The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1867-10-24
Republican i principle adopted by the

CENT Every pension Of eight dollars pei
month which tho government pays tt
tie widows and orphans of those "whe
died that the milton might live," would
become worth to them less than one
dollar month. Every little hoard Of
savings would become as valueless as il
tre had consumed it. The measure
would strike at the substance Of the
poor-and at the poor alone: Those
controlling large means, taking the
alarm, would hastily convert them into
the necessaries Of life-food aud cloth.
'ns-and hold at their mercy those
whose revenues would soon be exhaust
ed. Prices are high now, gold is at a
premium because our currency is Of too
great volume. For the same reason prices
in 1 the South became SO greatduriug the
war that the poor could not subsist.
Such is the Inevitable result of an ex-
pansion of. the currency beyond the
necessities Of trade.
We experienced it at once, and only
escaped it because. We funded in these
securities that very surplus which the
Democratic party now propose to create.
The South experienced it to the bitter
end, and did not escape its evils because
their Democratic statesmen did not
fund this surplus. The policy would
leave the North in the midst of pro-
found peace precisely where we found
the South at the close of the war;
Hundreds Of millions Of dollars in
these bonds are held in Europe. Do
the Democracy expect to compel these
holders to exchange their bonds, con-
tanning definite promise to pay at
some time, for worthless currency
never payable so far as its terms are
concerned? Or do they mean to in
vite a foreign war on the result of re-
pudiation =! Again, the Pacific Rail-
road, the crowning physical achieve
ment Of man in any age, depends for
its construction upon United States
bonds issued to its corporatora for every
mile of the road built. Yet the De-
mocracy strike fatal blow at this en-
terprise whose successful development
will within twenty years so increase the
resources Of the nation as to alleviate
by one half the burden of taxation
which the present wealth OF the country
endures and prospers under at the same
time. The Democracy Of Minnesota
declare themselves in their platform
las opposed to the so called recon.
struction measures Of the Thirty Ninth
and Fortieth Congresses" They are
undoubtedly opposed to them all and
yet among those. measures Of recon-
struction is the amendment proposed to
the Constitution of the United States,
that no person who, having taken an
oath Of Office to support the United
States, and afterwards engaged in re-
bellion, shall hold Office. Against this
am eodment the Democracy Of Minne-
sofa recorded themselves.
Another amendment proposed by the
Thirty Ninth and Fortieth Congresses
as condition of reconstruction is that
one declaring that the validity of tho
public debt, including debts Incurred
for payment of pensions and bounties
for services in suppressiug insurrection
and rebellion, shall not be questioned ;
aud that the United States or any State
shall not assume or pay any debt or OBJ
legation incurred in aid Of iosarrection
or rebellion, or any claim for loss or
emancipation Of any slave. Yet the
Democracy Of Minnesota are opposed to
this "so-celled" measure of reconstruc.
ton! They propose to submit to the
chances Of party ascendaucy the power
to repudiate the debt-to repudiate the
obligation TO pay pensions allow
the Southern interest, should it ever
again become dominant, to saddle the
Confederate war debt upon the United
States, and, to cap the climax Of party
proAigacy, to allow them to add to this
eno' nous mountain Of obligation the
pt wer to pay four thousand millions Of
dollars, the estimated value of the for.
mer slave property.
The Democracy Of Minnesota, repre-.
scnted on their State ticket by men oi
whom not one ever drew a sword o,
levelcd musket against the rebellion
declare themselves in their platform a.
opposed to universal suffrage. The
Republican party of this State claims
that any man, white or black, who wa.
called upon to fight for the preservation
Of his country derives from that very
fact the right to cast his vote upon
questions where the interests of all cit
izcns are identical. We claim that nj
man car be protected BY the ballot o.
any person save himself We are op
posed to those invidious class distinc
tions which have been the destruction
Of all free governments. Such = dis
tinction, pushed to its consequences
was the occasion of the rebellion. .Sucl
a distinction retained will be fruitful o
catast'ophes more dangerous than tha
! which We so narrowly escaped. We be
lieve that there is duty as binding up
on peoples as upon persons, to do Jus
tice that nation who can do justic
and does not do it will pay a penal.,
: proportiouate to the injustice done, an
D thut every month Of its denial will b
fruitful Of years Of retribution. W