Los Angeles daily herald., 1875-08-08
DEMOCRATIC MEETING.
THE PEOPLE ASSEMBLE IN
MASS MEETING.
ELOQUENT ADDRESSES
FROM EMINENT DEM.
OcRATS.

The meeting last evening In front Of
the st. Charles was generous well
come to Mr.. Wigginton, the Demo-
cratic candidate for Congress. At an
early hour the neighborhood of the
meeting was crowded with spectators,
and all the surrounding doors, awnings
and windows, were occupied. Prompt
ly at eight o'clock Col. Smith, called
the meeting to order and presented
the following list of officers which was
unanimously confirmed by the meet
ing:
President, Hon. d. B. Wilson, Vice
Presidents, General G. HI. Stoneman,
Gov. .Jno. G. Downey, Hon. H. X. S.
O'Melveny, Hon. A. F. Coronel, Hon.
Il. d. Mott, Col. Geo. H. Smith, DIR.
Jno. S. Griffin, Col. E. M. Sanford,
Hon. Asa Ellis, Hon. J. w. Venable,
J. DeBarth Shorb, A. B. Caldwell, NJ.
J. Newmark, A. G. Chauvin, Wallace
Woodwork, E. III. Workman, Don
Pedro GARLIC, Don Francisco Palo-
mares, Don Tomas A. Sanchez, &. E.
Thorn, Oscar Gearge, w. H. Sturgeon,
DIR. Kurtz.
The President introduced Mr.. Wig
ginton as a good politician, an orator
and scholar.
Mr.. Wigginton addressed the audi
ence in effect as follows:
Mr.. President, ladies, gentlemen
and fellow-citizens of Los Angeles: 1t
is with mingled feelings of surprise
and pleasure that meet you Oh this
OCCASION. / am pleased to meet my
friends, particularly my Democratic
friends. l am in no condition for
speech making, having been travel
ling for weeks, speaking every night.
| am almost worn out by my overland
trip, and nothing but necessity COM
pels my appearance here tonight.
Under this Republican form of Gov
ernment, it is necessary that candi-
dates should appear befure the people
or should not be here. 1t was a
custom of those good old times when
we were better people and when pol
itics were pure, to discuss the issues
of the day Jointly. That custom
should prevail to-day. tis positive
disadvantage to the people that these
joint political discussions have fallen
into disuse. 1t existed to a great ex-
tent prior to the war. Many of you
remember the great discussion be-
tween VIM. H. Seward and Martin
Van Buren,, in the State of New York.
Polk and Jones canvassed the State of
Tennessee together. Most of you re-
member that contest of giants in Illi-
nois,. when Abraham Lincoln and
Stephen A. Douglas canvassed the
State for the United States Senate. II
this was a good old custom before the
war, it should prevail now. 1t is bet
ter for all parties that it should be
continued. have done all In my
power to resuscitate it by challeng-
Ing my opponent to meet me on the
stump. He was pleased to state in
his speech here that l had delayed the
challenge until all his engagements
were made. will now state the facts
and show whether he is correct. vvnru
he was nominated, said l would
challenge him. 1t was published and
telegraphed, and must have met his
eye. Not more than five days after
his nomination, / went to the Occi.
dental Hotel in San Francisco to see
him and challenge him to the contest:
Not finding him there, 1 telegraphed
to my friend Ryland of San
Jose, q neighbor of his, to pre-
sent the challenge to him. and
received for an answer that his APP
polntlnents had all been fixed by the
Republican Genital Committee and
that it was out of his power to change
the programme. Nearly three weeks
ago 1 visited San Jose, to find him
gone to San Francisco, aud when
reached San Francisco found he had
returned to san Jose. Bear with me
until read you a copy of the letter |
then sent him. Here the speaker read
a copy of his challenge to Mr.. Hough-
ton, sent July 20, 1875 What was
his answer? He positively refused to
accept-not because he was not my
equal in oratory but because he could
not defend his record in Congress.
After he refused to meet me in debate
/ have right to examine his record.
Having attempted to answer my in
quiry here, there are yet many things
on which he remained silent. / recog-
l have nothing to say against him.
His record in Congress, however, is
public property, and it is our right to
examine it. have here official doc
uments showing his record, TO which
l will hereafter. allude. s-.....
%ts* So
AS a Democrat, standing by my
party, I am in favor of hard money. /
am opposed to paper money aud in
favor of return to a specie basis. l
am opposed to the system of imitation
indulged in at every money pressure.
On the question OF the inflation of the
currency find that there were six In
tiation propositions before Congress,
and Mr.. Houghton voted for five of
them and did not vote on the sixth.
He claims to have voted for certain
propositions that contracted the cur
rency, but the record shows that he
voted for imitation five times and failed
to vote on imitation once. How did he
acquit himself on the haek-pay or sal
ary grab? The whole people were ex-
asperated against Congress for that
act. When the American people were
asked to re-elect these salary -grabbers
only four of them were returned. One
member, Republican from Pennsyl-
vania, who was formerly elected by
5000 majority, was defeated after the
salary grab by over 1000 majority.
The Press of the country was almost
unanimously against it. The people
were united against it. Finally at the
ballot box they repudiated it almost
entirely. Mr.. Houghton not only
voted for it, but held the spoils.
He said In his speech here that the
sum was so small that there should he
nothing said about it, but the people
look at the principal involved and not
the pitiful sum. When the guest ion