Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1874-12-18
The Duty Of the Hour.

lHB Duty bnc
At the present time, when so many
grave questions--questions of the most
vital importance to this nation-are be-
fore the people demanding solution, the
country expects, and has a right to ex5
pect, that every man shall do his duty.
And the first duty In the premises Of
every citizen capable of thinking at all
is to take living and practical interest
in the questions of the hour. No couny
try in the world has before it matters OF
such magnitude as the United States at
the present time. The reputation OF
her national debt is threatened by
party anxious for and sanguine of obtain
ing the control of the National Govern
ment Could it obtain power, there is
no guarantee that it would not destroy
our credit as nation, and put US in the
position Of bankrupts. If that debt be
not repudiated by the Democrats It VIII
be insisted that the people of the whole
country shall be taxed to pay the enor>
nous expenses incurred by the Confed@
crate States for the purpose OF destroy,
ing the Union; and thus, if not bank
rupted in one way, there is danger thae
we shall be in another The Democratic
imagination will be powerless to imagine
q filter way of clasping hands across the
bloody chasm than by piling the Confed-
crate on to the Union debt and paying
both by the taxation of those who fought
to save the Union and to crush out the
Confederacy.
Not only will the Democratic party il
it regain power be called upon by It's OLD
comrades in the ranks to pay of thS
Confederate debt, but, as we have al
ready pointed out repeatedly in these
~, ,,;r t1,o faxu n
indemnify them for the loss of their
slaves and for other losses during the
war. We cannot predict with certainty
that the Democratic party would listen
to their demands. There is a possibility,
however, that it should, and, where there
is so much at stake, that possibility
should be a sufficient reason why every
person who loves the credit and good
name of his country should oppose its
accession to power with all the energy
nature has endowed him and by all the
means at his command. Nor are these
the only issues. Our national finances
need regulating Our commercial inter.
ests demand that they shall be regulated
at the earliest moment. The party that
represents the intelligence and properly
of the country will be more likely TO give
that question the best solution. That
ertied and business classes very
largely makes it their interest to give
the currency question a speedy and just
solution. That they are the intelligent
classes of the community is guarantee
that they will find for the question the
best solution under the circumstances
in which we are placed. Next, there. is
the Southern question. The whites
have their rights. The colored popula-
tion have their rights. Both must be
respected The rights of the one
must not be sacrificed TO please
the other class. Tie security of
life and property in the South UIust be
guaranteed by just and equitable laws
The prosperity of the whole country de-
mands this. Under Democratic Govern
ment there would be no security for>llfe
in the South nor for property The col
ored population would be treated by the
Government as inferior beings. This
would inevitably rouse them to resist
ance, perhaps to deeds of violence and
bloodshed. What the South needs to-
day is a government that will be more
solicitous for the colored than for the
white man, because the white man can
take care of himself in most parts of the
Sodth. The negro cannot. Let the negro
be protected and there will be peace in the
South. Leave him unprotected, let him
feel himself an outcast, slave without
a master to feed and clothe him, but with
a thousand masters to kick and goad
him, and you can expect nothing but
lawlessness and bloodshed. If the South
ern business men and planters would
only think of this they would be less
anxious for Democratic Congress. The
Republican party alone can give security
q hty hlaRk
man. The Democratic party, by deny
ing him equal protection with the white,
will compel him to defend himself as
| best he can. The absence of security in
the South consequent ON the advent of
the Democratic party to power would
| keep it poor and react on the whole
country, for the wealth of the South is
part of our national wealth.
In view of all this, the duty of tn
citizen is plain The man who believes
in placing the payment of our national
debt beyond peradventure; who wishes
to oppose the possibility of the saddling
of the Confederate debt on the taxpay-
ers of the North; who is jealous of our
national credit and national honor; who
is anxious to see the currency question
settled in order that b ,,siness may not be
reduced to speculation and succession
of panics or quasi panics; who is deslr-
Gus to secure good government, peace,
and prosperity to the South, to whites
and blacks alike, has no option but to
join the Republican party and work with
and for it. The Republican party is not
perfect. No party is perfect. But 1t Is
infinitely better than the Democratic
party; and between the two every citi-
zen is compelled to choose. If there
were a better party than the Republican
party we should advise our readers tC
ioin it; but there is not and will not be
In the present condition of things, then
the duty of every citizen is to join the
better party. He must either do that or
do nothing; and to do nothing is equiva
| lent to working with the enemy. Party
organization is necessity. To with
, draw from party is to withdraw from thu
! life of the nation. 1t has been fashlona
BILE in a small circle of people lately t'
. speak of independence of party. Ther'
never was an Independent party. There
, never can be- There is room in thi
country but for two parties-the Demo
, cratic and Republican. Between the TIVE
every man must choose. The prepon
= derance of intelligence, wealth, honor
morality and loyalty to the nation ar
found with the Republican party. Thi
should be enough to decide the choice o
men with any pretensions to intelligence
morality and loyalty, as well as of thos
who look merely to the protection O
their material interests.
But the Republican party is eve
d more than we have claimed for 1t abov'
it John Stuart Mill says in his work o
l. Liberty; I'm politics it is almost con
IS monpace that party of order or stabi
n fty and party of progress or reform al
If both necessary elements OF a health
l. state of political life until the one or tn
n other shall have so enlarged its ment
e grasp as to be party equally of ordt
j. and ofpTogress, knowing and distinguish
rs ing what is fit to be preserved from VIII
le ought to be swept away" The Repub|
le can party is party of order and pro
O. ress. To it belongs the future of tn
ID country just as certainly as there is
le law of development that governs the p
is litical life of nations. The Democrat
is party has accomplished its mission, If
L. al