Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1880-09-30
Election, Tuesday, October u

buck and the national bank note; that il
| Congress it denounced both us uncOnsti
| tutiOnal; that it has been Il constant
menace to the public credit; and that al
the first opportunity which presented
after the close of the war, i'll it's Nation
| al Convention i'll 1865, 1t demanded .
line of policy which, had it been pursu
ed, would have involved the country in
the crime and covered it with the shame
Of Reputation. 1t demanded the pay,
ment of the public debt of the United
States as rapidly as practicable, and yet
declared, where the obligations of the
Government do not expressly state upon
their face, or the law made under which
they were issued does not provide they
shall be paid in coin, they ought in right
and justice be paid in the lawful curren-
cy of the United States" thus demand
ing the payment of the national debt in
greenbacks. 1t also demanded equal
taxation of every species Of property
according to its real value, including
Government bonds ard other public Sc
curities." Upon this issue it went be
fore the people in 1868 and was defeat
ed and this suicidal and dishonest doc
trine received the hearty and unqualified
endorsement and approval of their pres
ent candidate for President, Gen. Win
field Scott Hancock.
In 1875 Mr.. Tilden took charge of the
literary remains" of the Democratic
party, and manufactured Il platform
which could be made available at the
North, embodying in it some sound fl
nancial views, but denOuncing the Re-
publican party as being guilty of impe-
ding resumption. The rank and file of
the party understood the purpose of the
platform perfectly well, and were not
deceived or misled by it, and, in various
States in which their State Conventions
were held after the national platform had
been adopted. they demanded the imme-
diate repeal of the resumptian act. The
doctrines of the party on financial ques-
tions should be sought in the action of
the representatives of that party on
those questions in Congress.
In 1869 the public credit bill was oppo-
sed in Congress by the nearly solid vote
of the Democratic party. In January,
1876, the bill to repeal the resumption
act received 112 voves, all Democrats but
one. In June, 1876, us a rider to the civ
il appropriation bill, an amendment re-
pealing the resumption act received sol
id Democratic support. Evidently the
party had not been been converted by-itS
platform. In August, 1876, a measure
to repeal the fixing of the time for re-
sumption received i'll the House LOG
votes, all Democrats but ,. And as late
us 1878. in very many States, Democrat
ic Conventions demanded the immedi-
ate repeal of the resumption act.
These are the doctrines of the party,
not merely as declared by it's represen-
tatives, but as crystalized into action; i'll
1880 the party, in National Convention
assembled, declares: "We pledge our
selves anew to the constitutional doc
trines and traditions of the Democratic
party as illustrated by the teaching and
example of a long line of Democratic
statesmen and patriots"
1t makes in its platform of 1880 high
sounding pretensiOns of reform, and
claims to have reduced the public expen-
ditures S40,0O0,000 per year. But the
methods by which this pretended reduc-
tiOn of expenditures has been effected
are, when properly considered, gross ex-
travaganceS. 1t has reduced the army
and cut down the pay of its officers; it
haS refused to make appropriations for
the payment of judgments against the
United States-thus making no real re-
duction in expenditures, for these judg-
mentS must ultimately be paid; it has
refused to make appropriations for the
payment of the expenses of our Federal
courts, thus in very many districts
throughout the country reducing US
to the necessity of adjOurning courts
from time to time, because no means
bave been furnished to pay juries or de-
fray the ordinary court expenses; it has
refused to make appropriations to finish
uncOmpleted public buildings, thus in
the long run increasing the expenditures
rather than diminishing them it has cut
down the service in the Department of
the Interior, and other departments, to
such an extent that business in the
Patent Office and in the Pension Bureau
is greatly in arrears; it has refused to
make adequate appropriation for the
revenue-cutter service; it-has refused to
make adequate appropriations for the
repair and protection of navy-yards, sta
tions, armOries, and arsenals; it has re-
for lighthouses, beacJnS, and fog-sta-
tions. These were not wise and econom-
ical reductions of public expenditures;
they were wasteful and demagogical eX-
In the meantime the vol
ume of Southern claims for losses du-
ring the war has multiplied, and the de-
mands made by the South for appropri-
ations for the improvement of their rlv-
ers, and for other purposes, are becom-
ing more and more vehement.
Their platform calls for free ballot,
and Gen. Hancock asserts that neither
fraud nor force must be allowed to sub
vert the rights of the people" that "the
bayonet is not fit instrument for col
lecting the votes of freemen;" and that
at is only by full vote, free ballot, and
fair count that the people can rule in
fact, as required by the theory of our
This is certainly sound
doctrine, and he should apply it to his
own party-the party of which he is to-
day the head and representative. There
is no free ballot in the South, from which
he confidently expects 13S electoral
votes.
In 1872 the Republican vote of Alaba-
ma was 9O,2T2; in 1878 it was nothing.
In 1872 the Republican vote of Arkansas
was IL ,3T3; in 1878 it was lis. In 1872
the Republican vote of Mississippi was
%, ,175; in 1878 it was 1,16S. These enor-
nous reductions of the Republican vote
,an not be attributed to the conversion
Of Republicans through the agency of
Mr.. Tilden's Literary Bureau, or by le- |
Ultimate methods. The vote was rcdu- |
oed by terrorism, by violence, by fraud.
The Democratic majority in the Stateof
Alabama, in the election recently held
here, is returned at $4,000; but this, all
,oncede, is larger than the entire Demo- |
cratic vote of the State. Surely, in the |
..nguage of Gen. Hancock, ''it is only by |
. full vote, free ballot and fair count
hat the people can rule in fact" Blu:
lere are instances where upon one side
here is no vote; where upon one side !
.he ballot is fettered; where upon one
side the ballot is not counted at all. Or
a a.nrN I'm