The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1877-11-01
MR. TILDEN SPEAKS.
The Robbery Of the People by thl
Radical Bandits.
A Great Crime not to be Forgotten
or COndOned.
Iilden Registers a Vow That VIII Meet
Sweeping Response.

1
Gramercy Park. Upon being introduced
he spoke as follows:
GENTLEMEN oFTHE YOUNG MEMS Demo-
CRATIC CLUB Il thank you for your kind
ly welcome. My summer excursion now
just closed had for its object a season Of
physical activity in the open air, in a
moderate climate and amid scenes inter-
esting by their associations with our iu-
risprudence and with the origin and
growth of representative institutions. 1t
has repaired as much as three months
could the waste of six years consecrated
to an effort for governmental reform in
the city, State and nation. I do not for.
get that in 1871 you joined in the work,
and have never since been waEting in it.
l am glad here tonight to mingle my
congratulations with yours on what has
been done, on the good auguries for the
future, and, above all, on the resolute
purpose of the young men of our country
that the Republic shall be completely re-
stored and e-established according to its
original ideas. (Cheers) The contrast
which strikes the American eye between
the British isles and our own country is
the supply of food and especially cereals
ought to he the basis ofproftable exchan-
ges and inestimable mutual benefactions,
The wants of our British cousins-already
enormous-will rapidly increase. They
grow, not only with population, but by
an inCessant diversion of labor towards
the most profitable employments. Our
means of supply are boundless. We have
immense areas of fertile soils-cheap-pe.
culiarly fitted for the use of agricultural
machinery, and connected with the CEN
tres of foreign commerce by great rivers,
by vast inland seas, and by $4,000 miles
of railway. We have sun in our heav-
ems which, in the season of agricultural
growth, pours down daily floods of light
and warmth, making the earth prolific,
giving abundance and variety of fruits,as.
suring the wheat crop, yielding cotton in
its zone, and ripening corn everywhere,
even to the verge of the.farthest north.
predict great increase in the consump.
ton of our corn by Great Britain over the
60,000,000 bushels which it reached last
year. 1t is the most natural and spon-
taneous Of our cereal products. Our pres
ent crop ought to be 100000, 900 bushels
against 300, 100000 bushels of wheat. 1t
is but little inferior to wheat in nutritive
power. 1t costs less than one. .halfon the
seaboard, and much less than one.half on
the farm. 1t can be cooked. by those who
consent to learn how, into many delicious
forms ofhuman food. Why should not the
British workmen have cheaper food
Why should not our farmers have great
market? Why should not our carriers
have the transportation Let us remem-
berthat commercial exchanges must have
some element Of mntuality. Whoever
obstIuCts the means of payment obstruCts
also the facilities of sale. We must relax
our barbarous revenue system so as not
unnecessarily to retard the natural pro-
Cesses oftrade. We must no longer leg
islate against the wants of humanity and
the benefCienCe of God. The election
now impending involves the choice ofthe
State officers who compose the admins
trative boards. Governor Robinson's ad.
ministration has been characterized by
inCorruptible integrity, by wisdom and
ability, and by answering fidelity to the
reforms that have reduced the State tax
es one-half; that are rapidly extinguish-
ing the State debt; that have retrenched
So 100000 year of the expenditures up.
on public works, and purified our great
official trusts. He needs and has a right
to have the cordial cooperation of those
officers, who, in the Government of the
United States and other systems, form the
Cabinet of the chief executive. In nv
judgment the gentlemen in nomination
will Co-operate-(applause i'm the re-
form policy which l had the honor to in
augurate and which Governor Robinson
is consummating. l think that their
election and the changes that will take
place from the Constitutional amend
ments, adopted in 1875, will give him
more united support in the Canal Board
than was able to receive during my adj
ministration. l have the more satisfsc.
ton in avowing the conviction because l
believe that any nominations that did not
promise such cooperation would be dis.
owned by the Democratic masses. The
election, although for State officers, has
relations to national politics to which l
know you will expect me to allude. The
condemnation by the people of the great
est political crime in our history, by which
the result of the Presidential election of
1875 was set aside and reversed, is gener-
al and overwhelming.
A voice-We know you got robbed.
Mr.. Tilden (excitedly)-I did not get
robbed. The people got robbed. (Cheers)
l had before me on one side course of
laborious services on which health and
even life might be perilled, and on the
other a period of relaxation and ease.
But to the people it was robbery of the
dearest right of American citizens. (Ar.
Plause and cries of That's sol" "That's
sol" from the crowd).
Her sister States, continued Mr., Tilden
might afford to have the voice of New
York frittered away or its expression de-
ferred. 1t could not change history it
could not alter the universal judgment of
the civilized world it could not avert the
moral retribution that is impending. But
New York herself cannot afford to have
her voice unheard. The Declaration of
Independence, the bills of right and the
State constitutions all contain assertions
of the right of the people to govern them
selves and to change their rulers at will.
These declarations had ceased to have
any meaning to the American mind.
They seemed to be truisms which there
was nobody to dispute. The contests
known to us were contests between diff
ferent portions of our people. To COM
prehend the significance of these declara.
tions, it is necessary to carry ourselves
back to the examples of human expert.