Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-08-20
SENATOR BOOTH.
A Large and Enthusi-
astic Meeting.
A PhiIosOphic Speech ON
Party Reform.

George L. Gibbs, Esq, CHAIRMAN OF
the Independent County Central Com
mittee, who read the following list of
officers:
President, Col, James G. Howard;
Presidents, Hon. Prudent Beau
dry, c. w. Bush, J. G. Nichols, VIM.
R. Olden, John Fisher, L. J. Lockhart,
Major Horace Bell, Major Henry
Hancock, James F. Ward, J. s. Slau-
son, Hon. A. J. King, w. r. Standi-
fer, DIR. N. P. Richardson, VIM. Fer
guson, Romulo Pico. H. G. Wiley, B.
S. Bryant, Robert Houston and G. E.
Huber.
The nominations were unanimously
confirmed and President Howard ad-
dressed the crowd as follows:
We have assembled, citizens, to lis
ten to our late Governor and present
Senator. You are familiar with his
political history. You know of his
transcendant literary and oratorical
ability. 1t is my pleasure to intro
duce to you Senator Newton Booth.
Senator Booth was received with
enthusiasm and spoke as follows:
Mr.. President and Fellow Citizens:
After the very fiattering introduction
I have received, l am very much
afraid the war will not come mp to the
proclamation. A few weeks ago while
travelling up North, 1 lost my voice. 1
told the people up the re I would like
to have it returned, as it was of no use
to anyone but the owner. have not
heard from it, and only hope it is still
talking for the Independent ticket
away up among the Sierra Nevadas.
/ am very much afraid your friend
and my friend, Gov. Pacheco, has
been taken suddenly i'll. He has been
advised by his physician to take i'm
mediate and continued rest. He
should recover for us, the people. His
presence in a political campaign is as
effective as Napoleon's presence on
battle field. No one ever met PachecO
but liked him. He was one of Gods
noblest works-an honest man. 1t Is
unnecessary for me to speak of the
head of our ticket, Gen. Bidwell. He
has been in your midst and you have
seen and heard him. His presence
was hardly necessary to refute the
charges brought against him. He has
lived in your midst more than thirty
years. He came here when this cOun-
try was a waste. He belongs to the
type that represents the American
citizen. We haven't any carpet-bag-
gers at the head of our ticket, for one
of them has lived in the State more
than thirty-five years, and the
other was born on the soil.
My own strength tonight would pre-
vent me making any attempt at ora
torical display even if l was capable of
making 1T. desire to speak tonight
as neighbor to neighbor. Do not i'm
agine that the triumph of the In
dependent party will inaugurate
millennium and when the returns come
IN that we will be clothed in white
robes, with harps in our hands ready
for an ascension. Progress to this
point will be slow and t0ilsome.
Even the christian religion, with its
stamp of divinity, and being over two
two thousand years of age, has
scarcely begun its work. A party
either leads in the right direction or
the wrong direction. The old parties,
the Republicans and Democrats, do
not reach the necessary condition for
progress, but obstruct it. The line
which divides these parties has long
been settled by events and for all time,
and is now as obsolete as the Mis-
souri, compromise or Kansas-N Nebras-
ka bill. Republican institutions are
always on trial in some form. The
danger to our Republican institutions
now Is from fraud and corruption. l
do not suppose that human nature is
worse now than in the days of our
fathers, but opportunities for plunder
are increased. The temptation now is
much stronger. They lived when the
Government was comparatively poor,
we live when there is great oppOrtu-
nifty for becoming rich, realizing the
truth that where the carrion is the
crows will gather. Instances of p0-
litical corruption accumulate. We
can point to the Tammany ring, the
Washington ring, the San Francisco
Harbor commissioners; our assessors
office in San Francisco, which was a
den of thieves, where bribes were
taken to shift the taxes from
the rich to those of moderate
circumstances. The Federal Cavern
ment has been disgraced by the Credit
Mobilier, Pacific Mail and hundreds of
other frauds. These are only the bOils
on the surface that tell of the diseased
blood within. The blood of the nation
is diseased and mere partizanship is
unable to supply the remedy. Unless
the American people apply the remedy
the disease will soon be beyond rem
edy. In politics we have too much
specific remedy and too little general
treatment. We want to organize the
public conscience into public opinion
and place the standard high. Under
our Republican form we are subject to
many forms of despotism. Our Re.
publican institutions are threatened
with a danger most insidious because
not open. l refer to the tyranny of
party discipline. What we are work
ing for is q triumph of the people. The
triumph of the Independent party will
be the triumph of the people. 1t will
90 forth louder than the voice of many
waters that the people have triumph
ed, that their will shall be the law of
the land.
y
Mems votes are controlled by their
wants, their necessities and their per-
sonal interests. Politics have become
so debased that it is customary for the
politician to go to the manufacturer
and ask him how many men he can