American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1880-07-31
A Word With Young Men.

MAJOR General commanding
A Word With Young Men.
One of the sacred writer's, in his frs,
general epistlc. says: 81 have written
unto you, young men, because we are
strong"
1t does not readily occur to the Older
voters in the United States that about
one-haf of those who will go to the
polls in November to deposit their bal
lots were not voters at the close of the
civil war in America. The prattliny
boy of six years when that great con-
test closed is to-day a voter. The
young man who had at the close of the
war just become voter is still young
man of thirty-six, and he, too, was not
a participant in that unhappy strife. A
very large fraction, if not nearly one.
half, of the voters of the country have
not yet seen thirty-seven years of life,
and were only boyish observers of the
war for the Union. The appeal in this
Presidential contest is largely to be
made to men who are yet in the glory
and beauty and strength of youth. and
to men whose boyhood and whose youth
forbade them mingling in the passion
ate scenes of the civil war.
1t is natural for young men to love
the beauties of patriotism. and the
young blood quickens at the simple
story of the grandeur of civil liberty
This election of 1880 is to BE- really the
first free, dispassionate, non-sectional,
National Presidential election since the
war. 1t is to be the first election
since 1860 held in a state of peace,
though the war closed fifteen years
M Il q,
the country from our numer-
schools, and from innumerabIe homes.
a vast body of young and spirited
voters whose boyish memories have
been full of the horrid and bloody tales
of that civil war. Intelligent political
opinions are unframed at that early
period, but sentiment is strong. The
principles of Government are imper-
fectly understood, but the bounding
impulses are omnipotent. The young
man in the North who will cast his first
vote in November dimly remembers,
but remembers, that the stories told
him in childhood were stories of battle
between fellow-countrymen; and he has
been taught at school and at college
that the Republican party was, and is,
and shall be, the only representative of
Union and freedom. He has been
taught at home and at church that it is
unpatriotic to vote against the men
that had saved the Union" We do
not say that this has been the universal
instruction given to the boys and young
men of the North, but it has been the
preponderating instruction. We do
not say that these have been the only
Northern influences exerted upon ba-
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No.',, mas pee. s;.oo. VI PreJuoice' Vi
anIi,Democratic preluGice.
Inc nomination OF UeneraI HANCOCK
Tor the fresldency pv the Democratic
parry mas chansea al, Inis. me year
looU Will long De notaoie IN our history
as the giver o. pollilca! ieedom to our
young men: Inc republican teachings
tnat nave 1or nearly naiI generation
OF men peen ihst,,iea inIo me minus OF
.ne youIn VI the NoI.n are .hcnsei We,
IN part, tne donors OF tnis nperty. Inc
young men VIII say 70 their hepuoican
instructors: GU tangnt me 70 vote
1or the Dest representative OF the
Union. Inns year gives the young
men an opportunity 10 thlnk. Inc
political questions that hEed the boylsh
thoughts and the Union-are
forever settled, and the bias which
framing implanted mas peen nanished
Dy the NOMINATION. OF hancock Inc
tnouSnttui young man OF the Nortn, Ior
the hrst time since APromattox' breathes
the air OF political freedom: he Is at
liperey W ro'1 .or .ne Alher:can Princl-
the town-meeting government, for civil
liberty, for patriotism; and no Repub-