Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1880-10-21

may say, insulting projects against oua
State have passed unnoticed, and are al.
most unknown to the public which thev
wrong so deeplyp This Indifference is
due to the fact that the public mind has
been agitated by constant appeals to
their passions. In view of the decision
| have quoted, and the plans of the
Republican Senator from Pennsylvania,
do not the plaudits of Republican meet
ings have q new signifcancep When
they cheer their orators as they hold up
our felloW-citizens of the South to scorn
and hate, will not thoughtful men feel
that this applause simply encourages
men to trample on the rights of those
who render itp Will not commercial
men, the owners of real estate, the man.
ufacturers and mechanics of this metrop-
oils, pause and ponder awhile, before
they give over their city and their State
to those whose plans and purposes will
bring dishonor and danger to those
whose votes they seek? When the de-
mand is made upon us for more power,
should we not learn whose power is to
be surrende cred, to whom it is to be
given, over whom it is to be exercised
II men will fairly consider and answer
these three questions, they never can be
brought to uphold the centralizing pur-
poses of men who appeal to their pas
sions and not to their principles.
Is there any reason why New York,
with its five millions of people, shall in
sist that twenty five of its citizens shall
have no more voice in its home affairs
than one man in Rhode Islandp Should
we hail remote Oregon, Nevada, Colo
rado, and Florida, whose united popu-
lations are less than that of the city of
Brooklyn, and ask them to see to it that
their eight Senators should exert their
four-fold power over the two from New
York on the management of the canals
built at our costp There is no power SO
profitable as that which gives influence
over the carrying trade of our country.
Those who have it gain unbounded
wealth. Officials al Washington show
a desire to get possession of this source
of profit. Is there anything in the result
of the Republican policy with respect
TO our carrying trade upon the oceans
that should give us confidence in their
management of the great internal COM
merce of our country. The time was
when American vessels were potent and
prevailing agencies to find and to make
markets for American products. Special
interests, taking advantage of unequal
representation, have not only driven the
American flag from the oceans of the
world, but more, and worst of all, they
have weakened and lessened those great
commercial agencies that at one time
were the pride of our country. The
calamity lis not merely that American
ships are disappearing, but that the ir-
tellect, the bold enterprise, the vigorous
minds that but few years since were so
active in enterprises reaching into every
quarter of the earth, have been turned
away from that commerce which, ever
in the history of mankind, has been an
agent SO potent in advancing and spread
ing civilization.
THE WRONG DONE BY THE REPUBLICANS
TO THE PUBLIC CREDITORS.
Il has been claimed by Republican
speakers that their party has saved our
country from the disgrace eofrepudiation
A statement of facts will show that this
is the reverse of the truth; that the peri j
Vt this discredit was due to the action of
their own administration. This excited
prejudice against bondholders, and
placed a large share of our citizens in
conditions which excited the fears Of
many that resumption would bring ruin
to them.
The State of New York borrowed
money to make the canals, which gave
to it and to this city so much wealth
and prosperity. The lender gave coin,
or its equivalent, for its bonds. When
the interest upon these fell due, in 1863
and 1864, q Democratic governor i'm
plored the legislature to save the honor
of the State and pay this interest in
money as good as that which it got.
Every Democrat in the legislature voted
for the honest course; every Republican
voted against it, under influence of
the leaders at Washington and else
where This was the precedent for re-
pudiation, from the great commercial
State of our Union. After time, the
question came before the supreme
court of the United States, if the legal
tender act compelled creditors to take
deprecated currency, when they had
loaned coin, or its equivalent, before the
passage Of the law. The court de-
cided in favor of honesty and decency !;
that the debtor was bound to
pay in money as good as that which he
borrowed; that there was no reason,
law, or justice in allowing him to de-
fraud his creditor, upon the pretext that
the necessities of government, after his
contract was made, had compelled it
to issue legal-tenders for all future trans
actions. Thereupon Republican ad-
ministration akded two judges to the
court, who overturned the honest de-
cision and held that Congress meant
such reputation by the terms of the
legal-tender act. But the gravest wrong
was perpetrated at the close of the war.
During its progress the rise of values
enabled debtors to pay off their obllga-
tions. There never was time In the
history of our country when our people
owed so little; for men had looked for
ward with some fear to the close OF the
war, and had taken care to pay their
debts before there would be change in
the value of the currency. When the
war ended, and the wants of the gov
ernment fell off, there was great sur
plus of money beyond the needs of bust
ness transactions. Ii, at that time,
those in power had duly contracted the
expenses of the government, so that they
would not have been more than third
greater than they were before the begin
ming of the contest, the amount they
could have paid of the public indebted
ness would have = iuced its obligations,
and have ado - 20 its credits, to degree
that both its principal and interest would
have been cut down to point that
would have left no doubts in the mind
of the world of our ability and purpose
to maintain the honor of our country.
In the place of this honest policy the ex-
penses were greatly increased, and the
currency was not reduced to proper
volume. Under these influences wild
spirit Of speculation was engendered.
Men, corporations and States involved
themselves in vast amounts of indebted
ness. All prices were inflated, until at
length the inevitable collapse occurred.