Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-07-16
THE INDEPENDENT MOVEMENT.
Speech of Gov. Palmer at the Illinois
Independent Reform Convention.

nlh hhSADEI>I udpptueu III III Uu6
door just now, and L have no informa-
ton as to the stale of your business. 1
suppose that you, gentlemen, have as
sembled herefor practical purposes, and
would not be anxious for speeches that
would interfere with your work, mas
much as L understand that it is an as
semblage of workingmen, and not talk
ing men. Indeed, it occurs to me, Mr..
President, that the issues your conven-
ton propose to make before the coun-
try do not require row very much ex-
PLANTATION. / suppose this convention of
farmers, from different portions of this
State, have assembled here, already
convinced that the present political
parties have accomplished their work,
and that they exist hereafter as mere
political partnerships, for the distribu-
ton of the offices of the country
amongst those who apparently have the
largest amount of stock upon joint
stock basis. Cheers. I suppose those
parties, whatever may have been their
value at one time, when they were CON-
binations of free men that were organ
lied for the accomplishment of practical
purposes, day live on their own past.
They have no present duties, and have
no future expectations. CHEERS. 1t is
said by writer's on politics that parties
are an essential condition of liberty. 1
accept that as true. Parties, when
rightly understood, are combinations
of men who agree upon questions that
affect the present hour. Parties have
no past they exist only for the pres-
ent and if they live for the past alone.
instead of being beneficial, they are
pernlcious. A dead party is like the
teeth of chiid-the quicker you pull
them out the better it is for the child.
The teeth perform an admirable Office
in the infancy of the child. They ac-
complish all that it wants; but they are
the teeth of the child, and must be ex-
tracted before the teeth of the man can
take their place. The political parties
to which many of us have been attached
have had work to do. All of us fought
earnestly and valiantly in the ranks of
those parties, when they had objects to
accomplish !; but the objects have been
accomplished. To-day, in Chicago,
there meets an assembly of venerable
men and women, known of old as the
Abolition party. They are talking of
the days that are gone of deeds that
were done in the days of the old under
ground railway, when slaves lodged
through this State as best they might,
by night. But, do those people ask any
of us to enlist In their ranks, and engage
in the service of the under
ground railroad? So it is that parties
organized in reference to events perish
when their objects are accomplished.
We have work to do to-day, and this
assemblage of farmers has to consider
their share of this work. In our past
struggles, and the measures that fol-
lowed the war, we neglect things
that were very important. During the
war we spent millions of dollars-some-
times million a day--and such ex-
penditure is habit not TO be overcome
in day, month or year. The ex-
penses of the country were altogether
beyond its resources, and there was
wastefulness on every hand. You, gen.
tlemen, soon discovered that while these
vast sums of money were being expend-
ed, it was your earnings that supplied
them. You found out, too, that while
the country had received no benefit, the
state of affairs had given fortunes to
some men; had created the great grain
monopolies that now lord it over the
country. While were putting down
slavery in the South, it was manifest
there was organizing in the North a
system that was almost as tyrannical as
slavery, and that, when we had accom-
plished the task of removing one evil,
the same principles operating in the
North called for equal resistance from
us. Cheers Gentlemen, whatever
may be the platform you may adopt,
whatever words you may write in the
platform, let me tell you that the great
end of your efforts, if you mean to serve
the country, is to resist the growth of
these powerful monopolies that threaten
the liberty of the whole republic.
Cheers. 1t is very easy to write out
such a platform. If you give me "a
hours can get you up platform in
sentences that will read beautifully !;
but don't care very much about what
are the words of your platform. 1t Is
the spirit, purpose, scope OF your or
ganization, that is to be regarded. 1t
is the results to be attained, the object
of the labors of this farmers organiza-
ton. There are virtues that are COM
mon to both public ana private life.
One of these virtues, the primary virtue,
that is at the root of both political and
social order. is that of honesty. Zap
plause. We have a sort of theory In
this country that a man may be honest
personally and a rogue politically. i
tell you that man who will steal po-
litically would steal privately, if he was
not faced by the penitentiary-[ cheers
and this people must be brought back
to principles of public and private in
tegrity.
Gentlemen, that brings up other
points, that it makes it important that
| you should look to the character of the
men whom you intrust with your COR
fidence. You know we used to say,
/" Principles, not men," Principles
and men is the true political doctrine.
Applause You may have the gospel
of the Redeemer preached by a man
who is thief, and there may be no in
jury to the Word but if these princi-
Piles are intrusted to dishonest men NO
good result can follow. Let the first