Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1880-11-02


been upon the statute books several
years. It was passed In consequence of
the frauds of Boss Tweed in New York.
1t was appealed to by both political par
ties, and it operated well in all large cit
les, and it was only operative there. The
Democrats desired to get rid of this law
SO that the cheating might more easily
be carried on than it was under this law.
They passed bill through both houses
OF congress repeating the election law.
They sent it to President Hayes and he
" axed them no THAT is he vetoed the
bill. Then they attached that bill re-
pealing the election law to the bill MAX
ing appropriations for the support of the
army of the United States There was
a bill passed in the ordinary form which
provided for the pay of the soldiers then
upon TIE plains fighting the Indians,
and which provided for the pay of the
officers of the army, and they attached
this amendment to repeal the election
law to this bill, saying in effect to Presi-
dent Hayes: "Now you must consent to
the repeal of these election laws or we
won't pay your army" Well they sent
that bill up to President Hayes and he
vetoed it again. The president could not
be coerced to repeal wise and salutary
laws by any such means. They then
REFUSED TO PASS APPROPRIATIONS
for the support of the army, and for
eight months the soldiers on the from
tier, then engaged in fighting the In
dians, had to do without their "grub -
or depend upon their sutler for their
ordinary food. And I know there are
enough soldiers before me tonight who
know how man would get along who
had to depend on the sutler for their
supplies-they have to pay treble prices.
[ know officers Of the army who, in con-
sequence of the failure to pass these ap-
preparation bills, were compelled to bor-
row money to pay the expenses of their
families, at high rates of interest, from
bankers and brokers.
AS I have said, and that is the propo-
sition / am endeavoring to prove, every
question Of American politics that has
come up within the past few years has
been tlnctured more or less with the
old Democratic idea of state rights. [
have shown you that the election law of
the United States has been nullifed,
and that every attempt has been made
to repeal that law; that it is utterly dis
regarded in the southern states Why
is it? Simply because they say, under
the Democratic construction of the reso-
lutions of '98, congress had no power to
pass the election law. cit is against the
resolution of 49," And they therefore
disregard them. And they disregard
other laws than this. There is class
of questions which do not so much affect
human rights as they do the pockets of
the people, and the "pocket nerve" is
said to be rather more sensitive than the
"hrman nerve," wherever that may be.
Now there is
A QUESTION ABOUT NATIONAL MONEY
and state money. Why is it that, al
though the Democratic party claims to
have been in power some forty odd
years, that we never have had, during
the existence of that party, good ma
tional money? The reason was because
under their idea this kind of money was
unconstitutional, null and void. It was
CONTRARY to the resolutions Of 49,
They thought there was no power in con-
gress authorizing the issuance of any
form of paper money, either by the ma
tional banks or by the United States.
They therefore provided under the laws
then in existence for state bank paper
money. You had, before the war, banks
organized by thirty odd different states
and many territories. They were issuing
paper money without any general
law and without any general
security; there was no provision
made to secure the note holder. The
money had partial but limited circula-
tion. That which was issued in Wis
consin went very well here. That issued
in Illinois went pretty well there. Tt
was cred dog" money, I" blue jay"
money, and various kinds of money. It
has as many names as an ordinary
counterfeiter, and as many aliases. This
money was of limited circulation, but
you were compelled in the good old
Democratic times to take this paper
money because you couldn't get any
thing else. The American people never
have become accustomed and never will
become accustomed to a simple metallic
money composed of gold and silver.
They always have had and always will
have some form of paper money, and the
kind they had then was state bank paper
money What was the objection to that
kind of money?
i In the first place it was not good. A
bank would break every once in a while.
It was estimated that the people of the
United States lost SIC, 200, 900 year by
broken bank paper money in times be-
fore the war; and when the bank broke
it went out of existence No man ever
heard of bank In olden times ever MAX
ing its money good. Then besides it
was counterfeited almost without let or
hindrance, SO that man in order to find
out whether bill was counterfeit had to
take with him book as big as the
moral law, or at least as big as the New
4 Testament in order to find out whether
the money he received was counterfeit
or genuine. Then if he tried to use
it-he might pay it out here for
groceries and store goods, but when
he crossed the state line he had to go to
a brokers' Office and change it. have,
since arrived at age, paid 10 per cent.
premium on exchange between the town
| IL T u