davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01

mlldeSC adjeCCiEe when the Eng!lSl
language affords to qualify the least
culpable act Of your party. The
strongest expression which that Ian
guage furnishes is not adequate to
express the character of the work
which all, "from the Governor down."
are now doing in the interest of a
"free, fair and honest election"
It is useless, sir, for me to con
tinue this line of remarks, and | will
conclude by saying that if you are
sincere in the statements expressed
in your letter, it is time that the
scales should fail from your eyes that
you may discover the character OF
the company which you say; at is
to be feared that the mere express
sion, in q public paper, Of such ap-
prehensions, over your own sigma
ture, will tend to intensity the feel
ing already existing between the
party Of which you are the official
head and the opposite party, and be
apt to fan into fame the passions
Of thoughtless men, now dormant
and subject to the control Of more
reasonable and less excitable indi-
viduals, although such, I am sure,
was not your Intention" I am not
aware that my letter to you has ever
appeared in any public paper; if it
has done so, it was published without
my knowledge. The passions which
now lie dormant, it is in the power
of your party, and that of its friends
to bury in the grave Of an eternal OBJ
livion. On the other hand, you and
you alone, have control of the bel
lows which can fan that smoldering
spark into flame; and the respon-
sibility Of the confagration will be
upon you. Grant us a "fair, free
and honest election" instead of ex-
ercising your ingenuity, which I ad-
nit to be great, to defraud US in the
coming election, and no such conha-
grafton can ensue. The ashes upon
the altar dedicated to hate will be-,
come cold and the furies which have
kept its fame alive will take their
fight from a State which they have
desolated. indulge in no partisan
rhetoric, I am in too dead earnest in
the presence Of the issues which
your party has presented to act, feel
or write otherwise than as one who
appreciates that there is grave and
tremendous responsibility resting
upon the committee Of which he is
chairman.
Since writing this letter, my sur
prise has been great to find that YOU
have caused to be published my let
ter which, in your opinion, would, if
published, f'intensify the feeling al
ready existing" and "fan into
a fame the passions now dormant, ]
am, therefore, constrained to believe
that it is your intention and desire
to kindle that flame and arouse those
passions for partisan purposes, per.
haps with the hope Of having Cen
Grant issue a proclamation for Lou
isiana, such as has just been hurled
against our sister State, South Caro-
lima. am, respectfully,
| 7. W. PATTON,
President Democratic Conservative
i State Central Committee.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
PLATFOR Nj
OF THE
NATIONAL DEMOCRATIC PARTY.

WE, the Delegates Of the Democratic
Party, in National Convention assembled,
do here declare the administration of the
Federal Government to be in urgent need
of immediate reform, do hereby enjOin up
on the nominees of this Convention, and
of the Democratic party in each State, a
Jealous effort and cooperation to this end,
and do hereby appeal to our fellow-citizens
of every former political connection to I'M
dcrtake with us this fist and most press
ing patriotic duty. For the Democracy of
the whole country we do here reaffirm our
faith in the permanency of the Federal
Union; our devotion to the Constitution
of the United States with its amendments
universally accepted rs ii final settlement
of The controversies that engendered civil
war, and we do here record our steadfast
confidence in the perpetuity of republican
self-government; in absolute acquiescence
in the will of the majority, the vital prir-
ciple Of republics; in the supremacy OF the
civil over the military authority; in the
total separation of Church and State for
the sake alike Of civil and religious free
dom; in the equality of all citizens before
lust laws of their own enactment; in the
liberty OF individual conduct unveXed by
sumptuary laws; in She faithful education
of the rising generation that they mag
preserve, enjoy aud transmit these best
conditions of human happiness, and hope
we behold the noblest products of hun
bred years Of chaugcful history. but while
unfolding the bond of our Union and
great charter of those our rights, it be-
hoovcs free people to practice also that
eternal vigilance which is the price Of
tibnrty r.....
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
REFORM IN CIVIL SERVICE.

Reform is necessary in the civil service.
Experience proves that efficient, economic
cal conduct of the governmental business
is not possible if its civil service lie sub
jected to change at every election, and be
a purse offered DIT the ballot box as a brief
reward Of party zeal, instead of posts OF
honor assigned for proved competency and
held for fidelity i'll the public employ
That the dispensing of patronage should
neither be tax upon the time Of all our
public men, nor the Instrument Of theiJ
ambition. Here again professions, falsi-
fed in the performance, attest that the
party in power can work out no practical
or salutary reform.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01

The Republican party has never
abated q monopoly. The Democratic
party has never created one. The
Republican party always multiplies
legislation. The Democratic party
persistently removes bad laws from
the Statute Book.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01

-BELKNAp will return to Iowa,
where he still retains his legal resi-
dence, to vote for Hayes. Custer,
poor fellow-his yictim--would have
voted for TilNen.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
FEDERAL TAXATION HAS SWOLLEN

ticn shall lie only for revenue. Reform is
necessary in the scale Of public expenses,
Federal, State and municipal.
FEDERAL TAXATION HAS SWOLLEN
from SIG OO0.0 600 gold in 1860 to $3.50, 0OO,-
600 currency in 1870; our aggregate taxa
tion from S134,000,000 gold in 1860 to
$4,000 900 currency in 1870, or in one de-
cade from less than five dollars per head
to more than eighteen dollars per head
Since the peace the people have paid to
their tax gathereis more than thrice the
sum Of the national debt, and more than
twice that sum for the Federal Govern
ment alone. We demand vigorous fru-
gality in every department and from every
officer of the Government. Reform is ne
cessary to put q stop to the profigate
waste Of public lands and their diversion
from actual settlers by the party in power,
winch has squandered two hundred mil
lions of acres upon railroads alone, and
ont of more than twice that aggregate
has disposed Of less than a sixth directly
to tillers Of the soil. Reform is necessary
to correct the
and the errors of our treaties and our di-
plomacy which have stripped our fellow
citizens of foreign birth and kindred race
recrossing the Atlantic of the shield of
American citizenship, and have exposed
onr brethren of the Pacific slope to the in
cursiOns of Il race not sprung from the
same great parent stock--in fact now de-
MED by law citizenship through naturali-
cation, as being neither accustomed to the
tradition Of a progressive civilization, or
exercised in liberty under equal laws
We dcnounce the policy which thus dis
cards the liberty loving German, and toll
crates the revival of the coolie trade in
Monaghan women imported for immoral
purposes, and Monaghan men hired to
perform servile labor contracts, and de-
maud such modification of the treaty with
the Chinese Empire, or such legislation
by Congress within II constitutional limi-
tation, as shall prevent the further impor-
tation or immigration CT the Mongolian
race. Reform is necessary, and can never
be effected but by making it the control
ling issue of the elections, and lifting it
above The two false issues with which the
office-holding class and the party in power
seek to smother it, The false issues with
which they would enkindle sectarian
strife in respect to the public schools, of
which the establishment and support be-
long exclusively to the several States, and
which the Democratic party has cherished
from their foundation and resolved to
maintain without partiality CT preference
for any class, sect or creed, and without
contributing from the treasury to any
The false issue by which they seek to
light anew the dying enbers Of sectional
hate between two kindred peoples once
unnaturaily estranged, but now reunited
in one indivisible Republic and a common
DESTINY,
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
REFORM rs NECESSARY


to rebuild and establish in the hearts of
the whole people Of the Union, eleven
years ago happily rescued from the dam
ger of q corrupt centralism which, after
nnicting upon ten States the lapaclty OF
carpet-bag tyrannies, has lOneycombed
the officers Of the Federal Government it.
self with iucapacity, waste and fraud, in
fected States and municipalities with the
contagion of misriilc, and locked fast the
prosperity of an industrious people in the
PARALYSIS of hard times. Reform is neces-
sary to establish sound currency, restore
the public credit, and maintain the na.
tional honor. We denounce the failure
for these eleven years to make good the
promise of the legal tender notes, which
are changing standard of value in the
hands of the people, and the non payment
of which is disregard of the plighted
faith of the nation. We denounce the
improvidence which in eleven years Of
peace have taken from the people in Fede
raj taxes, thirteen times the whole
amount of the legal tender notes, and
souaudered four times this sum in useless
expense without accommodating any re-
serve for their resumption. We denounct
the financial imbeclity and immortality
of that party, which, during eleven years
of peace, has made 10 advance toward
assumptions; that instead has obstructed
resumption by wasting our resources and
exhausting all our surplus income, and
while annually protesting to intend &
speedy return to specie payments, has
annually enacted fresh hinderanee there
to. As such hinderance we denounce
the resumption clause of the act of 1875
and we here
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
Is 1t RiexEcof
MISUSE OF FEDERAL TROOPS AND FED.
ERAL POWER IN. THE
SOUTH.

| Arbitrary lHeSal afIeStS ny Ieut-
raj soldiers, under the orders Of
Federal Deputy Marshals, have be
gun in South Carolina. Governor
Chamberlain, candidate for re cleo
ton, opposed not only by the Demo
Gratis, but by considerable and
increasing faction in his own party,
fears that he will be beaten. Ac
cordingly he appeals to the Federal
Administration for the, loan of SOL
diers to help him to intimidate the
recalcitrant voters. Having arrang
ed a Board of State Canyassers of
Election and Returning Board, the
majority of whose members are can
didates on the same ticket with him,
and are thus by a monstrous perver
sion Of justice entitled to decide the
vote in their own favor; having
further managed that of the ninety
six commissioners Of election in the
counties, seventy should be his de-
clared partisans and forty Office
holders who hold their places by his
appointment; having thus prear-
ranged the count in his own favor,
Mr.. Chamberlain now summons
Federal marshals to arrest citizens
known to be opposed to him in poll
tics. And all this in the United
States, and under the auspices Of a
party which once called itself the
pre- eminent friends of liberty, and
some of whose leading smembers held
the Fugitive Slave law to be uncon-
stitutional because it interfered with
the rights of the States.
Mr. Charles Francis Adams, in q
recently published letter, warned the
people against the revolutionary
tendency of the Republican leaders
Was he far wrong? A multitude 0,
respectable citizens, among them al
the Republican members Of the Su
. Dreme Bench of the State assert
publicly that there is no trouble, ne
political violence or lawlessness ii
; South Carolina. The citizens wht
have been arrested have submitted
quietly. The Governor himself ha
made no pretense even Of an effort tt
subdue lawlessness; he has don
nothing but issue violent ant
incendiary proclamation and sent 70
/. Federal troops, like his prototype
Perrin, in Alabama, who shot hol
through his own hat and then Gale,
for the soldiers. Does the Republi
can party of the North consent tt
Z such revolutionary acts as this? I
this sample Of what it proposes t.
do if it is continued in power anoth
er four years? If SO, then the sa
fest, the only safe course for North
ern voters, is to turn it out. Their
=, can be no doubt on that subject
This is not Mexico; but these act
Of Governor Chamberlain, this mis-
!, use Of Federal troops and Fedora
' power, would if continued four year
longer, set us @ long way towar
Mexico. lit is granted that til
political party which happens t
possess the Federal Government
may march its soldiers into tn
States for political purposes, the
we have paved the way broadly fe
~ general civil disorder. If these pr
r ceedings in South Carolina are nj
promptly disowned by the Republ
. can candidate, every Northern cit
zen who has stake in the count,
ought to vote against HMM. !
= Herald.
l. -BELKNAp will return to low
v, where he still retains his legal res
lei dence, to vote for Hayes. Custe
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01

Have faith in one another,
When you whisper loves fond VOW,
For twill not be always summer,
Nor always bright as now;
And when winter time comes DER you,
If some kindred heart you share,
Then have faith in one another,
You shall never know despair.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
ALEXANDRIA, La, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER /, 1875.

than it proi nces to the treasury, obstructs
the processes OF production and wastes
the fruits Of labor; it promotes fraud and
fosters smuggling. orriches dishonest
officials ard hankrUpts honest merchants.
We demand that AL custom house taxa
ticn shall lie only for revenue. Reform is
necessary in the scale Of public expenses,
Federal, State and municipal.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
DEMAND IT'S REPEAL.

We demand a judicious system of pTerara
ton by public economies, by official re-
trenchments and by wise finance which
shall enable the nation to insure the
whole world of its perfect ability and its
perfect readiness to meet any of its prom
ises at the call of the creditor entitled to
payment. We believe such system well
devised, and, above all, entrusted to COM
petent hands for execution, creating at no
time an artificial scarcity of currency and
at no tine alarming the public mind into
a withdrawal OF that vaster machinery of
credit by which 95 per cent. of all business
transactions are perfOrmed--a system
open, public and inspiring general conf
dence would from the day of its adoption
bring healing on its wings to all our har-
assed industry and set in motion the
wheels of commerce, manufactures and
the mechanical arts, restore employment
to labor, and renew in all its national
source the prosperity Of the people. Re-
form is necessary in the sum and mode of
Federal taxation, to the end that capital
may be set free from distress and labor
lightly burdene6.
WE DENoUNCE THE PRESENT TARIFF
levied upon nearly four Thousand articles,
as masterpiece of injustice, inequality
and false pretence. 1t yields dwindling,
not yearly rising revenue; it has impov-
erished many industries to substitute a
few; it prohibits imports that might pur-
chase the products of American labor;
it has degraded American commerce from
the first to an inferior upon the high seas:
it has cut down the sales of American
manufactures at home and abroad, and
depleted the returns of American agricul
ture, an interest followed by half our
people; it costs the people five times more
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01

Have faith in one another,
For should doubt alone incline,
1t would make this world a desert,
Where the sun would never shine.
We have all some transient sorrow,
Which overshadows us to-day;
But have faith in one another,
And it soon shall pass away.
The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1876-11-01
%
7}oetica1.
HAVE FAITH IN ONE ANOTHER,
BY NJ. X,

Have faith in one another,
When you meet in friendships name
For true friend is a brother,
And his heart should be the same
Though your paths in life may differ
Since the hour when first you met
But have faith in one another,
You may need that friendship yet
The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1876-10-27

Can any reasonable man believe
that Hayes is as fit for the executive
duties Of the Presidency as Tilden2
Hayes was a cipher in Congress. lie
has never put forth an original politi-
cal idea. Those who know him best
do not venture TO accredit him with
executive talent, though they may
grant that he is kind and amiable. As
Governor Of Ohio, he is so hedged
about by constitutional restrictions that
he Is little more than a fgurehead.
He has in no respect moulded the
present canvass in his behalf. His
hackers, as also those who put him up
as a Presidential candidate, are far
stronger men than he, and they natur-
ally pay no regard to the opinions, such
as they are, of the plastic Hayes. He
talked of civil service reform in his
letter of acceptance. He would he as
powerless to carry it into effect against
men like Morton, Blaine, Chandler,
and the Camerons, as a child to make
breach in fortress. Hayes's record
is that of a feeble, uncertain man, good
Of heart, perhaps, but muddy Of head.
Tilden, on the contrary, is a man
whose professional advice has been
sought, priced, and followed by gen.
Grafton of the ablest practical men of
the country. He is familiar with our
whole political history, and has, since
he reached manhood, been prominent
actor in it. Finance taxation, the
limits Of the power of the Govern
meDt, and the duties Of an executive
officer have been the subjects of his
lifelong study. As Governor of New
York, he has made his ideas and inhu-
ence felt throughout legislation, and
can point to vastly reduced taxation
rs the fruit of his labors. Gov. Tilden
has left his mark on this State, and he
would leave it on the national Govern
ment. He is man of rare executive
and Of backbone, with def.
mite conceptions of his political duties,
and the will, the astuteness, and the
intellectual vigor to carry them out.
Nobody who compares Hayes and
Tilden fairly on their record, can fail
10 conclude that the Republican candi-
late is mere shadow beside the Dem.
ratic.-[New York Sun.
The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1876-10-27
WHOLE NUMBER 243.
Hoe 70 Csre % had MeDserv.

Your memory is bad, perhaps bu,
| can tell you two secrets that will
cure the worst memory. To read a
subject when strongly interested. The
other is: TO not only read, but think.
When you have read paragraph or a
page, stop, close the book, and try to
remember the ideas on that page; and
not only recall them vaguely in your
mind, put them into words and speak
them out. Faithfully follow these
two rules, and you have the golden
key of knowledge. Besides inatten-
tive reading, there are other things in
furious to memory. One is the habit
Of skimming over newspapers, items
Of news, smart remarks, bits of infor-
nation, political reflections, fashion
notes-all in a confused jumble, never
to be thought of again-thus diligent-
ly cultivating habit Of careless read
ing, hard to break. Another is the
reading of trashy novels. Nothing is
50 fatal to reading with profit as the
habit of running through story after
story, and forgetting them as soon as
they are read. knew a gray.haired
woman, lifelong lover of books, who
sadly declares that her mind has been
ruined by such reading.
A help to memory is repetition.
Nothing is so certain to keep your
French fresh and ready for use as to
have always on hand an interesting
story in that language, to take up for
ten minutes every day. In that case
you will not "forget your French, +"
with the majority of your schoolmates.
-[Olive Thorne, in st Nicholas.
The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1876-10-27

She led him to sofa, and in deep
bass voice, called him her souls idol,
and inquired what his monthly income
was. Seeing his gaze fixed on her boa
constrictor.like mouth, she remarked (:
Darling, | see you notice my large
and beautiful mouth; let me explain
to you the reason of it, unusual size.
When was quite child, I was play
ing on pappy's cellar door. IL gave
way ! was precipitated down into the
basement and caught by the mouth on
a projecting hook, which ripped up my
face aud extended my mouth several
inches" With his eyes full of SYM
pathetic tears, he rose from the sofa,
and replied as he went towards the
door: "My angel, you are, perhaps,
mistaken. Probably in the excitement
of that awful moment you left your
mouth down in the basement and acci-
IDENTIFY brought up the cellar door. We
shall meet again in a better world.
Adieu."
The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1876-10-27

John Rehm, the chief conspirator O
the Chicago Whisky Ring, who wal
put behind bars by the determined eff
forts of Secretary Bristow, was par
doned out Of prison. on Monday, by
the President of the United States.
Anton Cesar Hesing, the rascally
boss of the Ring, has been enjoying
the free air for several weeks, also par.
doned by the President of the United
States.
These two men and their confeder-
ates, all of whom are now free, par
doned out ofprison by the President
of the United States, robbed the ma
ton of more than three million dol.
lars.
Hesing was an educated, accom-
plished man, politician who dictated
nominations to Congress and to the
Legislature. Rehm, his chief tool,
was vulgar, sorlid, illiterate scoun-
drcl. The pair were equally bold,
equally unscrupulous. AMI equally
prominent in one of the most infa-
nous schcmcs Of public villainy to be
found in history.
Grant has therefore provided at
least two more votes in Illinois for
Hayes and against Tilden and reform.
i New York Sun, Oct Is.
The interior journal. [volume] (Stanford, Ky.) 1872-1881, 1876-10-27
Grassheppers stopping Trains

The Houston (Texas) Telegraph
says; Grasshoppers are rather a novel;
ty in Texas, and if you were to tell a
Texan, anywise familiar with railroads,
that grasshoppers could stop train,
he would laugh at the idea, and think
you were "poking fun at him." For
all this. the grassboppers are stopping
trains right here in Texas. Sunday
night, when Mayor Lord and Alder
man McGowen were going to Austin,
just beyond Giddings, the track was
so covered with 'hoppers that it took
the train two hours TO make six miles.
In places they were two feet thick on
the track The wheels running over
them mashed them so that the track
became so slippery the wheels revolved
without going ahead. The stencil
from the massacred insects was so
great and overpowering that the win
dows of the cars had to be closed.