Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-10-07

ny purpose quite (. IL Is 10 SHOW, Il
can, what Is actually at stake now, who and
what the conterding forces are, how much the
result may mean, and which Way prudence and
wisdom point.
GENERAL GR4NT S Is TIER TEXT FOB MANY
SERMONS.
You have listened to a letter from one to
whom at least as much as to any other man
the nation owes its preservation, prosperity
and primacy. This letter, instinct with COM
mon sense, hits the nal On the head. l S
writer generally does hit nails. rebelions and
pre-enders on the head. He says:
This meeting should awaken the people to
the importance of keeping control of the gov
eminent in the hands Of the Republican party
until we can have two national parties, every
member of which can cast his ballot as judg-
ment dictates. without fear of molestation or
ostracism, and have it honestly counted: par
ties not differing in opinion as to whether we
are nation. but as to the policy to secure the
greatest good to the greatest number of its
citizens. Sincerely believing that the Demo
cratic party, as now constituted and controlled
IS not fit party to trust with the control of
the general government l believe it to the best
interests of al sections, South as we'll as North
that the Republican party should succeed in
U. S. GRANT.
Lord Chesterfield said that letter shows
the man it is written to, as well as the man it
is written by. This letter bears Lord Chester
field out. It is written to Gen. Arthur, and
it reveals the confidence and esteem il which
the writer holds him. Informed by many
years of intimate acquaintance, Gen. Grant
knew and felt, as we know and feel, that he
was writing not only to friend. but to one Of
the most genuine, patriotic and honorable of
men. Loud &pplause.J
HOW THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY IS Contributed
AND CONTROLLED.
This letter furnishes a text for many SER
mons. The Democratic party as now con-
stituted and controlled" How it is constitu-
ted. how controlled? There is a vast number
OF upright, patriotic men init-a vast number
of men who gave all and did all they should
have given and done to uphold their govern
ment and their flag in the supreme and dire
hour OF trial. A vast number who iunperilled
their lives, as other Democrats laid down their
lives for their country. MANY Nor hern DEM
ocrats who cast all their weight and sympathy
on the nation side, after the war was over re-
turned to their former party associations
many Others never did so return. Were such
Democrats to guide and influences g. Democratic
congress and a Democratic administration,
their party would not be constituted and con
trolled " as it is. Because such men and their
views and interests will not and can not COZ
troll in the event of Democratic success, much
grave peril arises.
AS the Democratic party is opstituted, not
the men OF the North, not the men who were
for the Union aud the Constitution but the
men OF the South who were against the Union
and the Constitution, men whose policy aud
purposes are still hurtful to fhe country are
bound aud predestined to control Democratic
administration and Democratic CONGRESS.
TApplausa.] In the Senate and in the House
the South has an overwhelming mai7ritv Of
the Democratic members. and most of them
are men who led in the rebellion. Every Earty
measure in Congress is settled in party c3ucus
by d party majarity; thus the Southern mem
bers hold absolute sway. In possession of the
law-Enakipg power, Of the purse, and of the
power to confirm or reject treaties and appoint
rnents, the South Is also to furnish all the votes
to elect the Democratic candidates, save only
the forty-seven votes which must be ratified, or
counted, or certified, or produced from the
Northern States, particularly no. excepting
Oregon. Should the election be close. there
is no knowing but the two Democratic houses
may find ground on which to throw out part
or all Of any States electors With much I'M
employed leisure on their hands, with the
danger which the electoral commission of
1877 alone overpassed, for that time staring
the country in the face, these Democratic
houses have adopted no measure to insure
order and right in ascartainirg the result Of
the Presidential election. Should controversy
arise, sid the election be thrown into the
house. there the vote being taken by states,
th9 South would cast nearly all the Democratic
votes, and in the Senate the vote for Wee
President would como from the same source.
Ia every event of Demo ratio success, the
Southern end of the Democratic party must be
to the Northern END az the locomotive is TO the
ten2eT, as the horse is to the cart. This is as
plain as any truth in gravitation or arithmetic.
The SOUTH CONTROLS THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY.
Perhaps this point will seem to you to chal-
Ieng9 some attention. For the population of
the Southern States, we must go back to the
census OF 1870. That count of the people was
made by enumerators not selected by Southern
oyOI oc hi
partlsaIs" and professional reformers. It was
made by the regular mar5hals and their depu-
ties, and the compensation was so adjusted as
to induce thorough visitation and at the same
time, to guard against exaggeration Of num-
bers. No imputatiou of fraud was ever cast
upon the "ork. Such thing as plot to fab
rcate monsrous increase Of population in
one section, in order to bafla the course of ma
ture and the logic of events in another-a plot
to change the balance of power and population
in order to aggrandize one section by estab-
fishing a false basis of representation and ap-
poruonmeEt thus rObbing other sections of
their share in governing the country, in levy
ing taxes, and apprOpriating money, had not
a that time occurred to the conservative FOES
OF radicalsm. That particular spoke in the
wheel Of devilGrv had no, turned up 10 the
shifty patriot of that day. Now, such schemes
seem to wax apace. We read OF producing
false heirs to thrones, but to multiply false
scale SO grand as seems now il process, would
ssupefy the ingenuity of a French novelist, OR
anybody else except 8 thoroug h-gOjng, nom
partisan, conservative disciple of the Demo-
cratic persuasion, wanting nothing for himself,
but ready to do and suffer for white mans
government with "reform" and "a change"
Up 1lause.]
The suggestion now is that the census
takers Of 1870 under-counted their neighbors.
Paid by the head and by the mile, not by the
day, it is now alleged they robbed themselves;
they neither Travelled or counted, nor charged
for doing it. They were "earpet-baggers,
too many of them, in the South; their States
were Republican, they had their ambitions and
motives for increased political numbers and
power; there was not the rennOtest danger Of
any direct tax; and yet with nothing to gain
and everything to lose, they wronged and
swindled themselves for the sake Of being dis
honest. This al may be. It is the only way
Of accounting for the awkward wonders O.
the census now progressing. l cannot be
called ingenious, because it is plainly the only
possible explanation, and it imps badly.
Ecumenical councils may sit on these recent
fabulous census revelations, but men VIII still
wonder how - per cent. was added to the
population Of a State in ten years, during
which she received exactly 137 foreign immi-
grants-a fact established without the aid Of
any census. Such an increase of population
anywhere would crop out in unnumbered direc-
.tions. Production, consumption, buildings,
titled acreage, railway traffic, postal returns,
immigration would tell the story of such
growth. Whether these tell-taIe tests, which
cannot be smothered, sustain or demOlish the
proposed count in the Southern States will IL
cijentally appear further on if your patience
shall endure.