The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-03-02
VESTS VIEWS.
CAPITALIZATION DECLARED THE
COMING DANGER rHE NEGRO
To me- PROTECTED.
The Popular Needs-Peacc, Patriotism
and Pres perify.

The Popular Needs-Peacc, Patriotism
and Prosperity.
The following Is Senator-eect Vests adj
dress TO The Joint session OF the General As
sembly after he had been declared elected,
Mr.. Vest said:
Mr. President aud Gentlemen of The Assem-
btu-For the compliment TO mo personally,
evidenced by your action TO day, words are
Inadequate to express my gratitude, ana !
can only hope by a faithful discharge 81 the
duties devolved upon me by the high Office to
which have been elected to prove myself
worthy of your generous confidence.
Mypolitical opinions are go well known, ana
have been 30 often expressed, that no extend
ed address will be necessary In defining my
position on the questions now prominently
before the people, nor uan there be any uncer-
tainty rs to my action In the future upon any
Issues involving the well defined differences
existing between the two great political par
ties now struggling for supremacy. These
differences. In my Judgment, affect the very
existence OF republican institutions, as estab
lished by the trainers OF our government, and
commencing with the government Itself, they
enter now, as they have always done. into
every public question. When our fathers de-
clared their independence, and when they
afterward framed tho constitution, their lead
Ing idea was TO avoid the contradiction which
characterized the governments OF the Old
World, from one OF which they had just
separated after long and cruel war Every
drop of patriot blood shed In that unequal
strife every skeleton bleaching upon Its bat
ue-felds. every hour OF cold aud hunger and
agony In the long, dark winter Mt Valley
Forge. every prayer that went up from the
patriot mother for her soldier son, every tear
upon the graves Of tho patriot dead, were
each and all protests against Capitalization
For ages the only
OBJECT OF GOVERNMENT
had been to enable the few 10 enjoy the labor
and property OF the many, and even the BE-
nign religion Of our Master had been some
times the handmade OF Capitalization. Our
fathers, with courage for which we can never
be sufficiently grateful, declared that all just
government derived its power from the con-
sent of the governed, and that the best gov
eminent is that which confers the greatest
good upon the greatest number. Upon this
basis they established the only true and real
republic which has ever existed, and for this
l. their descendant, standing in this historic
hail. upon the prairies Of the far West and IN
the centre Of that vast empire which has come
from their matchless courage avOuch this
their great deed and magnify their sacred
names
The advocates of Capitalization have assert
cd that when the trainers of the constitution
declared their object to be the formation Of
more perfect government they intended TO
abridge the rights of the State. II 1t false.
more perfect government simply meant one
In which the rights Of the people would be
more thoroughly protected, and to that ond
the powers vested In tho different depart
ments of the government more distinctly de-
fined and limited.
UNDER THE MONARoHTCAL SYSTEM
from which our fathers escaped. government
was something alien from and antagonstic
60 the people, an aristocraoy In the air, to be
worshiped az q star from afar of, but not to
be touched by vulgar hands. Upon this ina
nous superstition our fathers trampled, as
they marked the snow with their bleeding
feet, and In Its stead they created the system
of State government, coming from and near
TO the people the system 80 clearly enuncia-
ted In that clause OF the constitution which de-
clares THE powers not delegated to the
United States by the constitution, nor pro
hibited by 1t to the States, are reserved to the
States respectively, or to the people,
What could more clearly establish the great
truth upon which
TIE DEMOCRATIC PARTY
is based. that the Federal government Is the
agent OF the States acting under power OF
attorney IN the shape OF a written constitu-
tionp interviewer with every fibre OF the
party, this doctrine has given to it the vi
tality which has outlIved SO many adversa-
ries and survived SO many disasters.
Capitalization means force. as antithetic to
popular WILL and must always be associated
with monarchy and hereditary rank. State
government, on the other hand, next to that
OF the family, will always be dear to the
American heart. The one Is OF foreign. the
other OF domestic growth, and whilst great
centralized government may dazzle for a time,
like the sun with its garish light at monday,
1t IL at last In the States, and by the unpre-
tending but steady light Of that lamp which
jefferson fixed as u beacon for poSterity, that
our liberties must be preserved.
GENERALIZATION
means force but it does not always come In
the shape of standing armies, or the mailed
hand of a military despot. Look around, and
you will see In every portion OF this vast
country, with its varied products. and I'M
limited resources, the blightlnB influence OF
financial Capitalization.
Pitiless as the ocean. unheedtng, as the
storm, cold and remorseless as death, imam
cial Capitalization is to-day crushing out the
life of the country. The dream OF Alexander
Hamilton s ambition when he led the old Fed
eralists, has been realized In the financial sys-
tenn of the Republican party. Under this
system New England and Wall street control
the Union. The Republican leaders deter
mined to erystalizs their power and make it
perpetual. by erecting a centralized financial
despotism around which should rally the
Janissaries OF the National Banks, and the
Pretorian cohorts of the bondholders. Every
interest was subordinate to this giant infamy.
THE BONDS or THE GOVERNMENT,
interest-bearing and non-taxable, were sold
at ruinous prices, and more than two thou
sand national banks were permitted to de-
DOEtL THESE UbHuS Will luc SoFtl uitW
the accruing interest, issue bank notes to an
amount only one-tenth less than the bonds
deposited, and then loan these notes to the
people for ten per cent interest payable in ad-
vance.
The same spirit of Capitalization, always
looking to the same end made the 500 bonds
payabie. principal and interest, in coin, when
by their terms, the principal was payable in
legal tender notes. The same spirit after
ward made these bonds convertible into coin
bonds so as to destroy the identity of the
original issue. The same spirit, In order to
make the bonds more valuable. demonetized
silver. and, finally, struck down with the ak
of resumption the energies and industries of
the entire country.
Who demanded resumption The national
banks and bondhoiders. 1t has come by
operation of law. and ruin has come with it.
Business is paralyzed. values destroyed, the
country full Of tramps, the cities full of
thieves, whilst the people of the West are
staring bankruptcy squarely in the face.
dohest money! shouts the bondholder. The
credit OF the government must be preserved |
1es-so says every honest man; but to pre-