The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-08-28
THE DEMOCRATIC RALLY.
How 1t Became a Rout.

line DeUlOCIdllC IeiiJ Ut Clty HILL iitSt CNC-
ming was respectable in number as well as in
other points. 1t was ostensibly hard-money
meeting all the men on the platform being
Democrats, and some of them, certainly, hold
ing sound-money views In the audience were
many Greenbackers, and these with the Dem
ocrats nearly filed the hall. The meeting was
called to order by George E. Bird, Esq, who
introduced the Hon. S. c. Andrews as chair
man. Mr.. Andrews was selected for the posi-
ton because he makes a handsome chairman
and can be trusted not to infiict long speech
upon the audience. He found the task OF adj
dressing fusion audience difficult, and his
adroitness failed him. Mr.. Andrews began by
giving a glowing but faithful description of
the Democratic party as it was and misapply-
ing the description to the Democratic party as
it is. He went on to speak of this as being the
called upon every voter to come out and throw
the fusion ticket for county and legislative Off
GERS, but forgot to advise them to vote for gov
ernor. AT this slight Governor Garcelon, who
was sitting near by, moved uneasily in his
chair and looked aggrieved. Finding that he
had made a mistake Mr.. Andrews tried to re-
trieve himself by denouncing ''the monument
tai fraud" of 1876, and nominating Samuel j.
Tilden as candidate for the Presidency in 1890.
The audience made scarcely any response to
the nomination, only few scattering cheers
greeting it.
Mr.. Andrews closed by introducing Govern
or Garcelon. Whatever that respectable gen.
tleman may be he certainly is not an orator,
and came near to clearing the hall during the
first half hour of his speech When he con-
cluded his audience numbered scarcely hum
bred; and so the rest of the show was postponed
to another day.
Gov. Garcelon first expressed diffdence in
addressing SO large an audience. Then he
wondered what all the fuss was about in this
State in year when no representatives to Con-
gress were to be elected, no questions of f.
nance or tariff were at issue. This was equiv
alent to saying that nothing but State issues
should enter into this campaign. 1t should be
remarked right here that the Governor in at
tempting to ignore anything but State issues
put himself in antagonism to the speech of
the chairman of the meeting, who dwelt on the
influence the Maine election would have on the
Presidential election in 1880, and also to
Scion Chase who objected to the Greenback
platform as first constructed because State is
sues were put last DR.. Garcelon may be bet
ter Democrat than Scion Chase, but the lat
ters candidate for Governor has much larger
Democratic following. The Doctor will also
find that a large part of the Democratic
platform drawn up by Eben f. Pills
bury is devoted to National questions.
I
ignore national questions, but it is too late.
They will not down at his bidding The time
has gone by when the hard-money Democrats
can be made to swallow the coalition business.
Even the Governor himself wandered off into
the money question before he got through.
The Governor then said he proposed to call
attention to the administration of State affairs.
In 1856 the State tax amounted to 100000.
To-day it is 100000. He had the grace to adj
NIT that 100000 of this amount was due to
Democratic rebellion 0he word he used was
war but Democratic rebellion is more accurately
1t is true that the State tax in 1856 was one
MILL or about 100000, which was all used
land several thousand dollars besides from
proceeds from sale of lands) to pay the or
binary expenses of the State-not including
the bank tax and the school fund of SIT ,575
distributed to towns for common school pur-
poses. 1t is also true that the tax of last year,
as well as this year, was mills, or about $780,
600; but of this amount about 1892, 900 lover
two mills) were devoted to payment of war
debt, interest pensions and other war expen-
ditures and 1922 ,000-the proceeds of the
school mill taX-was distributed to towns for
school purposes, reducing town appropriations
for schools to this extent leaving the tax
devoted to ordinary expenses only $4,000.
The balance of Ordinary expenses is paid from
other revenue. Thus it will be seen that Gov.
Garcelon substracts $4,000 too little on ac-
count of Democratic rebellion expenses and
neglects to say that one mill of our present
State tax (222 ,00O) is an assessment for the
benefit OF towns for school purposes, to secure
a more equal distribution of the burdens of
common schools, and reduces municipal school
assessments precisely to this extent.
The educational system was next attacked
by the Governor. In 1850 with a population
of $4,000 less than we have to-day we have
5000 more scholars, and this in face of all your
laws forbidding for instance corporations en-
ploying children unless they can bring a certi-
hcate OF attendance on our common school Sys-
tenn. Now this is not very ingenious. The
impression which the Governor intended TO
convey was that the Republican party had
done something which drove scholars from the
schools. The fact seems to be that the schools
have so much improved that the scholars ac-
quire as much knowledge by going to school
until they are 16 or II years of age as they
nsed to by attending until their majority, for the
decrease is entirely with scholars over 16
years of age. The attendance on the summer
schools has increased. The expense of our
school system to-day is $1,30o,000. Probably
Gov. Garcelon thinks this is too much, the
would not have voluntarily raised $105, 194 in
excess of the requirements of law. If Gov.
Garcelon and his Democratic friends propose
to render the common schools of Maine less
efficient let them say so. Let them make the |
issue and see where it will land them.
The Governor arraigned the management of
the Republican party also because the expense
of criminal prosecutions has increased from
$4,000 in 1850 to 100000 in 1879. This in
crease has been largely on account of the pro-
hibitory law. Is the Democratic party ready
to abolish that?
Next the Governor began hunting through
the reports of the State Treasury and some
200 of his audience began to hunt for the door
and succeeded in finding it. When he had
succeeded in finding what lie wanted he
repeated the exploded statement that the
so-called school and Indian trust fund "have
been put to improper uses.' AS long ago as
1915, Democratic Gov. Anderson in his mes
sage spoke of these so-called trust funds as
having "been always used for the general
purposes of the Treasury In 1866, Demo-
cratic Treasurer Reed, alluded to the fact that
$1,000 had been so used, and accounted for
from year to year. 1t is reflection on all the
Democratic State administrations since 1912, to
charge that they improperly used these funds.
Every dollar Of them has been duly accounted
for.
Gov. Garcelon spent considerable time in a
futile attempt to show that the national taxes
are burdensome. The only tax he could find
that was grinding was the sugar tax. But the
Governor neglected to tell his audience that
sugar is cheaper now than before the war. He
went On to enumerate the savings of the last
legislature, but failed to find the $500 900
which Eben F. Pillsbury claimed, and failed
also to state what is the fact, that most of the
reduction was really the result of the resump-
ton of specie payments, accomplished in spite
of the opposition of the Democratic party. He
plumed himself also OH his veto OF the
double mileage bill In this county he said
there had been a saving of $4,000. Some
thing about that may be found in another
column.
The Governor then wandered off on to ma
tional issues, that is to say he got beyond the
bounds set him by the Argus and referred to
the subject of bulldozing. He had nothing to
say, however, about the murder of Dixon in
Mississippi, but contented himself with re-
marking that ''if there is any bulldozing going
on in the United States the State of Maine is
an exception This was no doubt intend
ed as a dab at the Argus for its attempt to keep
him "within bounds.
The chief magistrate here paused, and Mr..
Andrews prepared to get up to introduce Mr..
Clifford, but the Governor said that he wanted
to pay his repects to his Greenback friends.
He could not understand by the Greenback
platform what they wanted. My friends what
do won nro TO do wi bopdco