Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1870-08-18

errors and mistakes, it commands and
ought to command the confidence of the
Republican party. President Grant has
not done what would have done, but
yet he may think that heis a wiser man
than ever L was. Laughter Consid-
ering the situation n which he is placed
he has done what he considered the best,
and he has acted in accordance with the
pledge he gave in his inaugural. AS re-
spects the Congress of the United States
it has been severely criticised; it has not
suited some portion of our Union men,
yet say Notwithstanding all it's errors
and blunders, the House of Representa-
tives demands the confidence and the
cOmmendatiOn of the Union party.
What have they done? One year ago
there were four of the insurrectionary
States yet unrestored; now they have
been restored, and every star upon.our
banner now represents State in the
Union. To the Republicans you owe
this achievement. Congress has reduc-
ed the National debt. President Grant
compares brilliantly in this respect with
his predecessor. In the first sixteen
months of Grants administration he
collected some thirty millions more of
internal reveIuethan was collected by
Mr.. johnson in his administration.
About nineteen millions more were
collected in the first six months of
Grant t's!administration than in the last
six months of JohnsOn's. During John
sons administration but two millions
were paid III reduction of the public
des't. In the sixteen months of Grants
administration $40 900, 900 of the public
debt were paid, and in the same time no
increase of the subjects for which tax
was levied.
As respects the currency of the cOun-
try, you know how that has been re-
stored and strengthened, and what q
debt. of gratitude We owe 10 the MEM
bers of Congress who secured $40, ,000,-
600 of currency to the West and South.
1t was ours, we needed it and have got
ten it. To the last Congress we owe the
bill for funding the national debt, which
provides that the bonds which now hear
six per cent interest, may be funded at
four, and a-half, and five per cent, to be
paid in ten, fifteen and twenty years.
As we all know, there has been re-
duction upon articles upon which duties
are levied for revenue tariff l know,
az you know, there has been a diversity
of oninion EXPIRE -sed upon this subject,
but 1 say that the Union party of Ohio is
practically unit upon this subject of
the revenue tariff. GApplause.l We do
not foster the privileged class. We
struck down the monopoly of aristocra-
cY and all caste In striking down slave
ry. fApplause. And we are prepared
to strike down every monopoly. Zap
plause. I'VE cannot fix burden upon a
class OF people not shared by others.
The doctrines ofthe Republican party
is that the burdens of the Government
ought to be distributed equally over the
country, and that all the blessings.Of
God. like The rain and the sunshine of
heaven, ought,to fall on every man alike
[Applause.l
know that our opponents OF the
Democratic party expect to profit by
the difference of sentiment existing in
the Republican party. But there is no
difference of effort. What we ask for
the West is equal protection with the
East. What we want is a revenue TO be
collected from those articles which are
termed luxuries and enjoyed by the rich
and that the labor of the country and
the Iabofers of the country are to be pro-
tected by the government. Applause
So that say, my fellow citizens, prac-
tically there is no difference among us.
But l'may say while upon this subject,
that important notifications have been
made by the last Congress.
You have heard, perhaps, of pig-iron.
Laughter. That has been magnified
into gigantic scheme for the purpose
of depressing the people of the country.
But the Cor gress of the United States
has reduced the tariff upon pig iron and
they propose TO reduce the pig until
there can be seen neither tail or any
other part of it. GRenewed laughter]
What we desire, and what every hon.
est man desire, is, to obtain revenue
sufficient TO meet the expenses oil the
and to obtain it from those
sources by which the labor and the
laboring men of the country may be
protected from the capital and capital
lists of the country.
My fellow citizens, there is another
proud distinction of the Republican
party of Congress, and that consists in
this: That during the last year it eject
ed from Congress, and turned out the
changers and sellers of cadet
ships who were defiling the temple by
making dollars and cents out OF the
government of the country. The whit
temores and Gollidays had to be elected
by the Repuhliconiparty in Congress.
No other instance OF that kind haskoc-
Cured within my memory except at
the time when 1 belonged to Congress,
and then we spotted and branded.the |
who undertook to prevent !
principles to their own selfish and pri- |
vate puI poses. That is new thing in |
the Republican party and it will be a |
new thing entirely for the democratic |
party when they will turn any man out |
of power because he speculates and |
plumbers the public treasury.
Bnl, my fellow citizens, with all this, |
the Congress of the United States has |
not done what I desired, and what be-
lieve the people OF this country desired |
to be done. 1 regard that land grant to |
the Northern Pacific railroad as unwar-
ranted, unreasonable, and anti-Repub- |
lican. Those lands belong to the people. |
They are intended as homesteads for the |
people of this country. All the time |
was in Congress, and from that hour to |
this, l have been uniformly opposed to |
granting large bodies of the public lands
to large corporations, and allow them to /
enrich themselves at the expense of the |
poor man. [Applause.]
But my fellow citizens let it be said to |
the honor of the last Congress, that it |
has rejected all such schemes in the way |
of appropriations to steamboat lines and |
other corporations, and in that respect
the Congress of the United States de-
mands our commendation and conf
dence and we must stand by them
They stood by us in the hour of our dis |
aster. To them we owe our currency; |
to them we owe the supplies by which |
the brave men were enabled to fight our |
battles; to them we owe the Fifteenth |
by which we have fully in
scribed upon our banners universal free
dom for all. Renewed applause.
Now, my fellow citizens, all have to
say in conclusion is this: Stand by the |
principles of the Union party; forget all |
differences of opinions which may have |
controversy; cease all wrangling