The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-09-23
Character OF w. II. Sprague.

character OF WI SpraSue.
The Republican papers Of this,
the 18th District, recognizing the
lmpossibllIty of electing W. P.
Sprague to a seat in the next Con
gress on purely political issues
knowing that the Land Grabbing
and High Protective Tariff propen-
sites of the last Congress have be-
come obnoxious to the people; see
ing shat the voters are disposed TO
put a stop 90 National Legislation IN
favor of mOnopolies at the expense
OF the people; and having nothing
to promise the people IN the future
but a repetition of their truly OBJ
noxious course in case their party
is continued in pUwer-under these
circumstances, :hey have attempted
to divert the public mind from what
Mr.. Sprague Is pledged rs a Repub-
lIcan to do, in case be is elected, by
putting and blowing about what they
call his 'unimpeachable character
tor honesty, integrity" &c.
That it is demanded by the peo-
pie almost universally, that the next
Congress shall be made up of men
of sterling integrity and honesty, is
Endoubted and, that it is rigL: that
only snch men should be elected is
conceded b. all who have :he inter-
ests of the country ut heart but,
our Republican cotemporarIes, III
recognizing these facts, and making
personal character a main feature
of the campaign, have most certain
Iy made a very unfortunate blunder
for their candidate.
To Morgan County people, who
have known ". P. Sprague all his
life, who have watched and been
well acquainted with his whole bu-
siness career, and who have had
every opportunity of knowing of his
reputation for honesty and integrity,
and amongst whom he can only
have a reputation for anything as
be has lived here all his life, the
fulsome praise he has received for
honesty, from the Republican Press
of this District is amusing. Our
business men laugh at it, and won
der what newspaper men wouldn't
publish IN order to place their party
candidate favorably before the peO-
pie.
The truth is that while Mr..
Sprague has been an energetic and
successful business man, while he is
possessed of fair, probably superior,
business ability, while he is regard
ed as a sharp, shrewd. calculating
man, temperate IN his habits, and
gwen to none of the little wees
commonly INDUCED in; yet, with
all these merits conceded to him,
he has always been considered a
man whom those doing business
with HIM would do well to watch,
and has never been notorious for
his honesty. We're we disposed,
we could cite ease after case, where
men, of undoubted integrity In this
community, who now are and al
ways have been members of the
same political parties with MIR.
Sprague, have accused him openly
of deeds that savof more Of The
rascal than of the honest man. But
We are content to cease with giving
the mans general reputation here,
rather than to cite well known ca
ses which reflect rather injuriously
on his integrity. His character in
this community where he IS known,
is that of q grasping, avaricIous
man, determined to make money,
and not over-scrupulous as to the
means be employs to do so. Should
he be elected to Congress, of which
there is no probability. his whole
past life, as it is written IN the
memories of mel with whom he
has been doing business for the
past twenty years, justifies US In
saying, in the words of one Of cur
Republicans, when speaking OF him
(Sprague) recently, "theru will only
be one reason why he will not make
a large fortune out o. his position,
and that is that he will sell ont too
cheGp"
The Republican papers of this
District, have made q great mistake
IN attempting 10 run Sprague on his
reputation for honesty, and he can
hold them responsible for the ex
pose made IN this article. Had they
been content to run Mr.. Sprague as
a Republican, as one who endorsed
Land Grabbing, the Bond Swindles,
National Banks, and the High Pro-
t~ective Tariff SwindIes, and the cor
ruptions of the Lobby System, We
should not have deemed it our duty
to assume the unpleasant task of
writing and publishing this article.
NEW ADVERTISEMENTS.