The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1878-09-20
MIR. SpEER'S SPEECH.

By the peaceful power OF The ballot the
people of Pennsylvania are called upon to
choose their executive for the next four
years. To be the governor OF this great state
is an honor worthy the ambition of her pur-
est and abest citizens Three political par
ties, by their platforms and their candidates,
challenge the people, recognition and claim
their suffrage One of them--brrn OF the
distress that hangs like pail over the state
and the nation-has neither record nor his
tory, and hence cannot be Judged by what
it has done, but only by what it promises to
do. The other two the democratic and the
republican-apptal not only to the a.,ur
ances Of the present and the pledges for the
future, but to the achievements and results
of the past. With judicial patience and
fairness let the high tribunal of the people
hear and determine.
From 1861 until this hour Pennsylvania
has has had a republican governor and the
nation a republican president, From 1861
to 1873 all departments OF the federal gov
erment-legislative, executive and judicial
have been republican, and the same is
practically true of This state. That party
had but to speak and it was done to utter
its decree and it became law. With the
purse Of the nation in the one hand and the
sword in the other, it bought or beat all OPP
position into the dust No political party
since the birth of free government has WELD
ed such power or enjoyed such oppOrtuni-
ties. No pestilence or famine has desolated
the land, but the earth during all this pi
riod, with luXuriant bounty has yielded her
wealth and her harvests to the touch of toll.
Why, then, should We not To day, i'll state
and nation, be happy and prosperous peo-
pie Why shoule not the air be vocal with
the music of our industries? Why should
not the millions of hands this moment out
stretched, willing and anxious to work, find
ready employment? Why should this land
blessed by heaven and rich in all the ele-
ments of productive labor, be turned iuto a
yast-almshOuse, whose only echo is the cry
for bread and against whose portals the tramp
stands knocking day and night for admit
tance These questions and many others
like them the people ask, as they have a
right to ask, aud they turn with anxious and
resolute purpose to the republican party and
demand an answer As their servant, ,charg-
ed with high duties, commanding untold re-
sources and exercising, legally or otherwise,
imperial power, it is called for judgment up
on the record made by itself II either faith
less or incompetent, its claim to public con-
| iidence should perish.
| Nor is the test an unfair one. Every tree
that bringeth not forth good fruit is hsTp
down and cs~nn nnto the fire. Governn pl
exists for tho Dbple, and not the people Vbi
the government. Its duty is protection, not
| plunder and when the rulers of free peo-
pie fail in this high duty, either from weak
ness of head or corruption of heart, the only
safety of the republic lies in their overthrow.
| Thank GOD no man or party was ever born
on our soil with crown upon his brow.
With us the dadem of power rests with the
people. No hereditary succession from faith
er to son is written in our constitution OF
our laws and if our people guard their lib
critics with vigilance and virtue, this badge
of monarchy shall never shame their escu-
tcheon In Pennsylvania it is worth, not
birth, that makes the man.
What is our condition to- day, after al
most seventeen years of unbroken republi.