Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-10-11

and less likely to forget the necessity o
improving the time now in getting read,
for the coming contest.
Senator COnkling on National Is
sues.
Senator Conkling spoke IN Brooklyn OF
the Sth, his speech being mostly devoted t.
national issues entering into the campaign il
New York. His statement of the issues is 81
clear and terse that we publish it in full.
Issues OF A NATIONAL CHARACTER.
If, then, the candidates of each party ar
personally trustworthy, what broad issue o
mere State concern rise to public view
There is no such public issue. Whoeve
narrows and beclouds his reason with the no
ton that the election before us is to begin AM
end with State affairs will one day be startlc,
by discovering that New York in 1879 decid
cd how much and how little was settled o.
achieved by the greatest war and the creates
sacrifice of modern times. Next year
Presidential election is to occur. 1t will b,
the last under the present cen sus-the last a
which solid South will need b ut A. Northern
Electoral votes. Before succeeding cleo
ton happens the sceptre will have changed
hands. Before 1884 the great West will have
been counted again, and her growth since the
present census was taken will give her pre-
ponderating weight in the House of Repre-
sentatives and in the Electoral College. But
now and next year the South lacks but ~ OF
a majority of all the Electoral votes. There
is wrong in this. The Constitution Ordains
that if the right to vote is denied to any who
are entitled to it in any State, there presenta-
ton of that State, shall be reduced accord
ingly. In violation of law and right the
H., IL
MED the right to vote, and, in violation of the
Constitution, they are notwithstanding count
ed to swell the number of Representatives in
Congress and the number of Electoral votes.
Thus 4, O00, 900 people are used as a football
in the game Of national politics. When the
blacks were slaves, the evil was not largest.
They did not vote then-they do not vote
now. When they were slaves, each soul
counted three-fifths of one person. Now
they are all counted, each as one person. and
because they are so counted body Of Rep
resentatives sit in Congress who are not right
fully there, because the ballot is denied to
those they profess to represent. A democrat
ic Congress may tolerate this, and will toler-
ate ia democratic President would be com
PEELED to sanction it--but it will meet just,
stern end, unless the nation forgets justice
and mercy and self-preservation. With this
quautity Ill tHe sum, next year clectlOn Is
full Of danger and full of far-reaching re-
suits. Thirty-fve of the AZ needed Northern
votes are in the State of New York. Her de-
cision this year will go far to cast the die for
next year. Here comes an issue which rises
high above all State issues now. 1t is not
financial only, though finances are involved
1t embraces everything for which the war was
fought, except African slavery in name.
Every State which went into the rebellion,
save only Texas, has recently repudiated its
debts. Three hundred million dollars of in
debtedness has been thus repudiated Many
Of these obligations were created by demo-
cratic Governments. 1t cannot even be said
that republicans had part in contracting them.
They were State and municipal debts The
ruling elements Of the South-the property
and intelligence" as they like to be styled
profess to set their regard for their States in
front of all their patriotism. 1t would seem,
then, that if any public pecuniary obligations
are scared to the governing class of the South,
it must be the obligations based on the honor
of the States. Yet of all the States which
seeded and rebslled, only one has abstained
from rank reputation. Suppose the forces
and the sentiment of which such acts come
are allowed to dominate the nation, what
shall we expect? The national debt was in
Cured to put down rebellion. Is it-can it
be-more honored or respected in the South
than their own local bonds and promises 10
pay? The national bonds are not held in the
South. Northern banks and saving banks
and insurance and trust companies hold them
men, women, and children all over the
North are the real bondholders. Every
stakeholder and billhoder of bank, every de-
positOr in savings bank, every one having
policy of insurance on his life or his prop
Ill Al. IL
Landowner. With all these facts before
them, the people are to vote this year wheth-
er they choose to intrust the safety and valid
ity of their property to those who already,
by thir actions, have proved their disregard
Of obligations deemed by them of higher sane
ity than the nations promises. The great
body Of Southern men make no secret of
their hostility to the policy of resumption I'M
der which every paper dollar has become as
good as gold. The republican party carried
resumption. Ofcourse, the republican party is
pledged to resumption finally-it cannot es-
cape. great body of democrats are vebe-
mently against it. majority of the demo-
Gratis in both houses of Congress are opposed
TO the Resumption act, and mean to evade if
they cannot repeal it. Do the people of New
York wish to hand over to the democratic
party, which means now the sway of the solid
oouhs thc OF the
country, safe, prospecting, and stable as they
are and will be If only left alone? These are
some Of the questions and dangers of the
hour-questions which the election must do
much TO settle one way or the other Such
questions are national--they are not estate
affairs exclusively" The Northern States
are the tax-paying States. They pay most O,
the revenue. Nearly one dollar in every
three put int or taken from the Treasury
comes from the commerce and the people OF
New York. New England and the Wes
make up most of the remainder With al
the schemes constantly aiming at the Treas
ury, 10 the nations money safer under til.
party whose constituency pays it, or unde
the party Of the South. whose CONSTITUENCIES
feel but little in pocket whether expenditure
ere more or less? 1t makes vast difierenc,
to . man sitting in Congress whether an ap
preparation he votes comes out of his owl
constituency or out of somebody else, an,
yet men of all sections are apt to 90 Will
their party
FoRsEARAScE TOWARD THE South.
But there IL an issue broader and deepe