The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1879-08-06
SPEECH OF
HON. GALUSHA A. GROW,
On Assuming the Chair at
the Republican State
Convention.
MR GROWS RINGING SPEECH.

Mr. GROWS RINGING SPEECH.
Gentlemen Of tie Coauention =
Accept nv thanks for the honor con
ferred by the vote just announced.
congratulate you, and the Republican
party may well congratulate th'
country, on the favorable auspices o
the times.
Resumption of specie paymen'
brings with il revived industries. anC
in place of the calami!ies foreboded
by the prophets of evil, there comes
employment for idle labor, with sill
greater encouragement and brighter
hopes for the future. What the
teachers OF new political economy
declared year ago to be physical
impossibiiity is to-day an accom-
plish,d fact.
The Democratic parry, faithful to
its receru for consistency, repudiates,
as usual. ,;c platform OF its last con-
veution. 50, the Democratic party
as a " hole.n row believes, for this
wear at least, that labor is entitled
to receive for It's toll something bet
ter than a promise Of uncertain ful.
hllment in al indefinite future.
There are certain great laws OF
trade and commerce which the rant
ings Ct political demagogues and time
servers c1nnot change OF which the
most essential, in order to secure sue
eessfOl and staple industries in oil
time Of peace, Is that the money used
ia the transaction of business should
itself be real value, or convenience,
a representative convertible, at the
will Of the holder, into real value ;
and that the standard Of that real
value should be recognized as Of the
same value by ali who deal in it, or
in the commodities for which it is ex-
changed. Otherwise somebody must
Of necessity be the looser by It's use.
A deprecated or worthless curren-
cy is representative Of the dsssrac-
HOE VI value, vi loss, not gain. The
laDorer who receives q real dollar for
his days work holds in it the repre-
sentative Of lhe value OF a days
work But If be receives a worthless
dollar il represents less to the amount
Of the value of days work; 50 of
deprecialed money Of all kinds tV the
extent Of he depreciation. The loss
OF a defective standard OF valge. ike
worthless money, falls il the end
most heavily upon those who earn
their bread by their daily toll.
While the question VI currency and
kindred measures, which aGeci most
directly the industrial interests of the
country. are still unsettled ia its leg
islaiion, new political issue is fore
ed upon The country in the attempt
TO revive some of the old theories OF
nullifca,ion and secession, aud thus
the people are called upon to settle
at the ballot box and in the forum the
question which everybody had a
right to suppose were finally settled
in the field.
Is there 10 be no end of coniroyer-
sy Is nothing ever to be regarded
as fiaally settled ? DID the ballot-box
in 1860, after fifty years of heated
discussion, settle nothing! Did the
sword in one Of the most gigantic
wars OF history settle nothing, unless
il be to clothe the vanquished with
power and authority to make their
own terms Of surrender and to iix the
conditions upon which the victors
may euipy the Government saved by
their yGlorl
The logic of all wars, especially Of
civil wars, if they have any logic at
all, is that the ylctors at the close of
the contest have the right TO fix the
terms OF surrender for the vanquish-
ed aud 10 settle the policy Of admin
istration which they believe viii best
promote the welfare of the country.
And the vanquished have certainly
no cause Of complaint if the policy so
fixed applies, as in our case, to the
yictors themselves the same as TO the
yanquished
Unless the sword Of four years OF
bloody conflict settled forever that
this is q nation, and tha, notification
or secession in any form is NOT to be
resorted to by any portion of the
American people as remedy for po-
litical lille, then, indeed, ives it a use
less massacre of brave mea.
There are only two constitutional
methods by which laws once enacted
can be rendered imperative, the one
oy repeal, the other py the proper
court declaring them void So long
as they remain valid enactments, the
claim that either law-maker, citizen
or State can rightfully nullify them
by withholding support, is but re-
yival Of the old doctrine of South
Carolina notification.
While law remains q valid en-
actment, il is as much a disregard of
duty and constitutional obligation for
the law-msker TO refuse the necessa-
~ appropriations of money to make
il effective, as il is for the private Cit
izen to disobey it,
The act in both cases is the same
and differs only in the remedy. In
the case of the private citizen the
remedy is in the courts and il the
case OF the law-msker it is in the bal
lci-box. by the repudia,ion at the
polls o! public servant and of the
party that sustains his acts.
The advent of the Democratic par
ty TO power in one branch Of Con-
gress, sitter sixteen years exclusion,
was signaIized by their refusing all
appropriations OF money for the sup
port of the army.
And as soon as they have ma
jOriiy ia both branches Of Congress
it is claimed that the lawmakers may
OF right refuse to apply the money
collected from the people to the sup.
port OF their Government, on the plea
that certain laws are unwise, if not
unconstitutional. This is q mode of
repeating laws not provided for in the
Constitution, and is revolutionary
snd destructive of all forms of gov
ernmen,
This party begins in power 10 1879,
just where il ended in 1861. Il end