The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-07-17

| loud applause which followed the Democratic
| speakers, while with that lofty and ANNA ted
eloquence OF which they are such masters they
recounted the deeds of our brave boys as they
hurled back the "rebel hordes. daughter
Surely when Democratic speakers designate
our misguided brethren as ''rebel hordes" and
are cheered for it in Democratic meeting,
there has been some progress somewhere
When we issued the greenbacks they derided
them but now tn ey love them better than we
can. L even look forward to the time when
they will believe in paying them. OF course
that will be after they have been paid Uaugh-
ter0 But tits always somethingt to get quack
doctor to admit the resultSof post-mortem. 1t
doesn't help save the patient but it adds to the
sum OF human knowledge In fact, the Dem
ocrats admit our having been right on all the
issues as soon as they have become dead
enough. Part of our mission is to elevate the
Democatic party by precept and example And
they make progress, slow to be sure, but graf
flying When they don't occupy our last years
camps it is only because they have concluded
TO stay another year in the camps of the year
before last. All the doctors and generals we
shove out of the tail end of our wagon they
make candidates of, and they make good ones
for them. In that kingdom of the blind the
one-eyed is easily king
Now let us take view of the men whose
views and feelings Gen. Hancock will have to
follow They are made up of the Northern and
Southern Democracy. In what have to say
l do not want to be accused of ''rekndling the
dying embers of the war;" or of stirring up the
hatreds which have passed. When the Dem
ocrats approved of the war at the City Hall
there was no need of other proof that it was
over. For the purposes of what have to say
we will acknowledge that it was only differ
ence of opinion such as might with honor to
both parties fill graves and hospitals, and de-
plete treasures. and that nobody deserves any
credit Tor having been on the right side. And
yet 1t IS necessary to speak of the South. To
portray democracy and not speak of the
States lately in rebellion would be to stop be-
fore the work was begun. The South rules
the Democracy. 1t furnishes the large major
ity OF its members OF Congress and its Sena-
tors. MaJorltles rule in caucuses. OF the LAT
Democrats in the House 100 are from the
South, and thirty-One of the forty-two Sena-
tors. Combining ourselves to the lately rebel
llouS States alone and we find them furnishing
majority OF Democrats in the Senate and
with Kentucky a majority in the House. If
we admit then that it is of no consequence what
ever what the South has been, certainly nobody
will say that it is of no consequence what they
are now. What they are shows what our
rious. l am going, therefore, to invite your
attention to the consideration of the question
what KIND OF rulers they are among them
selves: For four years they have had I'M
restrained local-self government. The first
pirlnciple OF our system OF government is COM
plete liberation Of opinion. Free discussion
is the only safeguard of truth We never
shrink from it in Maine. We believe the
truth to be great enough to prevail No such
idea exists in the South. There is no such lib
erality there. 1t is much safer in that region
to agree with people who have shot guns. lin
one word Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida and
South Carolina would elect Republican cleo
tors ii free untrammelled voting could prevail
we made the negro voter to enable him to
protect his rights and he has been deprived of
both vote and rights. Thousands of them
have left home, friends and all the associations
OF the land where they were born, and
swarmed across hundreds of miles of unk noWn
territory to lind some place where they could
be Tree. This is the secret of the famous negro
exodus which has not yet finished its mission.
The character OF those who will rule us if we
are foolish enough to permit it, can be further
seen IN their treatment of public obligations.
Of all the States lately in rebellion all but
Iexas nave repudiated their State debts in
whole or in part. While national debt is
far from being national blessing, it is, never
theless, possible only in high state of civili-
cation. States cannot be sued. The creditors
sole security is in the honor and good faith of
the people. Unless there be in a community
Just sense OF what is due to integrity nobody
will trust their earnings to it. The national
debt OF France is only 800 years old. Eng
iand dates back to 1893 only. But to-day the
1alth OF an honest nation is deemed more Sc
cure than money itself. A nations treatment
OF its public debt is to-day fair test of the
civilization of its people. Tried by that test
the South presents notifying spectacle All
together, the States lately in the rebellion
have repudiated $272000O0O of principal, and
over $500, 100000 if you include interest, of
which $S0,0OO,000 were payable to foreign
holders, $70000,000 to Southern, and $50, 900 600
to Northern holders. In round numbers Ala
bama has repudated 1923 ,647 $751; Arkansas
$1S, PSI .273, Florida $6,240,O0o, Georgia $12,-
0O0,OOO. Louisiana seems to be in the process
under Democratic rule of making her figures
$29, 49, 900, North Carolina $44 1853, ISL and
South Carolina 100000. Tennessee is
struggling over the question whether her
figures shall be $N.274 900 or double that
number, whether it shall repudiate half or the
whole. Total reputation at present holds the
tort Virginia closes the list with $64, ZIG, 402.
These figures cover interest and losses from
forcible reduction of interest, and cover all the
years since the war. Not one of these States
has SO large per centage of debt as the CITY of
Portland. Yet he would be rash man with
no future who should talk reputation here.
Ii these States have thus repudiated debts con-
tracted for their own benefit and partly among
their own people, what will they do with our
national debt. Do you suppose they love that
debt? They think it represents their issubiu-
CATION Already they propose to repeal the
act making the interest on the debt perma-
nent appropriation. Now the interest is paya-
1 PIE whether Congress appropriates or not.
These men are already trying to drag the in
terest on the public debt into the annual
wrangles of Congress With these facts be-
fore you it is for you to consider whether you
wish to run the risk of having these men dis
honor the nation as they have their own States.
Mr. Reed then proceeded to discuss atlength-
the State issues.
At the close of Mr.. Reeds address the "Star
Spanged Banner" was sung
Mr. Reeds address was listened to with the
closest attention. The few Democrats and
Greenbackers present, however, were evident
ly anything but gratifed at the points made
One Greenbacker, who had the courage to stay
through the whole, remarked after reaching
the street, that he had never heard Garcelon
and his Council SO badly used up, adding
''Fogg will have to come down and stump this
district sure" The meeting was in every re-
spect success, and shows the interest felt by
the Republicans of this city in the campaign