Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-10-04
JAMES c. BLAINE
On the Old Tlppecanoe Nattle
Ground a Short Extract from
Nls Speech.

II
Let mo digress for moment. In
1868 it is known that the State Oi
New York was carried by shameful
and sinful frand, and John 7. Hoffman
was elected over Seymour, and 80
Grant lost the weight which fair
election would have given him. do
not know much about the politics oi
New York City, nor do I care very
much; but the last democratic candi.
date for President said that the frauds
in Nesc York politics scas devised ana
supported By the present candidate 70,
precedent, Mr.. 1Ilden. Hence Mr.
Greeley set to work to have some.
thing done in Congress to prevent q
repetition Of these frauds. He wrote
in the Tribune, went to Washington
and under Grceley's supervision and
tuition Congress passed the above
law in relation to supervisors. Nc
lone but a scoundrel could object tc
that law. All that was asked was
that the supervisors should be there
and see that there was q fair election
and an honest declaration. Republi,
cans have claimed the privilege, but
in New England, at least, not single
democrat has ever said that they
could not have fair vote and re-
qucsted a supervisor. / undertake
further to say that there is not re-
publican in the city of New York
to-day who is not ready to swear q
free vote could not be had. In 1875
they kept down the democratic ma
jority by the aid of supervisor, and
in 1876 they will do the same. [Great
applause. and cries of ssStrike 'em
again" SSs,im
Well, when the sundry civil appro.
priation bill, which embodied the
charitable and beneficence of the
government, when the bill was under
consideration, up steps q democrat
and moves clause of amendment
that this supervisor law shall be re.
pealed. IA voice-T guess not."]
This rulc of retrenchment was laid
down in advocacy of the repeal of the
1aw-ft scoald sare the pay Of your
supervisor. Laughter. You might
dissolve the whole government Of the
United States upon that ruling. The
army costs thousands of dollars
some think to abolish that would be q
measure of retrenchment, and the
same with the navy and the postoffice,
and under that sublime ruling of the
democrats you might soon have the
nation under as beautiful q system OF
government as that existing In the
Black Hills under Sitting Bull.
Laughter.] Well. this House Of
Representatives demanded the repeal.
| could never dream of anything so
infamous as this. They took those
charities by the throat like band of
Cossacks or pirates and said; "You
shall not have penny to bring home
from foreign ports an American sail
or, not a penny to light beacon, not
q pint of Gil to warn the mariner from
the rocky coast. You shall not have
q cent for such purposes until the
supervisors law shall be repealed, till
we can cheat rs we like in the election
Of Tilden." Laughter and cheers. |
But, thank God, there is a Senate, and
each member sat back in his chair
and put his fingers in his button-holes
and said, "Gentlemen, although ace SIT
here till the neat Centennial, the lao
shall not be repealed" and go the law
Of supervisors is on the statute book
to-day, and will act very bencflcially
in the coming election. Il Applause ]
The army bill came up, and all
over the country came the cry from
the democrats, "the enormous stand
ing army" for our 10000, 900 of people.
We have but 25,000 men, the smallest
of any nation on earth Of our size.
You all know that it takes 1900 po-
licemen in New York to keep our
pockets from being picked in going
between the depot and hotel, and then
they do not succeed, and there is one
eighth of the army of the United
States. Laughter.] Then the con.
sulate bill came up for consideration,
and it was moved by this House to
take the American flag from forty
two places on the simple ground that
there were not fees enough collected
to pay the expenses. The measure
was passed, and 80 that Confederate
crowd ordered that at forty-two
points on this carth's surface the
American flags flying there shall be
hauled down; and you may 90 to
those points to-day, and you will find
the English, Spanish, French, Russian,
German, and even little Holland and
Belgium, represented by their nation
al banners but you will find none of
the United States, because the fees
did not pay for them. But can say
this, that the first Congress that
re-ossembles under President Hayes
,ciU put them back again
Tremendous cheering.l The honor
able gentleman then dwelt upon the
Southern claims and the efforts that
were being made to pay them from
the public treasury. These claims as
sumed all possible shapes, and foot
up an amount almost fabulous, accord
ing to Judge Randolph Tucker, an
unusually painstaking and industri-
Gus man man who in the last Con-
gress was chairman of the Committee
on War Claims. He told me that
they involved a sum of between four
and seven hundred millions of dol
lars. You may depend that il a DEM
ocratic President were elected bill
would 60 through Congress as quick
as lightning, fastening all those claims
upon the nation. [Crics Of "nererw]
It is time of danger. We are in the
habit of exaggerating the danger at
election time. do not say that this
is the most important election that
ever tool. place. The second election
of Lincoln was more important.
Then it was the question of the pre-
servation of the Union. Now it is
the struggle Of that spirit of loyalty
which gained the victories in the late