The Athens post. [volume] (Athens, Tenn.) 1848-1917, 1874-10-09
Repudiation---Gen. Stokes.

ctokS put III an appearance ahd claim
ed tn, attention of the audience. Gen
Stokes is Republican-dycd In thu
woodland double struck in the woof-a,
everi man, woman aud child IN the
State knows, and is running as an indie.
pendent candidate for Congress. lie
commenced by saying that hc had nc
war 10 make upon the gentlemen who
preceded him. They were the cham.
piops of their respective parties, label
edwi!h nominations he was an indie.
pendent Candidate, aud he did not be.
live party nomination added one jot
o. title TO mans fitness or capacity FOR
dice. lie had policy and platform
d his own, about which he had thought
and studied for some time, and which be
mw proposed to enuncatc aud advo-
cite with whatever ability and power
ht possessed. In regard to the civil
rights bill he had only this 10 say--he
hid been the friend of the negro, and
hid 8dvocated every measure in his be.
half; but he was opposed to the civil
rights bill, and warned his audience
tlat the passage of that bill into law
would lead TO riots, bloodshed aud a
var of races, in which the negro would
lie destroyed and annihiated. But civil
lights was not tho great question. There
vas Dark and ominous cloud rising, "a
earful storm gathering in the distance,
whose low ramblings could even now
be heard, and the day was not far oil
when it would burst upon the country
with the fury of tornado aud shake
the land from the center all round to
the SEA. The people were thinking ana
would soon begin to talk. Indeed, the
low wash Of tho waves could already
be heard. A debt Of two thousand
five hundred millions of dollars had
been ssddled upon the country by the
exigenccs Of the war, and the frauds,
pecuations and corruptions growing
out Of II. Much of this was due in
the shape Of gold-bearing bonds which
the holders had obtained at half price,
and upon which they had already real
ized full value. The debt was simpl,
enormous; fgures would hardly emu
meratc it; if mans life was Icngtn-
ened to five hundred years he could not
count the debt dollar by dollar in all
that time. No government known TO
history had ever paid q great debt con-
tracted in carrying on an internal war,
and no sane man expects ours ever to
be paid, either in time or eternity. YOu
can't pay IL, exclaimed the General with
tremendous emphasis. 1t is grinding
you 10 dust and powder, the taxpayer
is going round day by day, crying, like
the daughter Of The horse-ieech, give"
"givew and this without any apprecia-
Bile reduction of the burden. 1t is not
your State and county tax that is eating
up your substance and impoveriahing
your children. II is that enormous Ma
tional Debt in the hands OF the bond
holder that is grinding you to the earth
l have said you can't pay II, and now /
ask, what are you going to do about 1t z
III tell you, continued the General,
what propose. | am for taking the
bull square by the horns, and wiping
out the whole thing. REPUDIATiNG 1T J
That's the word; that's my policy, and
you, the people, will have TO come TO it
sooner or later, or in few years all the
lands and wealth Of the country will be
in the hands Of the few, as IN some Eu-
ropean countries now. Some people
scare nightly at that word REPuDIA-
ToN, and talk loudly about paying and
maintaining tbe faith and integrity Of
the government. But reputation Is no
new thing. Our forefathcrs repud!ated
the debt incurred in the war Of Inde-
pcndence, ard the present Federal gov
ernment has been practicing repudia.
tion OH large scale ever since the late
war. 1t wiped out the institution Of
slavery without dollars compensa-
ton, though it was surrounded and pro-
tected by special constitutional provis-
ions. Its armies and officers swept the
South from CHE end 10 the other of
grain, cotton, horses, mules, cattle, hogs
sheep, turkeys, chickens, bed.Quilts aud
household and kitchen furniture. The
government repudiates all claims for
these, though the Constitution express
ly provides that no mans property
shall be taken for public purposes or use
without compensate, ,eSeasiS%, said the
General, I am for wiping ontS the ma
tional debt incurred in this business, or
OF demanding Of the Federal govern
ment fair and equitable settlement on
tho plain proposition Of you pay me,
and III nav yop."