Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1879-08-21
NO. So.

1NOs ccs
of the house are mere agents of the
state. So, stand here to-day in the
presence of the Wisconsin agents, and
here is the agent of Michigan, sent down
by that state TO do little business, |
suppose, with some people in Washing
ton. Laughter. Why, according to
that, have no interest here. My interests
are in Ohio. But, fellow citizens, if one
truth
BLAZED OUT OF THE FIRE
of our war more clear than another, it
was this: That this is powerful nation,
a mighty nation, that carries its emblems
proudly forward on sea and on land; that
1t has power that strikes every man every
woman, every child, every territory every
state that dare stand in its way. 1t will
strike them till they are obedient to the
law. Great spplause.l And yet, rebel
senator tells US that it is not d nation, but
contederacy of states. Another tells us
that we have no rights to keep. The son
OF a man who was once secretary of the
treasury of the union-this son from
Maryland-stands on the floor of the
house of representatives and tells us
that the United States have no
peace to keep, and no power
to keep the peace anywhere within The
union, Why, fellow citizens, wherever
there is post office that brings mail to
your door, the United States keep the
peace within that office, and the rider
that carries the mail on horseback rides
in the claim and light of the peace of the
United States lApplausel and the man
that dare stop his journey shall find, if
need be, his path lighted by the forces of
the army of the United Sta es, and if need
be, that all
THE GUNS OF OUR ARTILLERY
will be trailed along his path 10 keep the
peace while he rides. Great applause)
They tell us that there are no national
elections, that the nation has no voters.
A dozen representatives and senators re-
peat it again and again that the United
States has no elections and no voters
that all elections are state elections, and
that all voters are state voters, and that
the states have the right to contest the
elections for members of congress. In
the name of all that is national and
broad and true, look at that for mo-
ment. My friends, have | no interest in
an election you may have in Wisconsin?
Have the people of the old nineteenth
district no interest in having a lawful,
honest election of member of congress
here? Suppose you elect forty men in
the northwest by fraud-men who are
not elected, but who steal their seats, and
they 60 down to legislate for me and my
people. Have we no right in these cleo
tions? The United States government,
by its constitution; has created a house
of representatives and a senate, and it
tells how they shall be chosen and the
congress is empowered by the constitu-
ton to regulate the time, place and man
ner of holding these elections; and yet,
in the face of that constitution these peo-
pie tell us that they will not sustain the
government by the appropriation of
money until we give them up these cleo
ton laws altogether. Why do we have
them? l will tell you. 1t is a matter
proof
UNDER OATH INDESPUTABLE,
that the election in New York state in
1868 was carried by sheer outrageous
fraud: that fifty-one thousand fraudulent
votes were cast in the city Of New York
alone-votes that have since been proved
to be found fraudulent and with those
fifty-One thousand fraudulent votes they
were only enabled to carry that state by
ten thousand majority. In fact, it went
republican by forty-thousand. 1t was
stolen by ten thousand, by the use of
fifty thousand fraudulent votes. Fellow
citizens, to meet just that case the cleo
ton law was made and the first and fore
most point in the election law was this,
that the United States should have one
man standing at one end of the ballot
box and another man at the other end
one republican, and the other demo-
crat empowered to stay there from the
time the ballot-box was opened IN the
morning until the last vote was counted
and to be official witnesses of that great
transaction until it closed. Was that
fraud? Was that oppression? and yet,
every democrat in the United States that
was in congress voted against it, de-
nounced it as an oppression, and they
demanded free election. Great ap-
plause and laughter. What kind of
freedom do they want? Oh, the old free
dom of Tam many Hall-freedom to stuff
the ballot box without witnesses-free-
dom TO change votes without Witnesses
freedom to steal liberty from her cradle.
If you kill the sovereign in Eng
land you have not done much, for
you have only killed man and you can
find another to put in his rlace; but if
the sovereign of our country is killed, or
corrupted, or made a lunatic with fraud
and violence, we have no son to succeed
him; for our sovereign is
THE BODY OF THE WHOLE PEOPLE.
[Great applause. And the corruption
that steals its way to the heart of our
sovereign, the violence that stiles his
voice, the fraud that obstructs him, is the
process that chokes to death our noble
country, and there can be no son to sue
ceed him. [Great applause. And
therefore the republican party will guard
the ballot box, this cradle Of our sover-
eighty, with all its strength, and guard
it so strongly that none but men who are
entitled to vote shall sully it with their
presence. [Great applause.]