The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1868-08-15

j
This question of standing army is
one of the mightiest that was ever pre-
sentcd to the people of the country. ]
sec some old men before me. You
know with what jealous care you were
instructed by the early fathers to avoid
standing armies located among you in
time of peace. Every free government
beneath the sun, that once was free, but
now il free no more, found its bane in
military organizations. They are neces-
sary in time Of war, but destructive in
time of peace. Every republic that rose
and fell, fell by that destroyer, and 4cne
other. Tho ambitious military chieftain,
finding an organized army at his com.
mand, overpowers an unarmed and unor.
ganized people. l do not say 1t will be
80 now. am not here TO denounce Gen.
eral Grant as the candidate of tho repub
lioan party. He stands upon his OWL
record. IF you find in that record civil
experience and craftsmanship, be it SO
| can not. But | am appealing to peo
pie who have the bill TO pay, who feed
tho treasury, and meet this question of q
standing army every time they meet the
tax gatherer. am appealing TO peo
pic jealous Of their rights and liberties
intelligent and educated, upon tho dan
gers that attend great standing army
located in any portion Of your country, tt
hold in abject scryitude the people d
that country.
But lot US 90 stop further, and set
what those people have done in the waJ
Of destruction. I have shown you that
they have destroyed the union, destroyed
our liberdeo, destroyed states, fastened 1
standing army upon you, feeding tha
standing army from your hard earned
taxes, without tho slightest excuse. Blu
they have done moro. Where now is th'
wealth that once adorned these southern
states7 You people living here upon tht
Ohio river, are deeply interested in thil
question. Not the valley of the Euphra
tes, nor the rich lands Of corn and win,
in Canaan, are % productive By natnr
AZ those lands Of the South that are nov
given up to the dusky barbarian, VIII
never built up country, and never will
Did ever such country exist to agricult
ural productiveness? Look at this LAM
that stretches from the Chesapeake to th
Rio Grande, its trade flowing along you
river, and with which you exchange com
modities. It ID rich, and tends to max
you so. The cotton crop, the sugar crop
tho rice, the tobacco Of the South in 1860
according to tho census, amounted t
more than ono thousand millions Of do
lars annually. From that mighty re1
onue was derived to the government, an
every dollar of that revenue thus derive
was dollars help to you to assist you i
bearing the burdens of the government
What do you see now7 Under the lee
islation Of this Congress, where is th
cotton of the South, where is her sugar
her rice, her productiveness that ono
filed the Golfers of your government
Where are the taxes that she Is able t
pay to tighten your burdeus7 Accordin
10 the estimates you have to pay the Gov
ernment five hundred millions of dollar
annually. No such taxation is know
anywhere else beneath the sun. VIII
should this fall upon the North? VIII
should this Southern country be renders
barren3 You have seen Its former pro
ductiyeness. Once the table of. export
and imports showed that she went beyon
the North in supporting the burdens G
the government, because the real wealt
of country always grows in the groun
there Is the scat OF empire and wealt
and agricultural glory. Il las bee
blasted by radical legislation, BY militar
despotism, by usurping powers upon tn
part of Congress unknown to the Const
tuition, undreamed Of by the trainers {
the federal government. But now, instea
OF hclp-mate, instead of a thrifty sistel
bringing her contributions and pourin
them into the lap of the government, alon
with you, she is like q poor, miserable
starved, disowned kinsman, without plac,
without wealth, withered, blghted, he
fields blasted, no cotton, no rice, no sugal
nc taxes, and whyI The land is ell thert
Just as rich as it once was the same rain
fall that once fell. The sun is there; th
same mighty country is there; yes, an
the same negro is there to work, that ono
was, but he don't work, and why? Bt
cause, while all the national wealth ths
once was there, is there still, the freeG
mans bureau has gone there too, Lar
plausel and the Union League has gon
there. The freedmen's bureau tells th
the negro: "Work no more. for on th
sweat Of the white mans face at Che mort
you may eat your bread you may worl
no more" [Applause. Some one, pei
haps, is ready to say that the reason tha
the wealth of the south has been destroy
cd, is because slavery has been Abolished
and consequently the slave power is d.
stroyed. But, my honest, old fashioned
abolitionist friend, where are you to-day
Once you told this people that slave labo
was curse to any country. You wer
told to just liberate the negro and he woul
produce tenfold what he did when he bt
longed to master; that he would wor
better FREQ than as slave-he piled u
the cotton bales, he made the great staple
of commerce, he sent the spinning whet
round and round in every mandatory i
the four-quarters of the globe, no fed tn
treasury, he sent into its Golfers strear
of revenue as deep and mighty as the cui
rent of the Mississippi itself, Allis gon
now. The black man is free. am nc
sorry. Let that go, but tho black ma
works not now. He worked while slave
and if he had been treated rightly h
would have worked the same or better q
freedman. But you send by law a
AGENCY among any people, white or black
like the freedmen's bureau, that tell
them they need not work, they shall nc
sfarve and o point will come that wi