The Jeffersonian. [volume] (Stroudsburg, Pa.) 1853-1911, 1875-07-29
Address of the State Committee.

To the Republicans Of Pennsylvania
The political campaign upon which we
are entering is one of more than ordinary
importance, and we therefore invoke your
hearty cooperation in our efforts to press
the claims of the Republican party to pub
lie confidence and support.
The success of that party is essential, In
our judgment, to the prosperity of the
State, to the perpetuity of the Union, and
to the performance of the principles upon
which the Government is founded.
The control of the administration of State
affairs fell into Republican hands in 1861,
and we point with pride to the record of
that control The State debt has been re-
duced from forty millions to twenty three
millions of dollars the State taxes upon real
estate and upon the personal property en-
ployed in agricultural pursuits have been
repealed the resources of the State have
been developed the admirable school sys-
TEN, which distinguishes our Common
wealth, has been fostered and strengthened;
the orphans of her brave soldiers who fell
in the war have been fed, clothed, educated
and fitted for active life and the varied
interests of the people have been protected
and encouraged.
Under no previous administration has
the State been so uniformly prosperous and
well cared for and the slight experience
which people had last winter of one branch
of the Legislature under Democratic con-
troll may we'll lead them to the conviction
that they have everything to lose and moth
ing to gain by a change in the administra-
ton of public affairs.
The candidates for State Offices presented
by the Republican party are in every way
worthy of public confidence and of hearty
support Governor Hartranft, during his six
years service as Auditor General earned a
very high character as public officer, and
his administration of the Executive Depart
ment has won the respect and commenda-
ton of all, without distinction Of party.
Unfinching integrity, unbending honesty
and faithful attention to the duties Of his
office have characterized his administration
throughout, and certainly no Governor ever
more richly deserved a reelection.
Our candidate for State Treasurer is a
new man to public life, but one in whom is
combined all the qualifications of good
public officer. His capacity for the place
is admitted by all, and his well-kwown char
acter for integrity and business ability is
also concealed by his political opponents
Having, therefore, a State ticket strong
in all the elements that commend candidates
to public favor, platform of principles
which has challenged the admiration of Re
publicans throughout the country, and a
record of State administration to which we
can all look back with a pardonable pride
we are justified, as party, in claiming that
we have faithfully met our responsibilities
and that we are entitled to continuance
of public confidence.
Parties are worthy of support only so
long as they advance wise and patriotic
principles and promote the honest and eff
cient administration Of public affairs and as
the Republican party is entitled to the
credit of both, it Justly lays claim to YER
dict of popular approval.
There are many matters OF detail in
which the Republican party differs from
the Democratic but there is one radical
difference which, so long as it exists, will
render the existence of the Republican par
ty public necessity That difference con-
sists in the fact that the Republican party
believes that the United States form Ma
tion with all the functions of a National
Sovereignty, while the Democratic party
regards the Federal Government as a mere
league between the States, which are each,
in It's view, sovereign and independent
The Republicans believe in the indisso-
lubility of the Union of the States, whilst
the Democratic party believes that the Fed
eral Government has no power to protect
It's own existence or prevent any State from
asserting its independence.
This is difference which involves the
very life Of the Government When the re-
bellion broke out in 1861, while James
Buchanan was still in office as President.
he shrank appalled, from the duty of pre-
serving the Union intact, and yielded to
the advice of his Attorney General that
there was no power in the General Govern
ment to coerce State Had that rebellion
occurred at the beginning, instead of at the
close, of his administration, it would have
been at once successful. Under the Demo
cratic idea of State rights, Mr.. Buchanan
would have been compelled to let the South
ern States go.
With the prominence at present given
by the Democratic party to its one dis
tlnguishing doctrine Of State Sovereignty.
as opposed to that of National Sovereignty,
the advent of that party to power in the
nation would naturally bring with it the
danger of a second assertion of the right of
States to secede from the Union. Our
previous experience of the inability of the
Democratic party in power to attempt the
coercion ola rebellious State should certainly
be sufficient to teach the people the danger
OF entrusting the Government to hands too
weak or too unwilling to protect it.
Should it ever become necessary here
after, to assert the power of the General
Government to promote the public welfare,
In any matter of genral concern as. for