Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1873-09-18
THE QUESTION OF THE DAY.

Tho Attempt of Great Aggregations of
Capital to Control the Government I'm
Their Own Interest-The Forms of the
Republic to be Retained, but Its Spirit
Destroyed-Aims OF the Railroad Mag
mates - Magnificence OF the Prize at
Stake.
EXTRACTS from the Great Speech of Gov Booth, of
California, at San Francisco
FELLow-cITIZENs The issues involved in
the political canvass of this year are peculiar,
and the conditions under which they are to be
decided anomalous in American history We
shall err, however, if we suppose these issues
and conditions are confned to California !;
they are common to the people of the United
States. Everywhere there is deep pervading
feeling that old things are passing away; that
the nation confronts new questions and diff
culties-that again the Sphinxs riddle is pro-
pounded to us. which we must read or be de-
stroyed. And yet when we come to consider
these questions closely we find them new in
deed i'll our history and new in FORM but in
substance and universal history they are As
old as history itself 1t Is a new phase of the
old. old contest between prerogative and per-
sonal freedom-between the power OF the
strong to take and the right OF each man to
his own. [Applause.l
PARTY TIES RELAXED.
In the presence of new dangers party ties
are relaxed. Where they bind together it is
political allegiance. From force of habit and
personal association, we look to our old pollti-
cal leaders and comrades for guidance and
crunsel; but pass along the street, take the
men as you meet them, listen to their frank
avowals. and you will find that the old party
discipline, which wont to marshal it's
hosts like coutending armies, is destroyed.
Gather together a representative, intelligent
assenblage like this composed of Republi-
cans and Democrats, poll it, and you will find
that on the living questions of the hour. where
there are differences of opinion, men no longer
differ as Democrats and Republicans, but as
men of independent convictions and those
who prefer to remain with old organizations
simply feel that for the present there is no
where else TO go, and hope to accomplish new
purposes with old forms. This is not a local.
but a general truth, and there is a general
feeling that warfare should cease whose
motive and meaning have gone.
REASONS FOR DIsINTEGRATIoN.
1t is natural under circumstances like these
that men who believe that political parties are
simply interpretations for the purpose of pay
ing salaries to directors and dividing offices
among stockholders, should begin to inquire,
What man hath done this z" and to look
about for some victim for their impotent
wrath. Sir, no man hath done it They
might as well seek for the hunter who built
his campfire on the upper Mississippi. 70 ac-
count for the ice-gorge that comes crashing
and grinding down in spring flood after ali
April thaw. There are moral forces in society
which can no more be controlled by conven-
tons and resolutions than the tempest can be
stayed by proclamation of peace. While par
ties sincerely represent differences of opinion
upon great and living political questions;
while they continue the outward embodiments
of principles, the representative of ideas !;
while they are forces moving openly TO the
accomplishment of given result--they never
err. may be wrong, but they will live. No de-
sertiOn of leaders, no betrayal of principles
can destroy them or perceptibly abate their
strength. When they cease to be these
things, and become "a pipe for Fortunes
finger to sound what stop she please" Oh, no
ship of Clay, the eloquence of Webster the
iron will of Jackson, the philosophical pre-
science of Jefferson, and the moral weight of
Washington. can hold them together. An
agreement of purpose-genuine- sincere-is
as necessary to their cohesion as is the law of
gravitation to hold the world in shape, or the
hidden force of life to keep corruption from
the corporal frame. [Applause.l
PARTIES NOT MANUFACTURED.
Nor can political parties be manufactured to
order by joining and dovetailing materials
upon given plan. If they have any value at
all they are living growths not mechanical
forms. In political as in ecclesiastical affairs,
the preaching of doctrine precedes orgsniza-
ton, and with the acceptance of doctrine the
organization arises. we can scarcely see how
or when. Yesterday it not, to-day it is.
Yesterday it was spirit diifusive as the air
and as impalpable; to-day it is strength incar-
nate-embodied power. You need have no
fear, my friends if your convictions arc deep.
sincere, and truthful, that they will not find
form, expression. and triumph. Where two
or three are gathered together for a good
oil pnalli inc sr1iri tnatO
directs, and conquers is also in their midst.
INEQUALITIES THAT RESULT FROM WAR.
There is no lesson enforced by history with
more emphasis than that one of the effects of
a great war. and especially civil war, upon a
republican government. is to create strong
tendency TO a Capitalization of power, to raise
up ruling class or governing man. There
are many philosophical reasons for this. One
is. that success in war depends largely upon
secrecy in council and unity IN action ; and the
thoughts of the people become habituated to
these conditions until that is tolerated as Gus
tom which was at first accepted a necessary
sacrifice. Another, that great vars generally
bring to the surface great leaders. Another.
and in our days a still more potent reason. lis
that war creates great social inequalities, by
affording opportunities for the accumulation
of gigantic and overshadowing fortunes; and
III our days money 10 power. L do not refer
now to the fortunes that are made Immediately
out of the operations of war. and the vast
Disbursements of armies: these. indeed. are
great, but they only feeders to the riches
realized by money-kings on. of the general
disturbance of financial laws and accepted
values. When gold. as measured by stand
ard fixed by the Government. for five years
fuctuates between par and $50, and all COM
merc;al prices are ahoat, unsettled. so that no
day, no hour, is a criterion for another. the
men of money, sense and instinct, the men of
GOODNESS. holiness, sagacity. and training, find
golden opportunities, and they who are eIni-
nent in these qualities make for themselves
thrones of gold. We sometimes see in show
windows cartoons of Before and After War"
If we could correctly represented the
social conditions of the whole country .before
and after the war;" we should realize what
vast increase there has been in the inequalities
of fortune, to which custom deadens our
sense. What was handsome independence
is now scarcely ticket into the upper gallery,
the third tier, of social life. Private fortunes
mount up into millions-in two cases approx
innate hundred millions-and corporations
control revenues which, few years ago. would
have sufficed for first-class kingdom. This
of itself would present great but iDsidious
danger to the Republic, for every student of
history knows that government is but the out
ward form of what society is the inward spirit.
To rrasarva roruhlic tlera rrst he ra,,-