San Andreas independent., 1856-10-04
ADDRESS
Ikoo
To the Voters of Calaveras County.

10 the voters OF CalaverdS County.
We the Central Committee, chosen by the
miners of Calaveras county, respectfully submit
the following facts:
The two great National Parties of the county
have met in Convention and made their respec-
tive nominations, and that each party have lost
sight of the true principles that ought to actu-
ate a Convention in making nominations; that
they have been governed solely by personal and
sectional feelings, to the detriment of our
should be-fourishing county,
We hold to the old established doctrine, that
the office should seek the man, and not the man
the Office. We would furthermore represent
that both parties are alike deficient. In their
great desire for personal preferment and self
promotion, they have left a large and respectable
portion of the county without any representa-
tion whatever, and many of their candidates
are forced upon the voters, contrary to the wish
and will Of large majority of the two great
parties
This custom has been the result of the politi-
cal parties of this county, and of the effects OF
such political intriguing we now complain.
In calling your attention to the state of politi-
cal affairs in this State and County, we do not
expect to inform you of any new thing, but to
remind you of well known existing evils, and the
measures proposed to remedy them 1t is well
known to you that through all our political
history, the men who have filled our offices of
trust and emolument, have not been chosen
from among the laboring class of our citizens
And what has been the result? You all know,
that we have been plundered in the most bare
faced manner Our taxes have become enor-
nous, State and County are plunged in
debt, and we see no prospect of improvement
under the existing political organizations.
How long shall these things be? How long
shall the people of California be thus misruled
We answer that these things will go on as long
as the people leave the management of their
political affairs to political gamesters and wire
pullers, and as long as blind adhesion to party
makes them support regular nominees without
regard to their character.
We believe that the great heart of the people
is right, that they wish to see a better state of
things here among US, and feel confident if the
honest portion of the community would but
unite for this purpose, we should then have
honest men for our public servants.
We want men whose claim to Office is not
that they have served this party or that party
but men known to be honest, who will serve
the people and the whole people faithfully.
In order to attain this much desired object,
we invite the cordial cooperation of all honest,
well thinking men. We invite you to throw
off the shackles of blind obedience to party, to
be no longer controlled by few aspiring politi-
cal demagogues, but to think and act for your
selves as treemen.
We appeal to your sense of moral manliness,
to your love of country and to your pride of
country, that our State be no longer disgraced
as it has been heretofore. Now is the time to
act. Let the voice of the people be heard, and
let the people be represented by men of their
own choice. We call upon the miners to lay
down their picks and shovels, the farmers from
their ranches, and the business men from their
honest avocatons-to leave their labors for a
time and come to the rescue, for in us all power
emanates And if we have had bad rulers the
blame rebounds upon ourselves. Let US not
ask if he is a Democrat, or is he o Know Nothing
but our test shall be- is he honest, is he capable
and if he goes for the Union, regardless of con-
sequences
Let all who feel an interest in the welfare of
California, take hold of the work. Attend the
primary meetings, be sure you send honest men
to the County Convention, and give them such
instructions as will enable them to carry out
your wishes. We believe that the mass of the
people, are enlightened, as patriotic, as capa-
bic of governing themselves, as those who make
politics their trade.
We are aware that this movement will be
assaiIed by the leading politicians of all parties
They will use every artifce their fertile imagi-
nations can devise to check its progress. They
see in it the death blow of their fondly cherished
schemes. Full well they know that if the people
are awakened to act for themselves, their own
race is run, and that they can have leave to re-
tire.
We furthermore call upon the voters of the
several Precincts to hold primary meetings and
appoint Delegates to represent them in County
Convention, to be held in San Andreas on the
Second Saturday of October, A. D. 1856
F. G. MCDONALD,
President of Central Committee.
j. G. JORDAN, Secretary.
San Andreas, September 20, 1885,