The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1876-07-20

bag rula and since var have added two
hundred millions To their debts They have
Injected the governments of our northern
ststes ana cities with the same disease OF
extrayngance and fraud. They have de-
bauphed the federal government itself ana
made the names of cores Of its high oflceTs
and onblic men our public scandal and our
omen shame. The record is horrible in m
rapacity. yenality, waste and fraud. Inc
republican party, which has been Powerie:ss
10 head down and trample under 1901 its
corruptionists, with stupendGus ehEontsry
pIe,ipes itself TO a reform Of which it has DE.
pon,e ineapable. That party pledged itself
10 restore specie payments, and every year
a taking us further from specie payments:
TtpledVed itself 20 civil service reform, anu
then dropped and Knocked its retormers' so
Il pledged itself 10 protect American AOoE,
and with its mOnEtE0us customhouse TAXA
flor on over three thousand articles 1t has
iu1poyerished American labor. A few score
m6nopoligts, a few thousand cOrruptonlstss
have been enriched, but capital in the hands
OF those that earned it by industry ana
saved 1t by frUgality, is everywhere dlsLr IsE
full and ruBts unused, Whlle hohes' tap3L
voes about the streets begging bread. Is
fbis tbe anal outcome of centenary OF re-
pnblicsn self government? God forbid 1t!
But we have wandered far from the right
maths. We must return to the consttu-
tiopal principles the frugal expenditures
and the administrative purity OF the found
ers Of the republic. This is the first, the
most imperfous necessity of our day and
nation. This is the appeal we have to make
TO our iellow.Citizens of every former polltl-
cal afiliation. This is the one supreme com'
handing issue to which all others are IN.
ferior, al others trivial. Reform! reform
reform Ii you shall recognize this lm-
pArions necessity; if you shall guarantee In
Tour platform the successful achievement Of
This aT,Iuoug work of national regeneration;
If YOU shall select standard bearers true to
vour own high purpose and faithful to your
pledge. victory in the November, and vic
tOrv In the October contest is already yours.
Incarnate the vital issue of reform in the
candidates and pIatforn, and the states that
have honored Douglass and Lincoln, the
states that to-day honor Hendricks and
Thurman, Hancock and Parker, Bayard and
Tilden, these states, with all their vast popu'
lations, will rise like the woods and the
winds that followed the Aeeting Orpheus,
and follow you to victory
August Belmont, of New York, then
obtained the floor and addressed the con-
vention, finishing by Offering the fol-
lowing resolution, which was referred.
.ResOIUed, That we appeal to the honor and
manhood of the American people to begin
this second century of American union and
independence by trampling under foot and
extihguishing forever the smOuldering ashes
of distlust, rancor, and luminosity between
the two great sections of our common coun-
try. We denounce with indignation the
calculated malIgnity with which the leaders
Of the republican party have labored to
keep alive through eleven years Of peace
the worst passions of civil war. The Machi-
avelian motto of the republican party has
been and is, divide the people and we shall
rule them for the democratic party. We
reply, unite the people and make them free.
We denounce the republican party on this
great issue as party Of false pretenses. 1t
Is false pretense to assume the character
Of a national party, and at the same time to
exist only by sectional divisions. 1t Is a
false pretense to assume the name of union
party and at the same time to be an obstacle
to national unity. It is false pretense to
assume the name of liberal party, and at the
same time to appeal to the religious preju-
dices of the people. 1t is false pretense to
claim the title OF a progressive party and at
the same time to turn the people back from
peace and the future to war and the past
On motion of Mr.. Williams of Ind,
the convention then adjourned until
II o'clock to morrow.