Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1876-09-15
Washington, D. c., Sept, 8, 1876.
why This Thusq

1t is sometimes the case that party is
compelled to tqke high ground upon
que ton vital to its own interests, and i'm
pOrtant to the welfare Of the community.
Such being the case, it behooves us to an
swer candidly the question, why is it that
the only "open sesame" to the portals of
Protection Hall is the magic paradox, ''Til-
den and Reform?'' Why is it that the doors
are locked, the key thrown away and the
janitor no where to be found, when the Re
publican clans seek admission? Well, when
one stops to think about it, what wonder?
Isn't the hall the property of the city, and
may not the proper authorities refuse ad-
mission to any man or set of men likely to
do it an injury? Again, ha- not this hall
been fitted up for the use of Protection
Fire Company, and what business has the
Republican party there, anyhow? But
aside'from these considerations, are those
who occupy the parlors below to be subject
ed to the modification of listening to ''hard
money" speeches, when they cannot obtain
even paper with which to pay their board?
Are they to be compelled to hear the vapor-
lngs of Republican orators about non-sec-
tartan schools, when they know by their
own experience that all kinds of schools
are public nuisance? What an outrage
upon an American citizen, that when con-
fined to his room and suffering from neT-
vous prostration, needing rest and tone, he
should be kept awake by the tramping OF
Republic n boots above, and obliged to
drink deep draughts of that enfeebling and
enervating compound, ''perjury, false in
come returns and railroad absorption" so
unlike that pure Democratic tonic, the ora
to-ical mr. re of ''Grantism, bloody shirt
and reform? Shall the weary soul, seeking
rest and finding nome, be put to torture
so excruciating that the horrors Of mania
a pOtu would be relief? Again, shall this
beautiful hall, thc-pride Of the borough, be
deseerated by the presence, even, OF Re
publican vandals? Shall Republican COM
mittees hold secret conclave in its spacious
ante-room, hallowed by the memories OF
spiritual comforts received therein? Shall
that magnificent ''dais'" e9nseerated not
only by the elcquence of Democratic ora
tors, but by terpsichorean harmonies, more
intricate than those of Wagner's sublime
trilogy, be polluted by the tread Of Black
Republican despots? Shall the niche IN
its walls, which should be filed by the
statue of some Democratic saint, be used,
even for moment, as the background for
northern fanaties Could voices be given
to the 'hydra-headed picture .adorning its
walls-that immortal production more Gu
riously wrought than Joseph's coat Of many
colors, and worthy Of a Raphael or IL
tiens-its thousand tongues would shout IN
unison, 'No!" Could articulate speech
burst from the iron rods that support the
ponderous roof-those rods about which
many muscular young Democrat has gY-
rated, thereby taking his first lessons IN
political s6mersaults- they would voeifer-
ously exclaim, ssNo! Nor Could that beau
tiful specimen of the taxidermist's skill
that proud and mighty eagle, be restored
to its former perch under the arching dome
of that eapacious hall, and be permitted to
utter its sentiments, with flashing eye and
rufled plupage, it would defantly scream,
f'Nol mol mol"
We therefore call upon the city fathers
to see to it, that the key to Protection Hall
te kept buried fathoms deep in the pocket
of some good Democrat and covered with
such pile of Tilden campaign documents
that it cannot be resurreeted when the Re
publican trumpet sounds. Thus will this
magnificent edifce be preserved to the use
for which it was originally intended; and
when the astonished gaze Of the stranger
shall rest upon this marvel of architecture,
we shall point to it with swelling hearts,
and say, ''Behold, sir the triumph of our
Democratic institutions"