Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1876-11-10
The Great Danger Ahead.

Perhaps the most important issue of the
pending National election is one which
the Northern Democrats evade and the
Southern Confederates persistently ignore.
1t is the payment or non-payment to for
mer rebels OF losses growing out OF the
war. The purpose of reimbursing the
| South for its war losses has been charged
upon the Tilden party, and the charge is
sustained by the attitude of the combined
! South, the concession which its Northern
allies are ready to make TO attain control
of the offices, and the bills introduced at
| the last session of Congress covering a
| part of the ground. How has this charge
been metz BY an ominous silence on the
part of the South, and suspicious evasion
on the part of the Northern Democrats
We have yet to see in the records of any
| Confederate Convention, in the columns
OF any Confederate newspaper, or the re-
ports OF any Confederate stump-speeches
any frank, open and earnest disavowal of
the intention Such n disavowai could
not be made without endangering the
combined action of the sixteen Southern
States so confidently counted upon by the
| Democrats. The hope for the payment of
| Southern claims is the strong bond that
holds the South together as a compact,
sectional and political body. 1t is an in.
terest that spreads through all classes of
| society, and even reaches the ne
groes to some extent in that
| it promise more money, better
times and higher wages. Suppose
there were claims held against the Ma
| tional Government in the State of Illinois
amounting TO fifty millions of dollars,
divided among thousands of people in all
parts OF the State in large sums and small
and the payment of these claims de-
pended upon the success Of particular
political party-does any one think that
there would be the slightest difficulty in
carrying Illinois for that party or that
| candidate most likely to approve the pay
mcnt of such claims? But this is pre-
cisely the situation in the South. There
! are tens of thousands of people in the six
/ teen Southern States Of high and low de
! gree who have claims large and small for
| war losses, amounting in the aggregate to
not less than two thousand millions of
dollars, or more than the present National
debt: the Republican party has passed
| laws prohibiting the payment of claims
| for losses made by men who were disloyal
| to the Union what more natural than
! that the claimants, and their friends and
| AL who hope To benefit from the allow
! anCe, should continue to secure the eleva-
| ton to power of an opposition party from
whom different policy is awaited? This
| is what has been done, and this is why the
organs and spokesman of the Confederates
| at the South dare not, even for Northern
| effect, disavow the purpose of admitting
| these claims if the Tilden party shall
| come into power. To do so sincerely would
| be To tear away the bond that holds the
| South together in this political contest
| How is il a, the North? The charge is
met with ambiguity and evasion by the
! Northern allies of the Confederate claim
ants. First they tell us that the payment
of these claims is prohibited by the Con
| stitutional amendments. They know that
! this is not true. The only prohibition
made by the Fourteenth Amendment is
! the payment of "any debt or obligation
| incurred in aid of instruction or rebel
! lion against the United States, or any
other claim for the loss or emancipation
of any slave" This prohibition does not
! include the assumption by the National
| Government of the State debts of the vari-
| Gus bankrupt Southern States--a bin for
/ which, ingenious in its construction and
with ample margin for lobby expenses, is
/ in charge of ex- Coy. Walker, of Virginia,
now a member of Congress. 1t does not
! include the refunding of the cotton tax,
| amounting to sos .000, 600 besides the in
tereSt which has accrued thereon since the
| the tax was collected. 1t does not in
/ clude the hundreds of millions of dollars
of claims for the use and occupation of
/ property by the United States army-a
( bill for the allowance of which was intro
| duced by Mr.. Riddle. 1t docs not in
cludc the other hundreds of millions for
! the destruction of fences, the burning
Fof houses and towns, the stripping Of
corn fields, the foraging on pigs, and
chickens, and turkeys, and the loss of
crops inevitably incident 10 the progress
of large and successful armies in an enc
my's country-billS for which were also
introduced at the last session of Congress.
/ Thus hundreds of thousands of claims,
+ amounting to thousands of millions of
+ dollars, may be set up and allowed with
+ out any violation of The Constitutional
amendments But, say the Northern al
+ lies OF the Southern ConfgdeTates the Re
puhlCanS have allowed and paid war
losses, and why shouldn't we? The war
losses paid by the Republicans have been
claims recognized by international law
and approved by universal principles of
vguity-loSseS sustained by Union men
who suffered for their loyalty, losses from
Confederate raids, repayment 10 States of
moneys advanced 10 assist IN the prosecu-
ton of the war. reimbursement 10 loyal
men for supplies freely rendered to the
Union armies ON their march. But, in the
allowance of these claims the Repuhli-
cans have been sustained by law of their
own making, requiring positive proof be-
fore a Court of Claims of the loyalty as
we'll as the losses Of the claimants; this