Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1874-09-11
THE REBEL DEBT-INPEED {NG
DANGER.

tlOn Vi lOTelSu COuItcedus.
THE REBEL DEBT-INPESDfNG
DANGER.
Senator Sherman made the opening speech
in the Ohio campaign. In the course Of his
able remarks he called attention to the i'm
pending danger OF the assumption of the reb-
ell debt if the democrats gained control of the
country. His speech upon that point was so
important that we cannot forbear to copy.
Again l call your attention to the second
clause ofthe section of the Fourteenth Amend
ment lead by me. 1t provides that neither
the United States nor any State shall assume
to pay any debt or obligation in aid Of the re-
bellion, or any claim for the loss ofany slave.
This provision is also in constant danger of
violation. Claims have been assumed by
States under the control of the Democratic
Party which grew out of aid to the rebel
lion.
One of the dangers that now threaten our
future is the assumption by the General Gov
eminent, through the agency of the Demo
cratic Party, of an overwhelming mass of
claims growing out of the war. Heretofore,
| by the the careful watchfulness of the Repub-
| lcan Party in Congress, the payment of claims
| in the Confederate States has been confined
| to supplies furnished to cur army, and to such
| claims as by the well-tlefned laws of war a
beligerent ought to pay for supplies in an
| enemy's country. Even these are enoru Gus.
l read you statement recently made by
| Judge Lawrence, of Ohio:
"Some idea of the magnitude ofthese claims
may be had by the fact that the claims pre-
scented to the Commissioners of Claims reach
| S50033, 7G4. Those pending before
| e
which are test claims, which, if successful,
will be followed by very many millions more.
The judgments of the Court of Claims for the
| year 1873 amounted to S4S9,O34 The claims
| paid under relief acts by Congress for the
| same year were $751; 4S. cannot state the
amount paid on allowance ofthe Departments
but it was immense, and included 81 $780, 79
| for capture and abandoned property. Sena-
| tor Davis, in his speech of May Is, estimates
that all pending war claims before the depart
ments, the Commissioners of Claims, and
Congress number 30,252, aggregtaipg $685.
| 7,12l."
The vast..volume of claims might easily be
enlarged by the adoption of plausible rules SO
as to include several hundred millions of
dollars and thus add many of the losses suf-
fered by the rebels to the burden of our pub
lie debt. This the Democratic Party if in
power will be sure to do, for there has been
no case or class of cases that the Democratic
members do not vote for. A Democratic Con-
gress means a vast enlargement of the public
debt by the assumption OF rebel claims. This
is not fancful danger.
No, only is there danger of the National
Government being overburdened with debts
caused by the rebellion, but now daily the
actual services rendered and sacrifices suf-
tered by leading rebels are rewarded by the
~, L. =
the results of war, as in the case of Long
street and others, but as direct reward and
compensation for service rendered to the Con-
federate States, and as a mark of honor for
duty done. Persons without number have
been appointed and elected to Office in Dem
ocratic States, solely because they were ac-
tive, Jealous, and able officers and agents of
the Confederate States. Such service is al
most prequisite to office in some of the Dem
ocratic States. 1t may be said that the right
to vote produces all question of the reason for
vote; but when we are invited to join the
Democratic Party, we may well inquire into
the motives that inspire and the influence that
controls that party where it has full power.
1t sometimet, in the Northern States, adopts
resolution similar to that adopted by the
Democratic Convention in Indiana: That
we bear in grateful remembrance the sacri
fees made and the services rendered by the
gallant soldiers of the late war in defense of
the Unlon," but in great majority of the
Democratic States resolutions applauding the
services of the rebels against the Union would
be received with unbounded applause. The
animating and controlling motive of the Dem
ocratic Party is now, as il was during the war !,
either to apologize for or defend the rebels
who sought to overthrow the Union, and to
decry and undo what was done in defense of
the Union.
Fellow republicans, the true path of safety
and duty demands that We who have written
these guarantees upon the constitution and
the laws should stand together in hearty and
warm political association until all of them
are executed and enforced Until then the
mission of the republican party is not accom-
plished. We know that the republican party
will maintain ard enforce the rights guar
anteed by the constitutional amendments. 1t
VIII protect and shield the public faith from
dishonor and reputation 1t will prevent in
the future, as IN the past, the payment of
losses incurred by rebels during the war 1t
will not allow the burdens which the Confed-
crate States incurred by their rebellion to be
dumped upon the shoulders of loyal people
The results of the war-its achievements and
its honors-are the pride and glory of the re-
publican party, and it may be trusted with
every question that may hereafter grow out of
the war, while the democratic party will in
stnctively waste the fruits and fri,ter away
the results of the war"