The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1872-05-16
WHOLE No. 1875.

/
| longing to one set of them or another
set of them is at once made apparent,
and the obligations and propriety of
making a ease of this kind as broad
as citizenship, call upon every cit
| izen who has duty to perform, Il call
upon every man upon whom the Con-
| stitution and laws devolve, the duty
of seeing that the liberties of the
American people are perpetuated.
Applause si3
The speaker then cited as one OF the
| abuses which existed the tendency of
| the government TO consolidation, sink
! ing, not only the individual sovereignty
of the States, but sinking tn a meas
ure the individual manhood of the
citizens of the States. Applause. The
former, with which the federal gov
erument ia invested, is distinctly
marked out in the Constitution, and
are all of that general character that
! pertain to our relations to all as one
people, and a few general powers APP
| plicable alike to all parts of the conn
try and to the people of all the States.
1 A preacher was referred to who
comes down from the pulpit and car
ries on the rostrum whenever his par
ty gets in 2 tight place, and says he is
wiliSng to eoncede that the States have
rights, but the idea that the. States
have any sovereignty, is abhorrent to
all his sentiments. What is sOver-
eighty, and where does it reside? 1t
resides in neither the Federal nor
State governments. The people alone
arc sovereigns. Immense applause.l
Each political community known as a
State, composed of people, is the
! sovereign power of that State. 1t was
the right of the sovereign power of
| all the States to delegate just as much
as they saw fitlto the Stat government
and reserve from either, just what
they saw fit. [Applause-] i..t,5.
| The country was more in danger
from inordinate party spirit, that un-
godlY thirst for gain that is every
where manifest. The administration
through the great and immense inter-
ests in its hands and the enormous
funds at its disposal, was drawing
around itself all the foul spirits from
the four points of the compass. 1t
would have been consonant with The
| spirit of true statesmanship, after the
| expenses incurred by the war, to have
economical in the expenses of the
government, and although large re-
duction had been made in the public
debt the, government had in other
ways increased the debt ten fold, as
the publication of the forthcoming
census report would show, when COM
pairing the last ten years. The public
debt to-day was four times as great as
in 1860, including in that estimate the
Indebtedness of the federal govern
ment, of the States and of the munic-
| ipalities. The taxation in 1860 did
not exceed $7O,000,000, while to-day
it is little short of S700,000,OOO, dis
trlbuted in such an unequal manner
over the country as to completely and
utterly ruin the people of some sec
tions.
The carpet-bag element of the
South was depicted by the speaker in
no flattering terms, and made res
ponsible for the heavy burdens now
resting upon many of the Southern
| States, among which Louisiana was
cited as having debt of fifty millions
and North Carolina of sixty-four mil
lions. Corruption in its worst forms
was to be found in every department
of the federal government, of the
State governments and of the munic-
| ipal governments. Another and
most aggravated abuse, cropping out
of the thirst for power, had manifest
ed itself, and would continue to man.
1fest itself, in the action of the federal
government in respect to elections in
the several States. The speaker did
not wish to detract from the we'll
earned fame of General Grant, who
had shown great ability during the
war, but what he wanted, and what
the American people want, is that
when military men were called to
4 civil positions they shall have breadth
of beam enough to be soldiers in war
and citizens in time OF peace. We
have many excellent statesmen
of that kind of men, amongst
them the father of his country, who
did not, while at the White House,
get military family around him, and
quarter it on the treasury, and when
that failed or was insufficient to salts
fy the greed Of his officers, send them
off like birds IF passage te prey on
mercantile communities. The Faith
er of His Country knew how to man
age armies and lead them in the field,
with prudence and sagacity scarcely
ever equaIled by military men, but he
| also knew when peace had come to
bow his head to civil. power, and lay
down his sword and his emoluments.
; [ Applause.] IL General Jackson was
also cited as successful military man
who did not bring in military power
in executing the duties of civil office,
and General Harrison, whose ashes
lie near Cincinnati, was to be admired
in the same connection. Grant seemed
to regard his whole administration
duties as military business, yet a
| strong contrast was drawn between
what Grant was doing and what
| Washington and Jackson would and
did do. General Grant had got into
q rut and had not breadth of beam or
strength enough to get out of the rut.
The administratian people would
have to get him out and suppress the
corruptionists. Applause. ra
Corrupt Senators also received the
speakers attention. He cited a lead
ing Republican Governor of the east
who had openlyproclaimed of know
ing of a Senetor from that region
having expended 100000 to secure
election. Two other Senators now
sitting in Congress had similarly pur-
chased their places, and such fact
was known to the Senate. a Senator
! AiOii w AoSOAoSHNHSAAy touAlOt GU WIN
| Democrats to secure votes. enough to
secure his election, giving to two can
didates of that party for the House of
Representatives, certificates of cleo
| ton, although they were thousands in
the minority. Mr.. Sumner, a man
perfectly honest in all the relations
! of private life, was deprived of the
Craftsmanship of the Committee on
Foreign Relations. through, admins
tratioh influence, which put in his
place an old senator from Pennsylva-
MIA who had not "a well spot on his
whole carcass. I'D Laughter and ap-
plause.] Who was as clearlysconvict-
ed of paying money TO secure his
place in that body as any culprit was
ever convicted at the Old Bailey
These things were mentionedi i'm order
that the delegates might have q little
appreciation of the need that honest
men should come toaether and mod.
- ~ 4. A = A q.