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THE WEEKLY 00HSTITUTI0NALI8T
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST a*, 1871.
SfCB AND INACTION.”
golden words of wisdom and
p in the letter of Col. Winds*
P. Johnson, one of Georgia’s talented and
rising young men, which will be found in
our columns. There Is a proneneSS in the
young and ardent With active and Vfgorous
intellects to seek expression and reiteration
of opinions on subjects upon which they
think and feel Intensely. They naturally
crave sympathy and approval from kin
dred minds, and it is a great luxury to in
dulge the gratiicatlon. There are others
In Georgia, old and young alike, who feel
as deeply indignant at the Iniquities perpe
trated by the dominant party of the coun
try upon the principles of constitutional
right, and at the frauds by which the four
teenth and fifteenth amendments were
foisted upon the American people. But
they ask the question now, as does Col.
Johnson, wbat will agitation of these
wrongs, in this locality and at this ttrqe,
avail ? Is the question of the repeal of the
obnoxious amendments before the people in
any practical form ? There is no election
at hand in which this Issue is presented.
Is any plan presented for getting rid of
them by judicial decisions ? We have seen
none, nor is any suggested. The power that
enacted the amendments, and declared them
parts of the Constitution, holds the organ
ization of the Supreme Court in its control,
and can manipulate it so as to sustain its
action. This is on the hypothesis that it will
entertain the question as to the validity of
the amendments, and its right to pass
judgment on it. Is the question of treating
the amendments as nullities, by any practi
cal process, presented to- the people ? None
that can arrest the attention of a business
mind for a moment. Col. Johnson is a mem
ber elect of the Legislature, from Jefferson
county, the home of his distinguished
father, who is now one of his constituents.
Can the Legislature by any action, even by
unanimous vote, nullify or disturb the
practical validity of the amendments.
They would be as much de facto parts of the
Constitution after as before such a decla
ration.
It is the conviction of the most intelli
gent men in Georgia that Gov. Bollock
owes his present position to fraudulent ma
nipulation of the election returns. -By
right Gen. Gordon should be Governor.
It is believed that he was fairly elected by
a majority of five or six thousand votes.
But nevertheless Bollock is de facto Gov
ernor. He could not be displaced by a
unanimous vote of the Legislature declar
ing his election a r.ullity, and placing Gen.
Gordon in the office. If such a plan were
resorted to, Georgia would be subjected to
another course of reconstruction under
Gen. Meade, or some other military satrap.
Holden, of North Carolina, was dis
placed, and Is now on evils, from thei6tate
he tyrannized over and swindled. Butthis
was by the due and regular process of im
peachment.
So with the amendments. They are de
facto parts of the Constitution. The Gov
ernment is moving along with all its ma
chinery under that recognized fact.
All citizens and every State submit to
them as parts of the Constitution. The
people of Georgia submit to them just as
they submit to Bullock being Governor.—
They submit because they cannot help it.—
They have acquiesced in the fact for the
same reason. It is no misuse of words to
say they have accepted the fact, not without
inward objurgation and protest, perhaps;
bnt it is undeniable that Bullock and every
official act of his as Governor are accepted
as such by all citizens, officials, courts and
corporations as absolutely as Grant and
his official acts as President meet with ac
ccptsfifee? *
“ What shall we do ?” is a question ask
ed by Col. Johnson. This answer is a
practical one. It harmonizes with the I
view hitherto and uniformly advocated
by this paper:
“ Let the Vallandigham party meet in
convention, draft a platform and nominate
a canditate for the Presidency. We will
have nothing to do with their platform or
convention, but will vote for the nominee
as a choice of evils.”
Circumstances may arise to make a depar
ture from this policy advisable. It is diffi
cult for the wisest mind to decide now what
it will be expedient to do in • question of
party policy nearly twelve months in ad
vance.
Asa matter of present policy, we most
cordially endorse the views of Col. John
son. It Is a source of real congratulation
that Georgia will have in her legislative
councils a gentleman of such clear practi
cal sense. He sees and appreciates the
impolicy at this time of forcing our “ out
and ont State rights platform” upon onr
Northern allies, who are battling at
great odds against Radical corruption and
usurpation which is entrenched in power
and place, with the national treasury
in its hands, with the national banks
and the national bondholders in Its
interest, and the land grabbers, the pow
erful and wealthy protectionist cor
porations and classes leagued together
»to uphold it. It is Impolitic to say or do
anything that may embarrass those allies
by forcing them to adopt or defend or_ dis
cuss issues not called for by the canvass
they are making, not presented by their
own constituencies, and which could not
be urged without weakening and distract
ing them in the face of the enemy.
We close by quoting these judicious
words: .•
“Our true position ia one of silence and
inaction. We will not force our views
upon those who elaim to be Northern De
mocrats, nor will we accept theirs; but we
will join them In the fight againßt those
wfy> have, planted the banner of centralism
within the sacred precincts of State Sov
ereignty.”
THE STATE ROAD CORRUPTION.
Gradually the gross frauds and robberies
perpetrated against the people of Georgia
in the management of that magnificent
property, the State Road, are being brought
to light. The small jobs of thieving re
cently exposed will serve as a guide for
further and deeper probings or the foul
nicer. What has already been made pub
lic la sufficient to Justify a helief In the
public mind of the complicity, if not guilt,
of every one connected with the road in
any prominent capacity from Bullock
down. Nothing leas than clear proof, after
a full Investigation, will ever erase that
belief from the minds of the people. It is
to be hoped that among the first measures
the Legislature will adopt, at its meeting
in November, will be the appointment of a
special committee, with power to send for
persons and papers, to investigate the
management of the road from the day Bul
lock removed Maj. Cambpell Wallace to
the day that Fosteb Blodgett was or
will be relieved from the position of Super
intendent. Especial Investigation should
be made in regard to the authority and ne
cessity of continuing to pay the officers of
the road their regular salaries after the
road had passed out of the hands of the
State. The committee should be instruct
ed to prosecute, on the criminal side of the
court, every person found to be connected
with the frauds and robbing; that, if
proven guilty, the State may get a small
return for the money stolen, by their la
bors In the penitentiary, or in breaking
stone at Stone Mountain.
ISSUES DISCUSSED BY NORTH
ERN DEMOCRATS.
We publish the speech recently delivered
by Gen. Thomas Ewing at Columbus,
Ohio, to show our readers the Issues pre
sented by the Northern Democratic lead
ers to their constituency. If we are to
succeed In getting rid of the present cor
rupt and oppressive dynasty that now
rules the laud, and that has scourged the
South as with a rod of iron, It is by the aid
of these Northern allies. It is just snd
wise that we should cooperate with them
in every way we honestly can; and throw
no obstacles in their paths, even where we
differ from them on some ’points. Now is
not the time to quarrel and divide among
friends. Let the Republicans enjoy that
luxury, as it seems they are doing in
Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, and
elsewhere. Let Democrats harmonize as
far as possible, for the sake of the
great common cause. There are enough
points on which to act in lull ac
cord. They are attacking a common ene
my entrenched in the places of power.—
Let them move together on the weak and
assailable points, and not stop in the heat
of the assault to discuss matters which can
best be argued when the citadel is taken
and the victory won.
Our New York Correspondence.
New York, Wednesday, August 10.
There are various rumors of new political
combinations, of Republican as well as
Democratic influences. It appears certain
that ex-Senator Morgan and Senator Fen
ton have entered into a combination
against Gen. Grant—the former furnishing
the money and the latter the brains; and
they propose to themselves to carry the next
Republican State Convention and the State
election this fall; Morgan to succeed Conk
ling in the United States Senate, and Fen
ton to control the delegation to the next
Republican National Convention. This
combination would be without much
strength, powerful as it would appear on
its face, but for the assistance it receives
from Tammany Hall. The “Tammany
Republicans” (who are nominal Republi
cans holding office under Tammany leaders,
or otherwise dependent upon them) are in
the combination, and the Tribune backs it
with its usual vigor, and more discretion
than it is accustomed to employ in a con
test of this sort. How the thing works
may be seen from a single statement. A
gentleman in the confidence of the Demo
cratic leaders of Kings county told
me some time since that it had
been determined to furnish aid to
Archie Bliss, a Fenton Republican holding
office under the Democrats, to enable
him to “ run the Republican primaries,”
and it is highly probable that the Demo
crats of Brooklyn will be able to foist two
of their marked cards—Republicans hold
ing office directly from Democrats—upon
the next Republican State Committee 1 Os
course, this is for the purpose of protecting
the Democratic friends of these men in
case the Btate should go Republican at the
coming fall election. Nothing that I
could say could make plainer the debauch
ed state of our party politics; the enor
mous frauds and extravagancies recently
developed in this city are the natural
growth thereof, and the success of Fenton
and Morgan, in conjunction with their co
laborer, Tweed, in Tammany Hall, would
be to transfer the same sort of chicanery to
Washington. National affairs are already
in a sufficiently debauched condition, bnt
so long as the vigilance of parties Is not
silenced there is hope.
There are rumors, also, of some new
combinations among Democratic leaders.
I mentioned, recently, that a convocation
of Gov. Hoffman’s friends had assembled at
Saratoga, and that there was no disposi
tion among them to accept the dictum that
Hoffman, as a Presidential candidate, is
“ down among the dead men." It is said
that Tweed is to be “ ruled out,” as having
so little regard for the proprieties and de
cencies of life, as to make himself unneces
sarily offensive, and to bring odium upon
his associates and the party, that a little
circumspection might avoid. We shall
see how this may be.
An illustration of the manner in which
a-pubUc journal maybe useful toitafriends,
is afforded by some recent publications tn
the Tribune. That journal is in dose affili
ation with Tammany Ball, and openly ac
cepts the pay for its services, either in
cool cash or » Influence,” The course of
Tammany Hall in regard to the Orange
procession, and its sham in the frauds
recently exposed, were vehemently at
tseksd by the Brooklyn Amis, a Demo
cratic journal edited by the Boa. 'rhmoss
Klnsella, member of Congress from the
Second District of this State. Ia revenge
of this a Tammany Republican prepared
and published in the Tribune allegations
of enormous frauds In the municipal affairs
of Brooklyn, holding leading' proprietors
of the Eagle mainly responsible therefor.—
These attacks Were so gross that they
proved their own refutation and fell dead.
The probabilities regarding them may be
Inferred from the fact that Brooklyn covers
an area equal to New York, and has half
the population; the total cost of lts muni
cipal affairs might therefore properly be
half as large as those of the city of New
,York; they are less than one-quarter.—
Again, Tammany Hall has a little figure
against Hoffinan, and stlmulates-the 'lrir
bune to a warfare upon our quarantine
authorities, who are striving to' keep out
the yellow fever and the cholera; and it
drags in Gov. Hoffinan as responsible for
over charges and extortion alleged to have
been practiced. Thus is the Tribune, with
“• Honest Horace Greeley ” at Its head, play
ing the part of a political hari^.
Cotton is in something of a fltirry. Same
of the “ bears " estimate the next crop as
high as 3,750,000 bales, and there is no
doubt a large stock of cotton goods on
hand, for which the demand is for the mo
ment small. But no matter. With a crop
even half a million bales less than last
year, Europe will pay ten pence per pound
for her share of it, and planters may govern
themselves accordingly. We are down to
export figures, and our stock is being rap
idly shipped to Liverpool. The close to
day was rather firmer.
WilCoughby.
[communicated]
Education In Gdorgla and the South.
Editor Constitutionalist : Sympa
thizing with tbe friends of education and
applied science, I have read with deep in
terest of the efforts of the of the
Georgia State University and .others, to in
crease and extend the blessings of intel
lectual and moral culture in' your noble
Commonwealth. Mr. Hill’s address before
the Alumni abounds in statements that
will command attention frgm earnest
thinkers in all parts of our common coun
try. Nothing, perhaps, is easier than for
“ ideas,” and the ideal to run into extremes.
But criticism is not the purpose of this
communication. Its main object is to call
attention to the importance of making a
wise selection of 300,000 acres of land,
more or less, received from Congress for
edncational purposes.
In some States similar land warrants
have been sold at from 60 to 80 cents per
acre; while in others, their judicious loca
tion near growing settlements, and where
railways are in progress, has resulted in
receiving from $2 50 to $5 per acre, or
seven times more school money from the
same area of land. The trustees of Cornell
University, in the State of New York, em
ployed a competent man to select Its Con
gress lands, and mainly from the sale of
these its income from interest alone this
year is SBO,OOO. Next year it&Jacome will
be $120,000, with a prospect of increase
hereafter.
It is difficult to build up sound institu
tions of learning, or of productive industry,
without skill in handling capital, to say
nothing of fidelity and honesty. It occurs
to me that, according to a statement made
in the Atlanta Constitution by J. R. Lewis,
State School Commissioner, Georgia will
have as much school money in its Treasury
for distribution in November as New York
had, when, for all practical purposes, we
established a free school to every thousand
acres of improved land in the State. New
York was the first State in the United
States to ascertain, by law, the number of
acres of improved aud unimproved land
within its limits, the writer drawing the
bill for that purpose. Congress adopted the
plan, or idea, at the census of 1850, and
since. To bring Georgia np to the New
York standard will require between six
and seven thousand free sclmols for the
aroa«f improved land*- .
Writing in the Interest o' frje and liberal
education, a word of caution may not be
out of place, where we have to tax one
man’s property to educate another man’s
children. Do not attempt too much at
first in rural districts, where landholders
are poor. Onr free school system would
have broken down in sparsely settled por
tions of the State, by a strong reaction, had
It not received four million dollars from the
Federal Treasury as United States deposit
money, early in the Van Bwren’s Adminis
tration, which we added \o our common
school fund. This help enabled us to found
an excellent normal school Apr the profes
sional training of male andwfemale teach
ers, which has given great satisfaction.—
Experts in the art of teaching cannot be
formed so readily as Is generally believed.
To meet all the wants of free schools, we
need in the South our share of the public
lands controlled by Congress, appropriated
to that purpose. For more than forty
years these lands have been given to the
States and Territories in which they lie for
the support of common schools, with the
sanction of all parties and sections. The
law that gives Georgia some 800,000 acres,
and other States their just proportion, sus
tains the principle and practice which I
advocate. The author of the bill, Mr. Mor
rell, of Vermont, was a true statesman.—
Unborn generations will bless him as their
sons reap the advantages of such institu
tions as the Cornell University.
Railway monopolists and land specula
tors have had their share of the public do
main. Devote what remains to cultivate
and improve the mind and heart, which
rule our republican system through the
ballot box. Popular sovereignty needs
more knowledge and virtue. Let all South
ern Senators and Representatives in Con
gress act as a unit in favor of the measure,
and they will probably receive aid enough
from other sections to secure a liberal
grant of land for edncational purposes.
We can bear local taxes better when one
dollar of tax money has two from other
sources to support free schools in our dis
trict or county. As the Northern people
have great faith In the mental, moral and
physical culture of man, it should not be
difficult to obtain their co-operation in a
national undertaking of this character.
Daniel Lee.
Gap Creek, Knox county, Tenn.
The Montgomery Advertiser says that one
of the “ trooly loll,” who came to that city
last Saturday to save the country, bought
a paper box of lucifer matches before leav
ing, which be safely deposited in bis vest
pocket. But on the road home his benzine
so completely conquered him that he
sought a dense shade and fell asleep. He
slept until pitch darkness set in, when, hap
pening to roll over On bis side, he ignited
his whole box of lucifers, which, burning
through the box and clothing, aronsed him
from his slumbers to a sense of the inky
darkness by which he was surrounded. He
felt the fire, inhaled the baming sulphur,
drew a hasty conclusion and expressed It
as follows: “Dere now! ..’Fore God, jes
what I’spected. In hell an’'a Toastin’.—
Dat comes o’ follerlng dem dam Radicals 1”
John Scully, connected with the police
force of Charleston for twenty years, died
Monday morning. WMtt
The BoutJs Alabamian says: “ A narrow
gauge railroad from here jnto the counties
of Date, Coffee, and Henry Would pay for
itself in a year or two.”
Mgjor Lanier, who has just returned from
a lengthy trip through several counties,
says that the cotton crop is miserably poor,
and that not more than a third of a yield
will be realised. The planters* he says,
are very much disheartened.
[From the Missouri Republican, Anput 11
Live Issues.
The Political Questions Not* Before
the People—The Republican Party
Arraigned for Blundering and Bad
Faith—Speech Last Evening of Gen.
Thomas Ewing, at Columbus, Ohio.
The General spoke as follows :
Fellow-Citizens : I shall ask you to
consider this evening national questions
only, there being no differences between
the parties in matters Os State or local
policy sufficiently developed as yet to at
tract general attention. There is, how
ever, one matter growing ont of State pol
itics on which 1 wish to say a word. Some
Republicans have asserted that the Demo
cratic State Convention, the party pres#
and the people were all mistaken as to who
was nominated as Democratic candidate
for Governor; that it was I, not Gen. Mc-
Cook. The Democracy treated this dls
dlscovery as a harmless mate’s nest. Bnt,
recently, a prominent Democrat of Lan
caster hss seen fit to revive the assertion iu
a modified form, in a letter attacking the
nominee and the platform. That gentle
man is so connected with me by Use of
friendship and family that I feel it Is proper
for me, not only to disavow all knowledge
of this letter before its publication, bnt to
say that I regard its statements as to tbe
nomination (though doubtless not unkind
ly meant) as an unkindness and injustice to
me. I need say no more, for tbe letter will
harm no man but tbe writer and myself.
It is important to all who care for good
government to sift the past from the pres
ent party issues, so that judgment may be
given intelligently by the people on the
very questions to be decided.
First, then, the war issues are settled
forever. Secession Invoked the war,
slavery became necessarily involved in it,
and both went down together In the battle.
No one, North or South, representing any
body of citizens, has ever questioned the
finality of that terrible and potent arbitra
ment. All the alleged war issues are settled
also. The fourteenth and fifteenth amend
ments embody (in addition to some matters
which were never disputed) all that the
Republicans have asserted, and the Demo
crats denied, to be proper or necessary re
sults of the war. These amendments are
recognized by the Democracy of Ohio and
tbe nation, almost unanimously, us part of
the supreme law; and therefore to be con
strued, obeyed and executed precisely as
the rest of the Constitution. Hence, unless,
and until, some party proposes to agitate
for anew amendment of the Constitution,
striking out all or part of these amend
ments, they are beyond the range of profit
able discussion.
the new departure.
This position, taken by the Democracy
throughout the nation, Is miscalled the
“ New Departure.” What departure from
Democratic principles Is there in saying
that, though, we opposed making the
amendments part of the Constitution, we
will obey and execute them now they are
part of It ? Has the Democracy ever wil
fully violated the Constitution? Never!
That theory of our Government which led
to nullification and secession was sincerely
believed by most of the Southern Democ
racy, and many of the Southern Whigs ? It
had been taught them by some of the vene
rated fathers of the Constitution ; and it
were a gross error to charge those who
were led by that Instruction into the act of
war with wilful disregard of known con
stitutional obligations. Whenever the Re
publlean party, since tbe war, has fonnd
the grants of power of the Constitution in
sufficient, or its limitations embarrassing,
in the accomplishment of its schemes, it
has deliberately violated Its provisions,
and, as Thad Stevens said, “legislated out
side of the Constitution.” Bnt the Demo
cratic party, throughout its long and grand
career, has been distinguished for its rigid
observance of the fundamental law, and
has never wilfully violated one of its pro
visions, however pressed by party exigen
cies. In thus recognizing the fact that
the amendments have been ratified, we
do not at all endorse, or admit to
have been valid, the reconstruction laws
through which their adoption was se
cured. The fact that those amendments
are part of the Constitution, results from
the fact that the Bouthern State govern
ments have been to a large extent formed,
and wholly accepted and acquiesced in, by
the Southern people, white and black;
have been recognized by every department
of the National Government;' and all the
affairs of society conducted under them for
years past. We cannot shut our eyes to
these controlling facts. Governments, like
children, become iegitlmttized by recog
nition of their putative father—the people.
These State governmedts have been so re
cognized, and it is, therefore, too late to
attack their legitimacy. Only the wildest
political visionary would now talk of over
throwing those governments by force, or of
changing them except under their own
forms. Hence their acts of ratification of
the amendments must be treated precisely
as those of the Northern States; and the
Certificates of the secretaries of the re
quisite number of States, to the fact of rat
ification by the States respectively, having
been filed with the Secretary of State at
Washington, no department of the General
Government can impugn them, or deny the
effect of their ratifications, as declared in
the Constitution. Therefore, those amend
ments are part of the Constitution, not
withstanding the lawless Inception of the
Southern State governments. And the De
mocracy, in recognizing the accomplished
faet of tbe adoption of the amendments, no
more approve their policy, or the execrable
means of procuring their adoption, than the
Republicans in 1854, by recognizing the
law for the orgapization of Kansas and Ne
braska and making tbe best of it, endorsed
squatter sovereignty, or took back the ac
cusation that tbe repeal of tbe Missouri
compromise was a flagrant breach of faith.
REPUBLICANS DISSATISFIED.
But this position of the Democracy does
not please the Republican leaders. They
know if their followers believe it to be in
good faith, their battle cries which hare
won so often will win no more ; therefore
they are distressed with apprehensions
that we are trying to deceive the people,
and warn them of their danger with great
unction. They catch and parade every
tale of outrage or mischief in the South,
every escapade of a political knight-errant
in the North, every speech of a dying lead
er of tke dead rebellion in which the ff'arae
of secession flickers like a remnant candle
in its socket, Mid ask you to judge from
them what the party will do, and not from
Thurman, Pendleton, Ranney, Morgan,
McCook, Ware, Hendricks, DooHttJe, Sox,
Hoffinan, Adams, the acknowledged lead
ers of the party, its State conventions and
its nearly unanimous press. Why, fellow
citizens, take all the boUVog teaders snd
papers la the Democratic party to-day, and
with the masses themere name of the great,
sincere Villandlgham has more power to
charm than they. Mr. Morton and Mr.
Sherman seem specially and even painfully
solicitous about the good faith of the Ohio
Democratic platform on the constitutional
amendments. They misjudge us, but pro
bably not intentionally. They recollect
how their pledges to the people fared—the
pledge of the Grittenden resolutions, on j
which we all won the war—the pledge to
re diem lhafl—fißillii Is 1
which they won the Senate—the pledge to
let each State regulate suffrage for itsen,
on which Grant won the Presidency. Mr.
Morton, two yea»**o.d«Hcniey alluded
to these violated pledges as » milestones on
a deserted road/ And Mr. Sherman in
his Ooiumbos speoch, says that the policy
of his party, built on broken fatth, has be
come " sanctified by success. Think of
it—“ sanctified by success.” It seems to
me a code not unlike this was taught by
the Florentine moralist, Nicholas Macbia
velli, the gentleman after whom, It is said,
the “ Old Nick ” was named. HU“ Prix»<».
however, has never been a favorite Demo
cratic text-book, and I think Mr. Morton
and Mr. Sherman are needlessly alarmed
lost the Democracy shall adopt their po
litical ethics.
THE KU KLUX LAW.
I would like very much to discuss the
differences between the two parties already
developed as to the construction and exe
cution of the amendments, and especially
to show how the Republican party, by a
flagrant misconstruction ol tbe Constitu
tion as il is, has assumed to confer on Gen.
Grant the power, whenever he thinks the
authorities of any State fail to give any
person or persons equal protection of the
laws, to suspend the privileges of the writ
of habeas corpus, stop the functions of the
civil government, and declare and wage
war on the people. This extraordinary
power is vested in Gen. Grant obviously to
enable him to re-elect himself and his party
next year, by controlling or breaking up
the elections in the Southern States with
the Federal army aud the black militia. —
He combines ail tbe qualities to make him
a fit instrument for such designs. He is
both ignorant and careless of the duties
and obligations of his high office—has pro
bably never read the Constitution, for it is
not published in the Army Regulations or
the Stud Book—is bold, unscrupulous,
ambitious, selfish, and as cruel and cold as
a bayonet. If he don’t use that law next
year with that purpose and effect, it will
be because the Northern people will shew
a returning sense of the value of constitu
tional liberty, or because the Ku Klux and
carpet-baggers combined can’t concoct
sufficiently plausible pretexts, or because
Horace Greeley beats him for the Republi
can nomination. Let us hope, for tbe hon
or of the country, that all these contin
gencies will happen! But the topics of
present interest and importance in Federal
politics are so numerous that I am obliged
to select a few for exclusive discussion.—
I shall, therefore, ask your attention only
to the finance and land policies of the Re
publican party, and their effect on the gene
ral welfare—to the position of the Demo
cratic party on these subjects, as shown by
the votes of the body of the party in Con
gress, and by tho Democratic platform in
Ohio—and to some of the characteristic
traits and -tendencies of these two parties
in the politics of the country.
THE DEBT AND THE CURRENCY.
Among the most important questions to
be considered in this campaign are those
affecting the management of the debt and
the currency. Before the war we had no
national currency, and comparatively no
national debt. The modes of managing
them were not topics of immediate Interest,
and therefore were 'little studied or dis
cussed by the journals and statesmen of the
country, and were not in the least under
stood by the people. During the war its
exigencies left the Government neither lime
to elaborate nor freedom to adopt such per
manent policy as wpultl be best for the
country, and when it ended our people
were burdened with a debt such as no na
tion but England ever created or carried
before. But the business of the country
was good, credit expanded, and production
large. If the Republican party had been
controlled in tbe interests of the masses it
would have thenceforth so shaped its legls
tion as not to check the general business of
the country, especially as a million and a
quarter of soldiers were just returning from
the field and seeking occupations In civil
life; so as to deal gently with the debtor
class, which comprises the mass of the men
of business in every community; and so as
to lighten, by every fair expedient and con
struction, the enormous public debt resting
on the masses who had borne the heat and
burden of the war. But no such just policy
was adopted. The bondholders, the na
tional bankers, and all the parvenues of the
war combined, had control of the Republi
can party, and through it managed legisla
tion so as to perpetuate the power of the
national banks, to increase the value of the
five-twenties by declaring them payable in
gold, and to enhance the relative value of
money and of all bonds, notes, and other
investments calling for fixed sums of money.
The effect of this system of finance is to in
crease enormously the public burdens, crip
ple the enterprising tl< bio class, and par
alyze the general business of the people.
We see, fellow-citizens, in these finance
measures, the chief cause not only of the
depression of industry generally, but also
of the wonderfully rapid aggregation of
wealth in the hands of a few and the gene
ral reduction of comfort of the many. For
every fortune of a hundred thousand ten
years ago, there are ten of a million now.—
Girard and Astor were pigmies to Vander
bilt and Drew. The old National Bank
and Nick Biddle were but a child with bis
“ miser box ” compared with Tom Scott
and the Pennsylvania Central. The enor
mous increase of fortunes is due to the fact
that Interest-paying and other subsidised
investments increase beyond the average
percent, of increase of wealth, and thns
rob tbe mass of both property and labor of
their due shares of the wealth they create.
Every large fortune is a snow-ball, which
gathers faster and lays bare a larger
breadth with every tarn. Because of every
million added to the wealth of Stewart, a
hundred families fall from comfort to want.
The undue gains of the rich at last come
chiefly from the poor. The burdens are
shifted from class to class, until they final
ly rest on the masses, who can escape them
only by sinking to pauperism. From the
evils these measures are Inflicting the peo
ple must have relief—and by political ac
tion—relief from tbe $17,800,000 annually
squandered as subsidy to the national
banks—relief from the greater part of the
$145,000,000 of interest snd exemptions an
nually borne en the five-twenty bonds—re
lief from a meagre and ill-regulated curren
cy, which steals for the idler* all tbe toll
ers earn, and paralyzes the industry it is
created to serve. To what party will you
look for thls reUef? Not to the Republi
can party!- This finance system, U theirs,
•ud they are proud of it. Mr. Sherman
boasted infcis Columbus speech that “the
financial condition of the country is the
.work of the Republican party.” The stock
holders of 1,700 national banks; the bond
holders; the men whoso money and seenri
.ties -have doubled through currency eon
traction ; the stockholders of gtaut corpora
tions, enriched and magnified by tariff
*»•**>* V* and 1 Sfe gen
erally leaders of the party, and, like Jay
Cooke, regard these measures, debt and all,
as “ national blessings.” This is natural.
Why. should they be discontented and seek
a change of finance measures ?
"Doth the wild are bray when he bath gnu?
Or ioweth the ox oyer Ms fodder?”
THE TARIFF.
The immense burden of taxes to pay
bank subsidies, and 9 per cent. Interest on
the bonded debt,'and especially the enor
mous interest on money which the currency
policy of the Republican party has estab
lished, have weighed down all prodnctlve
industries since the war, and crushed near
ly all except those beyond the reach of for
eign competition, or which have got a bo
nus for their work from the rest of the bur
dened people through the tariff. The Re
publican party baa by high Interest, lead
ing to high tariff, laid heavy burdens on the
whole people, and by the same act cot off
the products of* our shops from foreign
marirets, destroyed ship building end com
merce, saved half of onr manufactures only
by Destroying the other half, and degraded
the industry of the nation by making its
success depend on party and lobby schemes
instead of on the laws of nature and ths
movements of trade. Mr. Sherman, the
finance leader of the Republican party,
claims credit for this tariff policy in his
Columbus speech. He promises no reform;
his party promises none in their State plat
form. It has stood substantially as it now
Is since the close of the war; and it will so
stand substantially until the Republican
party is cast from power. On the other
hand, the Democracy of Ohio propose to
abolish all duties on the necessaries of life,
ss tea, coffee and sugar—to Jay all the du
ties lor revenue only and not protection,
putting as much of the burden as possible
on the luxuries of tbe rich, and as little as
possible on industries—and then, with re
duced government expenses, light debt bur
den, and, above all,light interest, our pros
trate Industries will revive and flourish in
competition with the commerce and manu
factures of the world.
LAND GRANTS.
A few words now on the land grant ques
tion, and lam done. Among the greatest
errors committed in national politics in the
past ten years has been the bestowal of pub
lic lands on private corporations. The first
Sant was to the Pacific Railway In 1862.
lore that year there had been bnt two
land grants made by tbe General Govern
ment for works of internal improvement,
and both these were made to States, not to
private corporations. Tbe need of a Pacific
Railroad was manifest at tbe outbreak of
the war. The grandeur of the idea, and
the absence of all reliable estimates of its
cost, magnified tbe supposed difficulties of
the undertaking. Both parties united to
give It a munificent land grant. Bat the
hole made for the cat was big enough for
ail the kittens—and hundreds of smaller
grants followed, until over 200,000,000 of
acres were given away up to the end of last
session—an area eight times as large as
Ohio. In all this century, the General Gov
ernment has sold and given away about
650,000,000 of acres; and it has left, exclud
ing Alaska, but 900, IKK), 000. Leave out the
Worthless lands of the mountains and
plains and it would be an extravagant esti
mate to put the rest at 650,000,000 of acres,
or as much as the Government has already
disposed of. This remainder is but sixteen
acres to each inhabitant of the United
States. It should be kept as a sacred trust
for the people, to be disposed of only by
gift in moderate quantities and values to
those who need it and will occupy it. Then
while any of it Is left the robbery of the
masses by nsury now going on cannot re
duce any large number of them outside of
the cities to pauperism. Though both par
ties united in the first Pacific grant, the
latter subsidies have been opposed by the
Democracy and carried through by the Re
publicans. Thus, the last Northern Pacific
grant received but 17 Democratic votes in
tbe House out of 107, and not one in the
Senate.
CONCLUSION.
I know well what answer the constella
tion of Republican orators, who will blaze
iu our skies on the 24th, will make to all
we say of the depression of industry and
the decay of property among the masses.
They will point to the two railroads push
ing to the Pacific, to the unexampled ex
tension of our railroad system in every
State, to the rows of palaces rising In our
cities, and the displays of wealth shining on
every hand. But these are evidences only
of the growth and concentration of capi
tal, not of the prosperity of the masses.—
To show their condition, ascertain how
steady is the employment of mechanics
aud laboring men, and what Is left of their
wages after tariffs and excises on all the
necessaries and common comforts of life
are taken out. Hear Commissioner Wells’
statements, based on official statistics, that
the masses live more poorly now than be
fore the war—that, notwithstanding the
increase of population, fewer shoes and
hats are worn now than then. Behold in
every city, east and west, tenement houses
standing vacant to tell how two families
are crowded by hard times Into the place
lately filled by one. See the million of only
half-employed men in New York and a
circuit of only fifty miles, of whom Horace
Greeley tells. Remember the wail that
went up out of Boston last year from the
8,000 sewing women in that small city who
starve in sight of her gorgeous palaces on
bnt one poor meal a day, and thus learn
“ How wide the span
Between a splendid snd s happy land.”
Fellow-citizens 1 It Is vain to ioak to the
Republican organization to arrest and
remedy the evils I have discussed. In this
contest the Democratic party is the sword
and buckler of the people. It has fought
every existing abuse, and tried to apply
every appropriate remedy. Though some
time controlled by slavery, and racked by
discord and war, it has kept the faith in
the people and free government which Jef
ferson, Its glorious apostle, taught. It rep
resents no faction, bnt the whole people;
no section, hat the whole country. It is
not a white man’s party or a black man’s
party, a poor man’s or a rich man’s, a
Christian’s or sn infidel’s party. It Is tbe
people’s party. It will trample on no man,
and give no man preference before the law.
It stands for the reserved rights of the peo
ple and the States, because liberty dwells
with them. It is jealous of every extension
of Federal power, because the path to con
solidation leads on to despotism. It fights
for equality against privilege, Democracy
against aristocracy, government by the
ballot against' government by the dollar
and the bayonet. It looks to the people,
and seeks direction and strength from
them, whence comes the inspiration of
every great reform. And it now especially
calls on the masses of the Republican aud
Labor Reform parties—tbe “ plain people,”
who are interested least in msre party
triumphs and most in sach measures of re
form as shall give to the workingman a
fair share of the wealth he creates, while
laying on him only a fair share share of the
just burdens of government, to help K over
throw the Republican party, ail of whose
policies to strengthen, exempt Jtad exalt
capital, and weaken, burden fid degrade
labor. '
English gossip stats* that on the 14th
Instant Queen Victoria i* to pay a brief
visit to the palace of Hotynod, In Scotland,
then she will go to Balmoral, and about
the 26th of Angust will visit the Duke and
Duchess of Argyll, at Inverary Castle,
whither she will be preceded by tbs Prin
otgg jfOnlw and tiif liMiwjf of iiorae.