. 8 pp. *■ ' •Senator Gordon’s Civil Service Reform. (Debate in the Senate.) 16 pp. 'Belknap’s Impeachment. Escape ©f Witness Marsh. (Mr. Bass’ speech in the House.) 8 pp. Those marked thus * having been taken from tbe “Congressional Record,” can be distributed through the mails under the frank of Senators or Members. Of those marked thus I our supply is exhausted, but as we have the stereotype plates, we can print new editions if necessary. ’• scnaing for s\inv» •’duress J. M. EDMUNDS, Secretary. 4