Fayette County herald. [volume] (Washington [Washington Court House], Fayette County, O. [Ohio]) 1860-1???, 1874-10-01

during the previous decade. In spite
OF the enormous cost of that same
war, both in money and in muscle,
our lines of completed railways have
increased from 81, 600 miles, at the
close OF 1861, to almost 1000 at the
close of 1873. One iron track spans
the continent; others are projected,
and more or less advanced in con-
struction. That vast region between
the Rocky Mountain range and the
Sierra Nevadas, which was almost
unknown in 1851, is now traVersed by
highways in every direction, and its
geography is as familiar to our chill
dren as the geography of New Eng
land was to the children of 1861.
And here, within this very Republic,
which thirteen years ago the faith
less Democracy turned over to the
Republican party for burial, capital
has combined to construct more
the world possesses. Harbors and
rivers have been improved, and the
trade of our Western lakes and rivers
now employs a commercial marine
exceeding 1,200, 900 tons.
Enlarged facilities for trade have
swelled the volume of trade.
Two facts are sufficiently eloquent
of our national growth. First-The
six per cent. bonds issued in February.
1851, sold for ninety-four cents on the
dollar. The nation then owed but
sixty million dollars. The same
bonds sold in June, 1874, as high as
1921 cents on the dollar, in currency,
or fraction over 110in gold, although
the nation then owed two thousand
million dollars. SecOnd-The value
| of annual exports of domestic COM
mOdities increased from three hum
dred and seVenty-three millions in
| 1860 to six hundred and forty-nine
million in 1873, being an increase
during the period of two hundred and
seventy-six million dollars.
/ There are those bold enough to as
sert that the country is now governed
worse instead of better than formerly.
Some may be found weak enough to
| believe such assertions. But it re-
| quires a great deal of defamation to
prove that the day is cold when the
mercury stands at 98o in the shade.
The mercury won't lie. Men un-
! happily sometimes do. And it will
require great deal of rhetoric to
persuade this country that it is being
/
thirteen years has advanced it's credit
1 throughout the money markets of
the world fully thirty-three per cent,
and has nearly trebled its surplus
productions. lrss. -s
.- LAND POLICY.
But this is not all. Since the adj
vent of the Republican party the
finishing touches havesbeen given to
our land system. 1t was long ago
adjudged that a dollar and quarter
was a full equivalent for an acre of
the public domain. Accordingly that
was fixed as the minimum price.
That gave to the Government $500
for a quarter section of land. But
Republicanism adjudged that far
mer was worth more than $500, and
so it has rendered a homestead not
exceeding one hundred and sixty
acres to every head of family who
will make a farm upon it. And in
view of fact which no State can
afford to overlook, to wit: that suc-
cessful agriculture is the primal ne
cessity and grand inspiration of every
other industry, and that to be truly
| successful, agriculture, like every
other craft, should be learned, pros
| porous colleges have been endowed
/
| field culture may be reared from the
rank of craft to the dignity of a
science; to the grandeur even of an
art. +7f
But, as establishing the future land
policy of the Republican party, the
following resolution of the House of
Representatives is submitted:
.. ResozVed, That in the judgment
of this House the policy of granting
subsidies in public land to railroad
and other corporations ought to be
discontinued and that every con
sideration of public policy and equal
Justice to the whole people requires
that the public lands of the United
States should be held for the exclu-
sive purpose of securing homesteads
to actual settlers, under the home
stead and pre-emption laws, subject
to reasonable appropriations Of such
lands for educational purposes
THE UNION PRESERVED.
FelloW-citizens, when you COM
mitted the Union to the keeping of
the Republican party, it seemed on
the verge of dissolution. Many hoped
and some feared it had received an
incurable wound. We present the
Union to you to-day every whit
whole. The Republic is at peace
throughout all her borders she is at
peace with all the world. Her right
full authority is disputed nowhere !;
her opinions are respected every
where. She stands in the very van
guard of sovereign States. We chaI-
lenge history to produce another in
stance of a country raised from such
humiliation to such grandeur in so
| short time. And this transforms
tiOn has been wrought not merely
without the aid of the Democratic
party, but in spite of its utmost hos
tility. alaI I'D
THE OPPOSITION REVIEWED,
You have seen the shortcomings of
that party in administration. Its
faults in opposition have been still
more glaring. Perhaps they can be
forgiven for allowing the ship of
State to drift SO near the rocks. But
how can they be forgiven their strug-
| giles to prevent her from being
snatched from that peril? That
charity, which delights to think no
evil, may excuse their omission to
lift the country, upon the plea of in
competency. But not charity itself
can see anything but malignancy in
their persistent efforts to prevent the
country from being lifted. The
world does not resent, but rather
pities, the helpless crew under whose
seamanship Jesus. sailed for the coun-
try of the Gadarenes. 1t is plain
| they could not still the winds which
| threatened to sink the ship. But if
they had attempted, to throw the
Saviour overheard when he appeared
to rebuke those impious winds, the
world would have known no pity for
the crew. And that is the great
Democratic offense, which smells to
heaven; not that they did nothing for
the country, but that they fiercely
opposed everything that was done for
the country, 1t would not be quite