The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-09-11

all our varied industries, whether agri-
mechanical or manufacturing.
in all the arts of peace. the workers are
at once the source of our prosperity and
the safety of our power, for in this, as IN
every other free country, the nation lives
in the cottages and farm houses.
Now, what special claim has the Dem
ocratic party to the confidence and graft
tude of this class? 1t has only been
very few years since distinguished Lead
ers of that party openly proclaimed-not
only through their party organs, but in
the halls of your Congress, the peoples
national forum-that.' capital should own
labor" that men who toiled were the
the normal condition of laboring men,
black or white"
These inhuman and Internal theories
were boldly avowed by the Southern.
leaders OF that party everywhere and
never rebuked by the party or its North
ern leaders anywhere. But it did not
stop at mere theories. All its party power
for years was pressed into the service of
an aristocratic Institution, and it sought,
not only through peace, but by war itself,
to consign to unpaid and unending seryi-
tude four millions of the laborers of
America, and to make labor forever dis
honorable in 100000 square miles of
American soil
But it stopped not even here. In 1860
the United States had one thousand mill
lion acres of unentered land. A home
stead bilr' was before Congress, by which
every free laborer and every mechanic in
the country could have home if ne
chose to occupy. For years the toiling
millions had asked that the public do
main be withheld from the land grab
speculation, and given to actual settlers
The National Democratic platforms of
1856 and 1860 had already fully indorsed
the policy of land grant to the Pacific
railroad. Leading Democratic Senators
denounced our laborers, mechanics and
farmers on the floor of Congress, as
greasy mechanics" and "small-fsted
farmers" 1t was the idea of the farm"
against the plantation" of the plough
holders against the aristocracy of the
labor owners And at the bidding of the
aristocratic masters of the Democracy it
was vetoed by Buchanan, your last DEM
ocratic President, on the 22d of June,
1860. But it became law by the act of
the first Republican Congress, and bears
the signature. the great name of him who
was the peoples friend and the nation
dehverer. 1t was the first national re-
cognition of the dignity of intelligent la
Dor, of homes as the nurseries of patriot
ism, and of building the nations great
ness on her hardy, free born, toiling but
intelligent millions. When all this has
been done the Democratic party over
flows in sympathy for the laboring classes
and demands that the public land shall
be "sacredly" reserved for actual settlers
From the very hour of its formation,
one of the fundamental ideas of the Re-
hoe Il
freedom of labor. 1t has always recog.
nized the individual and sacred manhood
of every child of the universal father, of
whatever class, color or condition. By
the triumph of these ideas the humblest
citizen stands equally with the highest
before the majesty of the nations law,
and under the shelter of the nations
power. No wonder then that the labor
ers of Europe, 100000 during the last
year, seek homes in this land, which
stands with open arms, extending from
either ocean, world wide welcome to all
races and all peoples to come and enjoy
all civil and political rights. all social
and educational privileges where there
are free homes for all; where schools are
open to all; where law is equal for all;
where power is in the hands of all; and
crowning glory. where the triumph of
Republican principles has swept away the
barbarisms of bondage-toil, wiped the
brand of degradation from the brow of
labor, making every worker freeman,
and laying the foundations of the nations
power deep and strong in the educational
advancement of every child, and in the
material prosperity and industrial eleva-
ton of its every son, of whatever color
or of whatever race.
Since the Democracy has been out of
power in the nation, one of its favorite
fears is that of Capitalization" For
nearly half a century the leaders of that
party have sought to exalt the individual
States by undermining our united ma
tionality. And yet when it held power,
at its demand and largely by its votes,
was passed law which more than any
one ever on our national statute books
broke down all the barriers of State
rights and State authority A law that
not only spread its machinery of commits
sioners and marshals into every free
State, but sought to degrade into active
assistance in slave hunting every freeman
of the North by fines and Imprisonment
Did any Democrat in Congress denounce
this as centralization? Did any party
paper assail it? The Democratic National
Convention of 1852 declared that it could
not be repealed with fidelity to the Con-
stitution. And can it be true that the
Constitution gives power to Congress and
the Executive arm to reach to the re-
motest corners of the Republic, to drag
back a fleeing human chattel into bond
age, and yet has no power to protect from
violence and murder free men who per-
lied their lives in its defense, and who
have no crime but their color or their
loyalty. And this, too, while we all claim
that even in the remotest sea or darkest
corner of the whole earth our flag shall
shelter and protect every human being
who calls himself by the proud sweet
name of American citizen" We would
only clothe the Government with power
to preserve its own life, that our Union
may be an indestructable, an unchanged
bic, humanity speaking. an immortal
thing, that it may have power to guard
the rights and the fame of all the States,
and without fear and without oppression,
hold out to all the peoples of the earth,
and in the other the symbol flag of right
full but reluctant power
There are many other questions. feI-
of public interest, but have
already detained you too long. The
practical question forces itself on every
citizen, to which of the political parties
can the interests of the country be most
safely entrusted? After sixteen years of
rule in the State, and twelve
in the nation, both the State and the ma
ton are prosperous, respected and DOW
erful, as never before. That party has
sought to restol the Union to It's ancient
and to their former purity the