Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1876-10-28
TO THE PEOPLE OF THE UNITED
UNIFIED.


you as patriots, as partakers with u
in the common destiny OF American
freedmen, upon the results of the Oc
tober State elections. We rejoice il
the victory which the peoples ballot
have bestowed upon the friend OF re
form, in the valley Of the Ohio wher,
the Republicans has had an over
whelming ascendency in every Presi
dental election since 1856. We rejoic,
in the assurance these elections conve.
that your ballots will bestow decisiY,
maiorities to the allied forces of De
mocracy and Reform in the Novembe
elections throughout the Union. Blu
we rejoice not as partisans we rejeict
with you as fellow-citlzens.
And when the decision OF this weel
of one million voters along the vale,
of the Ohio shall be ratified mex
month, by the fat Of eight million vo.
ters throughout the whole Republic
we shall still rejoice, chiefly for the
reason that not one of its citizens ear
miss of an equal share with us whoare
Democrats, Ia the political peace aud
good will which will then and there be
established among all sections, races
classes aud conditions of men, and in
the prosperity Of which political peace
based on equal rights and traternal
good will. lis the first condition.
Upon the three States of West Vir-
gini, Ohio and Indiana, were concen-
trated all the influence of the Admin
istration, all their efforts, and all the
vast sums of money forced from the
one hundred thousand office holders
of the party in power.
These were fearful odds, not again
to be contended against so concentra
ted; for iu the November elections the
contest will be in every Que of thirty
eight States upon the same day.
Nevertheless, against these odds the
Democrats aud Reformers of West
Virginia aud Indiana have been victo-
rious, and in Ohio they have all but
rescued State hitherto deemed hope
less, and have created an assurance
of victory in November.
fit falls to our lot as a National
Democratic Committee to congratulate
the people of the Union upon this VIC
tory in the first battle Of the reform
campaign, it is only because Democrats
have been honored TO be the leaders of
the people in the work of national re-
generation. ss,..
The victory WI, aAS6 tie victory still to
be won, will be deliverance as much
to Republicans as to Democrats.
The patriotic masses Of the Repub-
lican party may be thankful that the
mlsdeeds of their unworthy leaders
have been rebuked and are to be arrest
ed The suffering whites of the South
may lift up their heads to greet the
dawn of better day for them as well
as the nation at large. The colored
citizen may share the general joy that
he will soon cease to be the stock in
the trade of corrupt politicians. but
shall enjoy his rightful liberties and
his equality before the law amid uni
versal good will.
As for the Reform Democracy, to
whose standards victory has been tied,
with all her garlands on, it only re-
mains for thep, 10 welcome every ally,
every friend, close up the ranks and
press on, shoulder to shoulder, under
the banner and with the one watch
word,
REFORM.
Fellow citizens: Peace between all
sections Prosperity in all homes OF
these you have been for years deprived
by the mistaken solicitude of patriotic
Republicans, played upon by selfish
and corrupt leaders, who have kept
tanning the dying embers of civil strife
in order to escape inspection of the
trusts which they have betrayed.
For eleven years you have had the
name of peace. At no one time have
you had the substance Of peace. In
lieu thereof you have had the grind
ing taxation and wasteful expenditure
of war. just before every election
you have had the preaching of "a
new crusade against a section utterly
defeated in war, aud anxious only to
be completely reconoiled in peace.
For eleven years the power of the
men who have seized away the control
of their party from the hands Of its
statesmen and founders has been su-
preme in almost every department of
the Federal Government.
Discarding the hope of prolonging
their domination by benifcent public
measures, they have created and traf-
licked upon public calamities. The
policy they adopted has been worked
out. Its failure has been absolute.
In place Of past performances these
same corrupt and selfish leaders now
profer promises already broken as
their titles to further trust.
Having prostrated our manifold in
dustries by the vast aggregates aud the
worst methods of federal taxation,
they now again solicit your confidence
as in the instrument of retrenehment
and reform.
Havingdebauched the public service
and having just now, in the face ol
open day, assessed their army of a
hundred thousand Office holders-thc
peoples servants-paid by the people S
taxes-in order to creaue immense cor
ruption funds to frustrate the people s
will, they now profess to be the champ
ions of civil service reform Having
imposed upon the Southern States the
rapacity, fraud and plumber Of the car
pet-bag governments, having almost
ruined the prosperity of the North by
destroying the prosperity of the South
having created terror, uncertainty and
confusion In all the productive indus
tries ofthe South, which furnish most OF
the exports Of our whole country, keep
in motion the commerce and man
ufactories of the North and East, and
furnish a market for the agricultural
products of the West, they now pur.
pose, by renewal of the same fatal
policy, to prolong their own power ia
the hope of concealing their misdeeds
and for this purpose they do not hesi-
tate to renew the cry Of intolerance; tC
revive the dying memories of fraternel
strife, and to appeal to the fears and
prejudices of the timid and the ignor.
ant.
Fellow Citizens These men and
their measures have completely tried
and have completely failed. An op-
pressive taxation, an nexhausted South,
an impoverished North, a huctuating
currency, the enterprise of an indus
trious people locked fast in the paraly.
sis of hard times-such is the outcome
of their political policy, such are the
achievements OF their long supremacy
Your ballots in November can alone
dictate a change of measures and a
change of men. Shall not the upris.