The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1868-09-17


toms. there should be g unity Of government
and uniformity Of habits. Several Of their
leaders - Wade aud Thaddeus Stevens
among them-had called appeals to the con.
stitution the presence u a traitor and Pres.
ident Lincoln, in 1861, when presenting to
congress the ground upon which he had sus.
pended the writ of haJcIs corpus justified
breach Of one provision OF the constitution
in order that he might make other people
| obey another provision of the constitution.
Laughter and cheers. Not only did they
despise the constitution, but they had ylylat
ed it by robbiug the executive and the su.
preme court Of their powers, and concentrat,
| ing all power in their own single department
not only 80, but had abolished civil govern.
ment In ten states Of the Union, and estab
lished instead a military government more
| tyrannical than any AsiatiC despotism. The
state Of Alabama has been readmitted, 1.-THE
constitution Of which the people had rejeetedl
because the men who held Office under that
| constitution were republicans; but Mississip.
| ri, where a constitution had been similarly
forced upon the people, but where they had
taken the precaution TO elect democrats, was
| still excluded for that very reason. II the
republican party continued in power it would
not be long before they turned their power
against the northern states also, and as they
would not tolerate the exclusion of the ne.
gro from the ballotbox, so they would not
| tolerate,in Illinois, customs which its people
| thought innocent, but which the Puritans
| and Sabbatarians Of New England consider.
ed criminal.
Contrast the reconstruction theory Of
the republicans, with the simple declaration
| of the democrats. We want no reconstruc.
| ton; we only want restoration restor.
alton Of the Union, Of the constitution, of
| civil government, and Of all the rights of all
| the states. "Ihat is the doctrine Cheers. |
1t was said that If the democrats succeeded
TO power they would revive the war. They
! would have no need to do 50, for they would
have gained more by the ballot than ever
they could by the bullet. The only persons,
| therefore, to make war would be either the
negroes or the republican party but if any
! set Of men should talk OF war, because the
people Of the United States entrusted power
to the democratic party, they had better uni.
form themselves in winding sheets and dig
their graves. Cheers. r a.
1t was said there had been many rebels in
the New York convention. He wished
there had been more, because he believed,
as Gen. Grant said, that they had borne with
patience the result Of defeat and were pre-.
pared now to be loyal citizens, in peace as
| they had been brave enemies in war
! Cheers.
The republican government had been
| guilty of great extravaganza. They had in.
creased public debt Sl2,0O0,O0O within the
last month and, though it was said that
81 900, 900 went for the purchase of Alaska,
no account was given of the other $4,000.
600. The expenditure Of the government
was $l50,00OO 600 more than was levied on
Great Britain, and $2OO,OO0,00 million
more than was levied 90 France. It
amounted, during the last three years, to
more than S34 per head of the entire popu-
lation, and to more than One-tenth of the
entire property of the country. The debt Of
the United States amounted to SD per head
Of the whole population. England had &c.
cumuIatnd her large debt in the wars Of 200
years. America had accumulated hers in :
years. The republicans were in the habit
of saying that it was useless to talk Of this
TO laboring men because labor did not pay
|
4 voice That's 50. There were three
sources Of wealth. The miner who brought
the coal and lead, and iron, and silver from
the bowels Of the earth was n wealth produu,
crs. So was the farmer, who cultivated the
soil and made it bring forth things necessary
for the support Of human fife and so was
the man whose skill and labor fashioned
those products of the earth for the use Of
man. The Iaborer paid tax on every pound
Of tea, coffee, or sugar he consumed, and he
paid to his landlord the taxes the latter paid
on his house for the support of the state
The farmers Of Centralia were taxed for the
support of their state, their county, their
school district, and their roads, while the
bondholders, who enjoyed the advantages
for which the farmers we're taxed, paid none
at all. OF these bonds, that bear interest at
per cent. in gold, aud are exempt from
tax, $jOO,OO0,G00 comes due this year or
next The democratic party say they are
payable in greenbacks the republicans say
they are payable in gold. For his part, he
believed they were payable IN legal tender.
Laughter and cheers. The money that
was good enough for the payment Of wages
| Of labor was good enough as the wages Of
idlcness but the republicans said this was
reputation.
The first were the regulators republicans
themselves, who deprecated the currency
of the country and compelled every one who
had Il debt due to him in gold to accept an
equal number of dollars in greenbaeks rs
payment in full, and who turned round upon
the people and said, awe will depreoiate
these notes in your pocket still more; we
will say to the world that these notes,
though they are good enough for your labor,
are yet too bad to be paid to the bondhold.
ers." The democrats propose to redeem the
public debt and TO abolish the national
banks, and thus save $l8,000,0O0 annually,
and to relieve labor from many of the bur
dens now pressing upon it. The republi.
cans, themselves, by the funding bill, had
acknowledged that the $40 bonds were pay.
able in greenbacks. That bill provided that
they should be changed irto bonds payable
in gold, at per cent. Was it likely that
any one having bond payable in twenty
years, with interest in gold, at 6 per cent,
would exchange it for one payable at the
end of forty years with interest reduced 2
per cent ono" BY that funding bill,
if carried, $G00,OOO,OOO would be added in
stautIy to the public debt. If that debt
were paid to day in greenbacks, $l,500JOO,
600 would do it, Make it payable in gold
and IS cents would be added to every dol,
lar and 5000, 100000 altogether. If that
debt were funded, it would be burden up.
on the country like the debt of Great Brit.
ian, like that of France, or that Of Germany.
The result would be great estates and pal.
aces for those who owned the debt, and Roy.
erty and wretchedness for those who paid it,
luxury for the rich, and for the poor scarcity
OF clothing, poor food, brown bread, and
sometimes no meat. To extend the debt