Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1867-08-01
The Negro Suffrage Organ Justi-
fies Stealing from the SOldier, the
Widow and the Orphan. Because
tits a ssSavins, 10 the State.

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fies Stealing from the S0ldier, the
Widow and the Orphan. Because
it il n s'Saving'' 10 the State.
If THE STATESMAN thinks it can make
anything at it, 1t may devote three columns
daily, from now until the election, to prov
ing that the late Republican Legislature
did an unconstitutional thing in saving
near $l,000.000 to the Taxpayers of the
State in 1867. If it will agree to do so, we
shall advise the Republican committees to
circulate THE STATESMAN as a campaign
document.-Journal.
And this is the only defence the Journal
can make to the charge, made and proven,
that the Negro Suffrage majority in the
last Legislature, at the instigation OF the
Commissioner of the Sinking Fund, tilched
from the Soldiers Relief Fund over three
quarters of million dollars, raised by
taxes and solemnly pledged to the relief OF
the starving widows and orphans of the
dead soldiers and to the support of the
survivors, incapacitated by wounds from
earning living for themselves and fami-
lies.
/ The perpetrators of this grossest of out
RACES, violated the Constitution in divert
ing this fund from the one for which it as
raised, as in like manner they took from
the fund raised to school the children of
the State large amount to pay debts con-
tracted by the Fund Commissioners, for
what purpose the public are not informed.
This stealing from the MANNED soldier,
4 the widow and the orphan, and from the
school fund-for that is stealing, which
wrongfully takes-the Journal callsa "SdU-
ing near one million dollars to the tao payers
of the State during the last year. In like
manner the State could 'save" millions by
repudiating its honest debts. .-"saUe" by
employing men to rob the children of the
contribution collected for the poor and tor
the support of the Preacher: and ''sare''
thousands of dollars annually by abolish
ing the County Infirmaries and turning
the poor out to die; by selling the Insane,
the Deaf and Dumb and Blind Asylums,
and leaving the unfortunates to SHIFT for
themselves.
This kind OF 'sduiRg'' is robbery and
! none of the cases cited could be worse than
that which the Journal now attempts to
defend.
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unteered their services to defend, what
they were led to believe was, the integrity
of the Union, with the distinct understand
ing that their families were to be cared for
| in their absence and their little ones
! schooled. Those reft of limb, were in like
manner to receive decent support. These
promises were not fulfilled. The State, to
tI,air hrc TO fha
matter in hand, and the Legisla-
lature ordered a tax to be levied for their
support. This was done, and for time
these unfortunates bad the comforts of life.
The war ended-no more fears werefelt of
the draft, and then the tune, which was
formerly sung, in favor of the soldier,
chan ged. The money that supported the
MAIN ed veteran, and the wives and chill
dren of those who had fallen in battle, was
needed for. other purposes, although it
was raised for the widow and the orphan,
left houseless, homeless, helpless, and for
the MANNED veteran, as much as If it had
been paid over to them. Yet the majority
in the Legislature, at the instance of Audi
tor GOODMAN and Attorney Gener-
al WEST, seized upon the greater part of the
fund, leaving those for whose benefit it was
raised to starve or go into the county poor
house and there to eat the bread of charity
and be charac terized and known as
pGupers, and this, the Columbus Journal
"a paper that makes boast that it is par
excellence, the soldiers friend-calls
Saving to the State of over one million dol
10 T, inf lyac q
Saving of the amount of which he robs
his victim, and GIBSON made a saving of
nearly the same amount stolen from the
Soldiers Relief Fund, when he robbed the
State Treasury. The Grand Jury chat in
dicted-the Petit Jury that convicted him
of that theft, did not, it is true, view it in
that light, although the Abolition Court
that granted hima new trial and this same
A ttorney General WEST, that thus aided in
abstractipg from the Soldiers Relief Fund,
in setting GIBSON at liberty, by nolleing
the Indictment, might have taken the same
view of the matter that the journal now
does of this latest theft, holding GIBSON
guiltless, because he saved" for himself,
money belonging to the State.
In connection with this Saving" clause
of the Journals defense, we publish below
plank from the platform of the Conven-
ton which nominated this same Attorney
General WEST and his colleague, Auditor
of State GOODMAN, for reelection:
"5th. The American people ooe lasting
debt of gratitude to the braue soldiers and
sailors evlo in the late struggle for national
existence, so nobty fought for our liberties and
for the priUdtionS, SuGerings and sacrifices
lchieh they endured. and loyal men Of Ohio
THE WIDOWS AND ORPHANS OF
THOSE WHO FELL IN DEFENSE OF
THE NATION, OUR SYMPATHIES
AND SUBSTANTIAL SUPPORT"
The party from whose platform this res
olution is taken, for want of a better.
acknowledges the Journal to be its organ.
True it is, that the leaders, because of its
inefficiency and folly, are about to throw it
overheard, but until that is done, it is still
their organ. The Convention, after the
facts were known that the Commissioners
of the Sinking Fund had, in violation of
Constitutional law, siezed this $S00,000 OF
the Soldiers Relief Fund and appropriated
it for another and different purpose,
nominated both GOODMAN and WEST for re-
election. With this fact before the dele
gates, their resolve that 'the American pee
pie owe lasting debt of gratitude to the
soldiers and Sailors was but an acknowl-
edgement of an intention, by refusing pay
ment, to make the debt a perpetual one.
The pledge of the delegates to the Grip
pied and INDECENT soldiers land to the wild
ows and orphans of those who fell in de-
fense of the nation, of Substantial support" Z"
after they knew that the only substantial
support ever vouchsafed to them, had been