The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-09-09

u republican administration has resulted
an increase OF appropriations from year to yea
PROPOSED NO MEASURE OF RELIEF.
During all this time the democrats have pre-
posed no reduction of taxes and no measure
relief to the industrial interests of the country
Paralyzed by their responsibility, they did nC
even dare to propose modification of the tai
III laws or bring about any financial reform
which they had promised SO often and so Ions
They neglected the most necessary change
In our tax laws, such as a modification OF tn
tax on sugar, leaving the department to strue
gle with litigation and controversy withou
legislative aid They can point to no law pass
| ed during their time which even purports t.
bring relief to the people, to lessen the burden
OF taxation or to advance the public interests
Their whole effort for years was torepeal the re
sumption law, to continue in some form
deprecated currency or to cripple and impai
the public credit During the last year or tW,
it has been expended in a futile attempt to re
peal the election laws, intended to protect tn
elective franchise from fraud and violence
This they attempted in revolutionary mode
They attached the conditions of repeal to APP
preparation bills necessary to the support o
the government; and when the President dis
approved such repeal, they left importan
| branches of the service without any appropri
/ peioiij COLhpS1ACt Jul oOldlClS Ou bllC Hun
tier and our army officers to borrow money t.
meet their current expenses, while the treasury
was overlooking with money due to them.
THEY WANT A CHANGE-ITs EFFECTS
And now, in 1880, they want a change-no
a change in the Democratic House Or Senate
but a change in the executive branch of the
government, so that all branches of the gov
ernment will be practically under their power
and control. 1t is known very well that with
in period oftour years the election of Dem
ocratic president would probably, by the
chances of life, convert the Supreme Court in.
to q citadel of the principles and policy of the
Democratic party, and change the national ten
densies of that great tribunal into machine
to cripple the government in its power to pro-
tect the rights of the freedmen by the adoption
OF the narrow notions of state rights which
governed the Democratic party before the war
And who are they who propose this radical
change in our government? 1t is the same
Democratic party that in 1860 sought to over
throw the government, governed by the self
same men or their lineal descendants, and the
same elements which controlled the policy OF
the administration of James Buchanan. Who
control that party now? The basis-the gov
erning poWer-of that party is in the solid
South. The segment OF the party will furnish
one hundred and six members of Congress and
thirty-two senators, and, by their numerical
majority over their Democratic associates, will
dictate the yolicy and laws Of our govern
ment
What reasons do they give, what motives
do they assign, as the basis of such revolu-
ton i?
Senator Pendleton says they want chance
to examine the hooks of the Treasury Depart
ment The books Of the treasury are now, and
have been for years, under the surveillance Of
the Democratic majority of the House. Com
mittees Of both houses have explored the re-
cesses ofthat department, examined it's books,
compared the figures; and what have they
found? They claim that in 1870 great discrep-
ances were shown in the statements of the
public accounts but these discrepancies, after
full and fair examination, have been fully
explained as the necessary result of keeping
two sets of books in different offices of the
government, which, embracing different items
from their nature, must differ on a given day.
in some cases, to the amount of millions of
dollars; but when these discrepancies are
examined, and the elements which enter
into the one and do not enter into the other
are explained and compared, the books are
found to be correct in every particular.
THE CRY OF FRAUD.
Mr.. Tilden says they want change in order
to condemn what he alleges was the fraud of
1877. But this pretended fraud consists SIM
ply in the fact that the Electoral Commission,
a tribunal which they aided to organize, and
whose Judgment they agreed to abide, decided
differently from what they expected. l did
not believe in that tribunal. | believed the
Constitution and the laws already furnished
ample means to ascertain and determine the
result of the vote of the electors but they
forced the adoption of this commission as a
means to exclude votes duly returned from
some Of the Southern States. They failed in
this, and from that time they have cried
fraud, fraud" The fraud that existed in the
election of 1876 was the fraud of violence and
intimidation practiced by the Democratic par
ty in at least five of the Southern States, but
in such a bungling way in Louisiana that it
was promptly corrected by the returning off
GERS Of that State. In South Carolina and
Florida the actual vote cast, as well as the le-
galvote, was in favor of the Republican cleo
tors. They attempted in Oregon where the
people had without question voted for the
Hayes electors, by narrow technicalities to ex-
clude the Republican electors and to recog-
nize the Democratic electors, and large sums
of money were confessedly paid to accomplish
this fraud.
THE REAL FRAUD.
The two great frauds attempted in that cleo
ton by the democratic party were: First, the
completion OF the conspiracy of the rebel ele-
ment of the South to deprive the republicans
of the South OF their rights and privileges as
American citizens; and the second was the
attempt to bride electors for president to vote
for Tilden instead Of Hayes. 1t is to divert
public attention from these admitted frauds
that this cry of fraud is raised.
But, fellow-citizens, this cry is now the
sheerest hypocrisy. If the democratic party
believed in it, why was not Mr.. Tilden renom-
mated? Then the people could have tried the
alleged fraud But the fraud practiced by the
democratic party in the South is continuing
traud-two years ago, last year and this year
continued openly, with grim humor, and
and justified by the dominant opinion South
and by the acquiescence of the Democracy of
the North. 1t is only by this fraud that that
party hopes for success.
STATE RIGHTS VS.. NATIONAL RIGHTS.
Senator Thurman says they want to bring
about change, so as to restore the old time
honored doctrine of the democratic party in
respect to state rights. This, | believe, is an
honest statement of the chef desire of the par
ty. They wish, under the forms of a party
contest, to turn back the dial of time for TWEEN
ty years from the national principals that have
guided the republican party to the sectional
ism that prevailed before the war We accept
the issue.
: The dividing line between the two partiesi is
a difference of opinion as to the powers and
duties of the national government. We be-
leve that this Is government of the people,
with powers limited and defined by a written
constitution but embracing all the great and
essential functions of a national government,
with ample authority to make, execute and
construe laws, and to enforce them upon and
execute them against every citizen of the Uni
ted States without respect to state lines. We
believe it to be the duty of the NATIONAL gov
eminent to protect all citizens in equal civil
and political rights, and to maintain national
existence and authority against all who resist
it, whether they muster under foreign flag
OF under state or local authority. We believe
that the states are also mere agents Of the
people, intrusted by them with limited pow
ers, set out in written constitutions. Their
powers and duties are highly important. They
effect the local and domestic relations of life
and the protection of property.
You will always find the democratic party
opposed to our view of national authority. 1t
seeks to belittle, to degrade and cripple the
national government; to subordinate the
rights of the citizen and the nation to the law
OF public opinion of the state; to treat the ma
tonal government as a confederacy of states
without power to enforce personal rights or