The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1870-02-04
REPUDIATION-
GREAT SPEECH OF MR.. MUNGES, or OHIO.
IFrom tho Daily Globe. Washington, D. c., Do
cemhor l7th.l

having under consideration the Presl-
dents Message, Mr.. Mungen, of Ohio,
obtained the floor and said:
tMr. Chairman, for the statements
I am about to make and tho course of
policy which / believe ought to be
pursued by us in regard TO q portion
of our public debt, and for the reasons
and arguments I shall bring forward
in support of my views on these ques-
tions, wish no party or man to be
held responsible but myself. I shall
attempt to give my own views, con-
densed as much .as possible, having
only one hour to speak on the ques-
hons mentioned, acting rs an individ-
ual member of this House and respon-
sible only to the Almighty under the
oath have taken, and to the hard
working constituency have the honor
to represent ON this floor.
The President of the United States
In his recent message has marked out
his line of financial policy, which, in
my humble opinion, very respectfully
stated, is just such line rs the bond
holders and national bankers would
have recommended if committee of
their ablest and most unscrupulous
men were to express their views on the
financial condition of the country, and
mark out a course by which they could
most successfully fleece the people
Judging from certain accent money
transactions in the city of New York
and Washington city, am not much
astonished that our excellent President
has taken the course he did. He is
now going to stop such affairs, he says.
When man has satisfied his hunger
he feels for the time that he will not
want any more to eat. The issue is
now fairly made up the message has
settled and defined it. The plain Is
sue, stripped of all verbiage, is the
|subiugation of the people by the mon
led power of the nation, or the re-
pudiation of the bonded debt. The
message IS before the people, and I
cannot spare time to quote from it.
Having carefully and anxiously
watched the course pursued by the
leaders of the Republican party, and
the nature and character OF
their congressional legislation, / have
come to the deliberate conclusion that
they have but two objects in view, but
two things to accomplish, but two
motives which govern and control
them. The message but strengthens
my belief ON this point The first and
paramount of these is to keep the
Radical party in power; the second is
how to get all the money possible of
the people without provoking resist
ance. The latter is now called states
manship by some. The President and
Mr. Boutwell,, his Secretary of the
Treasury, boast that they have collect
ed more revenue since they have been
in Office than was collected in the nine
months preceding. They might as
well say they have been more success
full in robbing the people. I have
sought In vain through the statutes
and the resolutions passed by the last
few Congresses, all largely Republi-
can, and the late message of the Pres
ident, and can discover no other mo-
hyes underlying them. One or the
other of the two, either in direct or
indirect form, is at the bottom of all
their legislation. The good of the
masses OF the people is lost sight of
OF ignored, while every successive act
of Legislation, and the recent recon-
mendations of the Executive, serve
but to bind and rivet the chains of
slavery more tightly upon the people.
The American people have been made
slaves by Republican Legislation.
Professor Walker, in his work entitled
the Science of Wealth, page 361, de-
fines slave to be ZONE who does not
enjoy the fruits of his labor further
than to preserve his efficiency. It is
little matter In what VIZ this is
brought about, whether by 1awless vi
olence or legal exactions, the result is
tie same" There is no doubt about
the correctness of the Professors state
ment, or the fact that the people are
slaves IN the sense In which he uses
the term. In this view of the case,
who is not a slave In all our broad
land? Who enjoys the fruits of his
labor? Who is not robbed by the tax
gatherers? Who is a freeman except
the bond-holder, who is exempted
from State and municipal taxation p
He is the aristocratic lord of his nu-
merous vassals, and they are the la
boring and producing classes, the
children of toll whose muscles and
sweat and labor are coined into gold
to pay interest on the bonds, In O ma
iority of cases fraudulently obtained
by the lordly bond-holder.
Webster defines the noun ssslave" to
be sta person who is held in bondage
to another, a drudge, one who labors
like slave, &c. Are not the Ameri-
can people held in bondage? Frank
lin said s'the debtor is the slave of the
creditor" This being true, they are
all slaves to the bond-holders. What
difference to them whether held In
bondage to the bcnd-hoIders through
the Intervention of Congress, OF
whether they are 80 held directly,
without congressional Intervention
IF the bond-holders had to visit their
victims, the taxpayers, in person, and
exact the payment of their gold inter
est, how long would the people sub
NIT to such thing? Yet that would
be better, If it could be done, for il
would do away with the swarms oi
assessors and their deputies, collectors
and their assistants, and spies, detec-
tiyes and all the tens of thousands ol
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