The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1868-07-24
The ssRagged vigor'' of Senator Thur

The ssRugged vigor'' of Senator Thur
49, niRu.
Al Democratic contemporary praises the
& rugged wgor" OF the following passage in
speech by Thurman, Senator elect from Ohio:
EThis ambitious young Copperhead goes to
the store and proposes to buy eighteen yards
of muslin for which the merchant charges 81
How Is thls?' says young Copperhead. 81
used TO Duy eighteen yards of muslin for S."
Ii the merchant answered truthfully, he would
say '~AGls true We now charge you S4 for the
same quantity of muslin you used to buy tor
W fhe reason is this: There is a tax of three
cents pound on the raw cotton. The r,anu-
1acturer who buys must add this to the price
OF the manufactured article" Then Uncle
Sam comes to him and says: "Dear Mr.. Shod-
dy, bought shoes of you in Massachusetts,,
which lasted my soldiers only few days-you
sold me cloth to make them pantaloons, which
were not whole any longer after they had
stopped to drink water from the brook the
first time, must put a little tax on your bust
ness" Mr.. Shoddy puts that little tax on the
manufactured goods, and charges it on the
merchant. Then comes Uncle Sam to the
merchant and says: "My dear fellow, know
you are truly loyal, you must pay tax on
your sales" Or, it he is not truly loyal, so
much the more necessity that he shall pay,
and this is clapped on the price, and " hen the
young CoppelEead comes % buy his six shirts,
he finds three separate taxes on the goods
the taxes to pay. 1t is the laboring man. And
so he will have these taxes to pay until the
radical party is dead.
The rugged vigor" of Democratic speakers
means, then, simple, straightforward, inexeus-
able lying. The Hon. A. G. Thurman, III
making the above statements lied as grossly
and palpabIy as Gov. Seymour did when he
stated a few weeks ago that the current expen-
90 !, SiDcp tb VIZ boy hoo
eight million dollars, when three fourths of
thatsum was expended within one hundred
and seventy-four days after the close of the
war as the necessary expenses of the army and
navy during the acar.
In the briet paragraph we have quoted it can
be demonstrated that there are as many as five
or six statements that are either absolutely or
by necessary implication falsehoods.
The first of these rugged" falsehoods is that
there is tax on raw cotton. What eminent
qualifications for the United States Senate
Thurman must have-talking about a tax OF
three per cent. on raw cotton, when the tax of
t,cO and a half per cent. was repealed last
spring? i''
The second rugged" lie is the state ment
that the government taxes manufactures. In
obedience to the popular will Radical Con-
gress removed that tax many weeks ago, and
none of the revenue collected during the last
quarter of the fiscal year has been derived
from that source. A wonderfully valuable
Senator Mr.. Thurman will be, if he keeps him,
self no better informed than this! Ga.-.5
Lie number three is as gross as the two just
exposed, only not so boldly stated. The "ambi.
tious young Copperhead," we are asked to be-
lieve, suffers on account of an unjust dscrm-
nation between Radical and Democratic man.
ulacturers. Who is so stupid as to believe
this?f Q IItsT f-a .-a lrrY-e
Lie number four is the suggestion that the
taxes of the United States have in them any
thing peculiarly oppressive to the poor man
The " ambitious young Copperhead" will fiLd
that, the merchant of whom he buys his by
pothetical six shirts adds 10 their price the
taxes he pays to the State as " ell as those to
the government. -''''..'''-
Lie number five is the suggestion that the
difference between 81 and 50 for eighteen yards
of muslin measures the difference to him in
material prosperity between Radical and
Democratic times" Pray how much more per
day does the juvenile Copperhead receive fol
his labor in 1868 than in 1860? %
Number six we will not call lie, but only
one Of the most extravaganza fictions ever con-
ceived, beating Miss Braddon out and out.
Six shirts for young Copperhead! e