Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1869-10-07
Mr.. LOughrldge's Speech.


On Monday evening, by appoint
ment of the State Committee, Hon.
VIM. Loughridge spoke in the Court
House here. The audience, though
very nearly filling the Hall, was
much smaller than it ought to have
been. Hon. T. Mcmillan was placed
in the Chair. Being introduced, Mr..
Loughridge eulogized our County
nominations as an excellent ticket Of
good and capable men. But the
main argument of the evening was,
comparing the two political parties,
to show that the Republican party
believes, with the Declaration of
Independence, that all men are born
free and equal, endowed by their
Creator with equal rights; and there
fore it is the party entitled to the
help and sympathy of all the poor
and oppressed everywhere; while on
the other hand the present Demo-
cratic party-not the old one, as it
was in the days of jefferson and
Jackson, but the present one, which
in 1854 was foreclOsed over under
mortgage to the Slave Power, and
has been its tool and slave ever since
the present Democratic party is
based on the idea that all men are
not born free and equal, but that the
rights of liberty, self-government,
&C., are mere privileges conferred at
pleasure by human governments,
and not given by the Creator as the
birth-right of every human being;
and hence that the Democratic party
is the friend of aristocracy, of the
rich, of the privileged classes.
This fundamental difference be-
tween the two parties is shown by
their respective actions. For ex-
ample:-Three times had Democratic
Congressman and Presidents defeated
bill to give land to States. in aid of
Agricultural Colleges, &C.; butamong
the firstacts of the Republican party,
when it came into power, was to pass
such bill; and now our State enjoys
the benefit of it. Some 25 years ago,
the Homestead idea was started
that a Government has no more right
to sell land to its needy citizens than
it has to sell water, but that 1t should
be free. IS or 20 years ago the DEM
ocrats put it into their platform-but
they never did anything with it,
never carried it, during all the years
they were in power. But in 1868,
when the Republican party gained
the majority in Congress, one of its
first acts was to pass the Homestead
law, giving to every citizen 100 acres
of land for home;-and James Bu-
chanan, the last Democratic Presi-
dent, vetoed that bill. So it laid for
two years, till in 1860 we elected
Abraham Lincoln; and then, the
very first thing, the Republican Con-
gress passed the Homestead bill
again, and Lincoln approved it, and
so it became law.
Then the speaker sketched the ca
reer of the Democratic party during
and after the rebellion, and showed
the inconsistency Of its platforms,
and the plainness of its sympathy
with the privileged classes Of the
South and against the poor man.
Then, illustrating the economy Of the
two parties, he showed how the Re-
publican government Of Iowa cost
the Statelast year but 500, 900; while
the Democratic government Of New
York City for the same time cost
b2O, ,0OO, ,OO0-forty times as much as
that Of the whole State Of Iowa!
Before the Democrats talk much
about honesty, let them bring back
The $6O, 900 Of School Fund In this
State that was stolen by Democrats,
ent to Democrats, and squandered
~ Democrats. And then let them