Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-07-01
THE CLAMoR FOR UPDEGRAFF

again broke out, and in Difference to the
genderal demand, Col. Poorman intro
duced the candidate to the Convention,
and after the enthusiastic cheers with
which he was greeted had subsided, DR..
Updegraff said:
UPDEGRAFF'S SPEECH.
Mr.. President and Gentlmen Of tie Con-
Uenti0n:
1t would be injustice to myself and
ingratitule to you to profess indifft T.
ence to this renewed evidence of your
approval and confidence. In accepting
this nomination l desire to express to
you and those you represent my grateful
sense Of the honor and obligation of the
trust and still more of the general unani-
nifty with which it is offered. To repre-
sent in any degree satisfactorily this
Sixteenth district with its great and di-
versi1ed interests, with its vast and
varied industries, with its high average
of intelligence, and its large population
of patriotic and Independent people, is
indeed an exalted trrst. Thus far you
have given me a. generous lenity and
even some measure of your confidence,
so that in any event can but be forever
your debtor. But to the utmost of my
ability l shall strive not to abuse the
liberality of that confidence. 1t would
urge any Representative to his best en-
deavor to know that he has as con-
stituency such a district, and again /
thank you.
Fellow Republicans, probably no man
here has ever confronted campaign or
an election of greater Importance, or one
fraught with more far-reaching results
than the one just now before US. Ap-
plause 1t is an omen of good that ev-
cry year the best citizens of our country
realize more and more that wise and
Just civil institutions are tie only sure
basis of social progress or national pros
perity, ofseiucatiOnal elevation or re-
ligious freedom. Applause.l Circum-
stances give to the election in this State
not only commanding interest but a
national importance. Ohio is to be the
battle ground of the first great conflict
of this campaign. Applause.l The
eyes and hearts of the whole nation,
from the cabin in the swamps of the
South to the great commercial marts of
the East, from the great lakes to the Pa
cific, are turned here and anxiously
await the voice of this mighty Common
wealth. A Democratic victory in Ohio
would be net only = State dishonor but
national disaster. Hearty applause. ]
But, my friends, no such calamity Will
come to pass. Renewed applause. We
shall have full discussion and a full
vote, and in Ohio that always means a
Republican victory. Applause. A
$4,000 majority in October will become
the nations rallying cry in the great bat
tie of November.
Then the harmony and enthusiasm
with which the Chicago nomination has
filled the canvass have become both in
spiration and omen of success. The
leadership of Garfield, man of master
full greatness-one of the grandest men
who ever walked the highways of pow
er [Vociferous and long continued ap-
plause, means the solid and serried
ranks of the whole Republican host
stalwart and scratcher, German liberal
scholars, soldiers and statesmen, Curtis
and Conkling, Logan and Halstead; the
press, the pulpit and the people. 1t
means Ohio and New York. 1t means
Connecticut and New Jersey and lndl-
ana. 1t means not only the promise but
the potency of victory. Applause
Since the Chicago Convention, if there
is dissatisfied Republican, he has so
far kept his secret and made his conceal
ment a success. If any one man living
typifies fully in his life the grand pOssi-
bilitieS of genius and purpose and char
acter developed in free schools, and by
free institutions, that mans name is
James A. Garfield. His whole career,
from the poor orphan boy to the lau-
relied soldier, from the carpenter shop to
the Senate, from the school at Chester to
the Convention at Chicago, his whole
life is full of robust American manli-
ness. [Cheers. With varied culture,
with supreme qualities, with illustrious
achieved results, and perilous opportu-
mites, he has held his foothOld firm al
ways on tile heights of a resolute, self
reliant, honest, manly life. He is still
poor, though he could have worked
himself into Millions" as Don Piatt, a
political opponent, truly says. With all
his great natural gifts he is Herculean
w
on colleague, he said no man ever had
gained or ever ought to achieve high
position in the House of Representa-
tives without resolute, patient labor. In
that House General Garfield leaves be-
him him many strong men, but not an
other who can WELD his Warwick
sword. His colleagues will long remem-
ber the dismay with which his opponents
heard his order of battle, and his Repub-
lican associates, recalling his crushing
arraignment of the Democracy and its
revolutionary designs in the extra ses-
sion of the present Congress, will often
be ready to say, "Oh! for an hour of that
Dandolo, who on that day the word of
onset gave"
The nomination of Garfield was cru
ell disregard of the plans and purposes
of the Democracy. Laughter For a
year past they have freely and generous
ly offered advice and aid towards this
work of selecting our candidate. They
declared that the only possible or wise
thing for the Republican party to do
was to nominate Grant, and then on the
I'd of June folios of Democratic editori-
ais were ready for the press proving
that the nomination of Grant meant a
military despotism and the overthrow of
Constitutional liberty. Only a few
weeks ago Senator Thurman came to
Columbus, and in serenade speech, an
ticipating such nomination, dwelt
mainly on the perils of "a strong Gov
eminent" "a despotism," and IAN En-
peror in America" Indeed, so fully had
this terror seized him, that although he
announced he was in "fine health" yet
he was evidently somewhat demoralized,
for, in concluding, he regrets he had
omitted to say anything of Reform
and "lower taxes" Now, when Demo-
cratic statesman, in good health, omits
both of these subjects something is
wrong. Laughter They are themes