The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1876-07-07
GOV. rILDEN's SPEECH.

thoroughly qualified chief magistrate
yet it is by no means undesirable, and
when entirely wanting not unfrequently
produces results rather mortifying to the
national pride. The speech made by
Governor TILDKN to the JACKSON
corps of Albany Thursday even.
ing, furnishes abundant evidence that
in the event OF his election we shall have
President who "can open his mouth
without putting his foot in it." Although
the time occupied in its delivery could
not have been more than five minutes, he
managed to pack into the space an
amount of solid meat which is rarely
found in long -winded orstions. "Brev-
ity" Is not only "the soul of wit" but in
these days 1t is the soul of effective politi.
icsl speaking and writing. The people are
tired ol ponderous d,scourses and lengthy
essays They want something short,
sharp and decisive; something where
IN the points are given clearly and en-
phatically, without being dulled by
lsbored argument or rhetorical frippery.
Gov. TILDEN's effort fills the bill COM
pletely. He knew where and how TO
begin, what to say, and, most important
of sll-when to stop. Compared with
Gov. HAYES talk to the Fremont folks
the other night, it is hard, luminous sense
by the side of weak and frivolous bosh-
which is about the difference there is be-
tween the two men.
A better campaign document than this
speech could not be devised: Every para
graph is freighted with meaning. Take
this one rs an illustrations:
"But what is our actual condition? All
business depressed; every industry lam
gushing; labor without employment and
the wolf at the door; nearly every home
in the land gaunt and hungry. What is
eleven years, since the peace, the earn
Ings of labor and the income OF cap tai
have been consumed or wasted in gov
ernment expenditures. The taxes drawn
from the people Of the United States
have been larger than the entire net saw
ings of the whole forty four millions.
These taxes have increased within short
period four-told, and the influence Is
ielt upon every business and every in
dustry and in every home through
out our broad land What, next, do we
find2 In the public administration
everywhere abuses, peculations frauds
and corruption, until we are almost be-
coming ashamed of the institutions OF
our country, and instead of holding them
up as examples for the imitation Of the
oppressed people sf -sthsr eauatries, we
are confessing them a. u scandal in the
eyes of mankind. What else DOVE find?
We find the sffice.holding class
have become SO numerous, pow
erful and unscrupulous that they
assume to control elections, and it
the people are Indifferent or at all
equally DIVIDED are able to exert q cor
rupt influence sufficient TO perpeLuate
their own power. At last we are reach
ing the worst condition of countries OF
the Old World. The government no
longer exists for the people; the people
exist tor the government. Our Centen-
nial product is the evils, license and
wrongs to escape which our ancestors
abandoned their homes in the Old
World and planted themselves in will
derness."
Here are texts enough for hundred
stump sermons, and they are facts, not
fancy. How painfully, shsmefnlly true
is the declaration that 1.-The government
no longer exists for the people; the peo.
pie exist for the government" What a
description of Grantism boiled down into
fourteen wordsl Volumes could not say
more.
The Democracy have indeed a leader
who is capable OF leading. The Rr-
publicans have sn intellectual "whst-is.
1t" whom they cannot help feeling a
plying contempt for, even while they
support him. And this Centennial yea
demands man, not mummy.
.