Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1880-07-22
HIS ACCEPTANCE.
The Letter Of Gen. Garfield in Acknowledgement
Of the Nomination. Policy
Outlined.

Gen. Garheld has forwarded to Sena-
ator Hoar, of Massachusetts, the follow
ing letter of acceptance of the nomina-
ton rendered him by the Republican
national convention:
MENTOR, O., July 10, 1880.
| DEAR S1R:-On the evening Of the 9Th of
| June last had the honor to receive from you in
the presence of the committee of which you
were chairman, the official announcement that
the Republican National Convention at Chicago
| had that day nominated me as their candidate
for president of the United States.
accept the nomination with gratitude for
the confidence it implies, and with deep sense
of the responsibilities It imposes. cordially
endorse the principles set forth in the platform
adopted by the convention. On nearly all the
subjects of which it treats my opinions are on
record among the published proceedings of con-
mention of some of the principal topics which
are likely to become subjects of discussion.
Without
REVIEWING THE CONTROVERSIES
which have been settled during the last twenty
| years, and with no purpose or wish to review
the passions of the late war, it should be said
that while Republicans fully recognize and will
the people and all the rights reserved to the
states, they reject the pernicious doctrine of
state supremacy which so long crippled the
functions of the national government and at
one time brought the Union very near to de-
struction. They insist that the United States
ton; that it's constitution and the laws made in
pursuance thereof are the supreme law of the
| land; that the right of the nation to determine
the method by which it's legislature shall be
created cannot be surrendered without abdicat-
ing one of the fundamental powers of the gov
ernment; that the national laws relating to the
election of representatives in congress shall
neither be violated nor evaded; that every
elector shall be permitted freely and without
intimidation to cast bis lawful vote at such
election, and have it honestly counted, and that
the potency of his vote shall not be destroyed
by the fraudulent vote Of any other person.
The best thoughts and energies of our people
should be directed to those great questions of
national well-being in which we have a common
interest. Such efforts will soonest restore to
perfect peace those who were lately in arms
against each other, for justice and good will
will outlast passion. But it is certain that the
wounds of the war cannot be completely he aled
and the spirit of brotherhood cannot fully per-
wade the whole country until every citizen, rich
or poor, white or black, is secure in the
FREE AND EQUAL ENJOYMENT
of every civil and political right guaranteed by
the constitution and the laws. Wherever the
| enjoyment of these rights is not assured dis
content will prevail, immigration will cease and
the social and industrial forces will continue to
be disturbed by the migration of laborers and
the consequent diminuton of prosperity. The
national government should exercise all it's con-
situtonal authority to put an end to these evils.
For all the people and all the states arc members
| of one body and no member can suffer without
injury to all. The most serious evils which now
afict the south arise from the fact that there is
not such freedom and liberation of political
opinion and action that the minority party can
exercise an effective and wholesome restraint
upon the party In power. Without such re-
straint party rule becomes tyrannical and cor
rupt. The prosperity which is made possible in
the south by its great advantages of soil and
climate will never be realized until every voter
can freely and safely support any party he
| pleases.
Next in importance to freedom and justice is
popular education, without which mother
Justice nor freedom can be permanently main
tanned. It is entrusted to the states and to
the voluntary action of the people. Whatever
help the nation can justly afford should be
ing common schools. But it would be unjust
to our people and dangerous to our institutions
to apply any portion of the revenues Of the
nation or of the state to the support of Sec
tartan schools. The separation of the church
and the state in everything relating to taxation
| should be absolute. On the
SUBJECT OF NATIONAL FINANCES
my views have been so frequently and fully ex-
pressed that little is needed in the way of addi-
tional statement. The public debt is now so
we'll secured and the rate of annual interest has
been so reduced by refunding that rigid econo-
my in expenditures and the faithful application
of our surplus revenues to the payment Of the
principal debt will gradually but certainly free
the people from it's burdens and close with
honor the financial chapter of the war. At the
same time the government can provide for all it's
ordinary expenditure and discharge it's sacred
obligations to the soldiers Of the union and to
the widows and orphans of these who fell in its
defense. The resumption of specie payment
which the Republican party so courageousy and
successfully accomplished has removed from the
field of controversy many questions that long
and seriously disturbed the credit of the govern
ment and the business of the country. Our
paper currency is now as national as the flag,
and resumption has not only made it teverywhere
equal to coin, but mas brought into use our store
of gold and silver. The circulating medium is
more abundant than ever before and we need
only to maintain the.
| EQUALITY OF ALL OUR DOLLARS
to insure to labor and capital a measure of
value from the use of which no one can suffer
loss. The great prosperity which the country is
now enjoying should not be endangered by any
violent changes or doubtful financial expert
mcnts and in reference to our custom laws q
policy should be pursued which will bring rev.
enue to the treasury and will enable the labor
and capital employed in our great industries to
compete fairly in our own markets with the
labor and capital of foreign produce. We
egislate for the people of the United States, not
for the whole world, and it is our glory that the
American labor is more free, intelligent and
better paid than his foreign competitor. Our
country cannot be independent unless it's people
with their abundant resources possess the
requisite skill at any time to clothe, arm and
equip themselves for war, and in time of peace
to produce all the necessary implements OF
labor. 1t was the manifest intention of the
founders of the government to provide for the
common defense, not by standing armies alone,
but by raising among the people a greater army
of artisans whose intelligence and skill should
powerfully contribute to the safety and glory OF
the nation.
Fortunately for the interests of commerce
there is no longer any formidable
OPPOSITION TO APPROPRIATIONS
for the improvement OF our harbors and great
; navigable rivers, provided that the expenditures
for that purpose are strictly limited to works Of
national Importance. The Mississippi river
with it's great tributaries is OF such vital i'm
portance to SO many millions of people that the
safety of it's navigation requires exceptional
consideration in order to secure to the nation
ferson negotiated the purchase of vast terri
} tory, extending from the Gulf of Mexico to the
Pacific ocean. The wisdom of congress should
be invoked to devise some plan by which that
great river shall cease to be a terror to those
who dwell upon its banks and by which its
= 6l1ppluS Iudy 6dAoly CdAIy Gno AAOuoVAA1'A PAO
ducts of twenty-five millions of people.
:, The interests of agriculture, which is thu
basis of all our material prosperity, and in which
seven-twelfths of our population are engaged, al
well as the interests Of
MANUFACTURES AND COMMERCE,
! demand that the facilities for cheap transports
i ton shall be increased by the use of our grea
= water courses. The material interests of thi
country, the traditions of it's settlement and tn
: sentiments of our people have led the govern
ment to offer the widest hospitality to emigrant
- who seek our shores for new and happie
homes, willing to share the burdens as well q
the benefits Of our society and intending tina
= their posterity shall become an undistingnisha
+; BILE part Of our population. The recent move
nent Of the Chinese to our Pacific coast par
takes but little Of the qualities Of such an emf
) grafton, either in it's purposes or lis result.
J: Is too much like an importation to be welcomed
without restriction, too much like an invasio,
r to be looked upon without solicitude:: We can
not consent to allow any form of servile labor t.
3 be introduced among us under the glise Of i'm
migration. Recognizing the gravity Of this sub
ject. the present administration supported b