Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-08-01
No Imitation IN the Democratic
Platform.
Differences About the Currency
Should hot Divide the
Party.
Let the Question be Settled by
the National Convention.
A Terrible Arrangement of the
Party of 0Iisrule.


vass here this.sfternoon. He was intro
duced by Col. B. Burns in a ten minutes
speech, the noticeable feature of which was
a very dattering allusion TO ex-Goy. HAYES
and very little mention Of Gov. Allen. The
meeting Wasismall, the attendance not ex-
ceediDg eight hundred. Mr.. Thurman
said:
Mr.. President and Fellow Citizens: We
are at the commencement of political
campaign Of more than usual importance.
Two years ago the Democracy carried
Ohio by small majority. That victory
preserved the organization of the party and
made other Democratic victories possible.
/ II was the foTerunner of the more extended
! triumphS that have since been achieved.
Last year a tidal wave, as it has been
called, passed over the Republic. More
/ than twenty States, from the most power
/ full 10 the smallest Of our commonwealth,
! recorded their condemnation Of the party
in power. New YOrB, whose wealth and
/ population have conferred upon her the
name Of ''The Empire State" gave an OPP
| position majority Of over fifty thousand.
1 Georgia, called the Empire State of the
! South, did better yet, giving majority of
/ over sixty thousand. Pennsy lvania, for
/ the first time in many years, Yindicated
! her ancient renOWn as the keystone of the
/ Democratic arch. Indiana ceased to be a
/ doubtful State, and rolled up a Democratic
/ majority Of twenty-three thousand. And
/ cur own Ohio spoke with no uncertain
/ voice, our majority on the State ticket be
| ing seventeen thousand, and on the Con
| greSsiOnal tickets nearly twenty-seven
| thousand. These may serve as illustrations
/ Of the emphasis with which the people,
| nine months AGO, set the seal Of their CON
] demnstion upon Radical misrJIle. But no
! illustration would be complete that omit
| ted the most significant and unlocked for
I result Of all. Massachusetts, old Massa-
| chusetts-as firmly welded to the Repub-
| lican party, as men supposed, as is Plymouth
Rock bound % the earth in which it Is i'm
! bedded-cast of, for a time at least, her
| Radical shackles, and placed a sterling, IN
] hinching Democrat at the head Of her
/ government,
The results of these elections filed the
Radical leaders with dismav; but no party
ever yet voluntarily surrendered power, and
/ it was, therefore, in the natural order Of
| events that'these leaders should earnestly
strive to recover the ground they had lost.
/ Hence, from the first day of the late session
/ Of Congress to the last, they seemed to'bave
! but one object in yiew-.tO gather together
| their scattered hosts and consolidate them,
! as in former yeaIS, in a resistless phalanX.
| Upon almost every question Of public inn
! pOuance, party interest was preferred to
| the interest Of the people. The most i'm
| pOrtaUt measures were matured in the Sc
cret recesses Of a caucus, and the con-
| sciences of members stifled by party de-
/ Crees. When a measure thus cOncoCted BY
| party, and in the interest of party, was
! brought from the caucus into the Senate or
| the House, we more than once saw its sup
! pOrlers refrain fTOI1 discussion lest their
! jarring views might disturb theiF harmony,
/ and vote down all amendments, however
/ proper, il obedience to the caucus decree.
/ In a word, during that whole session the
| question with the majority seemed TO be,
not " What is best for tie Republic?" but
| " What Is necessary to save the Republican
| paTty?' Was constitutional government
! OYeTJhTOWn in Louisiana by Federal BAY
| Ouels, the Radical leaders sought to divert
attention from the outrage by iufammaiOry
| h2raugues against the South. Did the ad-
! vOCates of a sound currency petition Con-
| gress to take some step looking 10 a restora-
| ton of specie payments, and, on the other
! steDtOrian voice for . more paper money!
the Radical leaders, hearing both and fear
| ing both, avoided all public discussion, and
| burying themselves in the ssecret precincts
| Of the caucus, there contriFed party bed
to hold in its ample embraces Sherman,
| Morrill, and ConEIing, with their hard
money platform, and Morton, Logan and
Ferry, with their imitation balloon, And
nh 81
| ture was brought out into open day, we be-
he'd the strange phenomenon Of a
| ball entitled "a bill to provide
for the resumption Of specie pay
ments," that contained not single effective
! provision for that purpose; a bill declaring
/ that resumption shall take place on the first
! day Of January, 1879, without providing, in
| any wise manner, one dollar in coin with
| which to effect that resumption.
! No wonder that the Radical leaders de-
/ Clined to discuss that bill. No wonder
/ that The chairman Of the committee that
| reported it declined to explain il. No Won
/ der that he left its ambiguous provisions
| without Interpretation, when 10 publicly
/ interpret them one way would have driven
! of the Tesumptionisis from its support, and
/ ID interpret them another way would have
/ brought the whole swarm Of iufatiOnists
! about his ears. And so the bill was passed:
l not as a financial measure, not as a thing
/ in which any one believed, but simply as q
! caucus compromise Of conflicting opinions,
| a political stickingplaSter 10 hold the OPP
| posing wings Of the Radical party together,
an adjournment of the currency question,
| SO far as the Radicals are concerned, until
| after the next Presidential election. And
/ now the very men who made that COM
| promise, the very men who agreed 10 keep
! their opinions in allegiance for two years to
! come, the very authors and perpetrators of
| that sham in finance and trick in politics
| Will, have no doubt, be heard saving to
! the haTd-mOuey Democrats Of Ohio. "HOT
| can YOU support the Democratic ticket
| nominated by a convention that adopted a
soft-mOney platforms" GLOW can You thus
! prefer party to principle, and desert one of
] the oldest and most time-hOnOred CanOns
| of your political creed?' "HOW can YOU
abandon the faith of Jefiels son, Jackson and
| Benton, and become followers Of Wendell
! Phillips, Benjemin +. Butler and William
/ d. Keley?D >"You we're not wont, in
| times past, to speak Of these men with IN
/ common respect. If We remember cor
rectlv, YOU called Phillips a fanatic, Butler
lover Of other peoples spoons, and kel-
lev maniac on the subject of pig-iron.
Pray tell is what miracle has been per
1 formed by which this trinity Of tanaticisms,
| spoons aud pig-irOn have become the imam
cal prophets and leaders Of the Ohio
Democracy"
say, my hard-money friends Of Rich
land, that have no doubt that these ques-
tiOns will be put 70 us, these sarcasms
uttered against US, by the very comprO-
misers who last winter enacted the finan-
Cial sham of which / have spoken. And
Therefore, and because such questiors have
already been asked by others, but above
all, from a sense Of duty that owe 70 my
self and to the Democrats who think as
dc on the currency issue, propose to notice
these taunts o. cur adverSaTies, and give
reasons that, in my Judgment, are amply
sufficient for our justification, nay, that
make it our imperative duty to support oUl
ticket, hCwever much We dislike some
plankS in the platform, and the omission Ct
Others that we think should have been in It,
\ on, my fellow Democrats Of RIchland
] aHHHnr HInH1H III