The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-08-05

people in high places has been set aside;
1t is a sample, which If followed, must
lead to the destruction of republican
government. The essence of a republic
can government Is acquiesenCe in the
will of a majority and If 1t be possible
by any kind of trickery or machinery to
deprive the d~ecisisn of the majority Of
its rightful weight in the government,
then our best Republican form of gov
eminent becomes nothing but the worst
oligarChy and tyranny that.canlbe found;
and if the people of the United States
would only Condone, in the sense Of for.
getting this great wrong against Republic
can government, but if they are to re-
ward with the Presidency the man who
ia most responsible for it even as "Presi-
dent" Hayes has rewarded the subordi
nate tools who acted under and by the
advice of these men, then you may be
prepared to see it repeated whenever
force has possession of the n and
channels of power and fraud can be
made use of to destroy the will of the
people a voice "never"l. But gentle
men, the election of General Garfield to
the Presidency would be but the con-
tinuation of the Republican administra-
ton which has now been in power for
twenty years.
You know as we'll as l do that numer-
GUS corporations, in the sense of a
wrong use of the public money! do
not only speak of specula.ions or thefts
or defalCations-but the use of the pub
lie money has been Corruptly made by
the Republican party so often and 30
continuously as that it has almost ceased
to excite your regard. Why gentlemen,
there is now in existence in the Senate
of the United States a committee
charged with the duty of examining the
amount of the public debt and of over
hauling the books of the department.
They have found discrepancies of mil
Ions upon milllons-I think | might
say, though l don't pretend to be entirely
exact-of hundreds of millions of dol,
lars, %erasures, additions, entries made
here and entries made there, involving
in. some cases millions of dollars in a
single entry, for which they give no ex-
PLANTATION, for which they have no salts
factory account, and they report that the
Only satisfactory explanation that they
can get from the experts and clerks in
the Treasury Department is that all these
things occurred because a change in the
book.keeper was made three or four
years ago. Gentleman, if this is the
case it is about time tlat the b%ook-keep-
ers were changed again [%applause IA
voice: I'VE will change them next
year."] If that is true it is about time
that the people should have an OPP.
portunity, through their representatives,
of examining those books, l am sure
that if in partnership of any kind ex'
listing among sensible men the confden.
tial agent of one partner had possession
of all the books for twenty years, the
other partners would think it was about
time that they for themselves or a disin-
terested party should have an opLOrtu.
nifty to examine them for them. Now,
we want to see these books. | met in
Cincinnati the other day an old German
friend of mine who surprised me very
much by telling me that he was going TO
vote for Hancock. | said to him, rs it
possible that you intend this year, after
being a Republican SO long, to vote for
Hancock p He said, II am going to do
it. l think General Garfield is a v, ry
good man. l think he might make a
good President" but, Gays he, Il want
once again to see the books" Zap.
plause, Says he: That may do nc
harm to anybody and may do a great
deal of good to everyone" But gentle
men, in a higher aspect, getting upon the
higher plane, the Republican par y has
become corrupt in the long enjoyment
and use Of power. Power grows by what
it feeds on. The appetite increases as it
is pampered. Men become h~abituated
to the use of powers and they grasp
after more. TAat is human nature. 1t
has been 80 from the beginning. The
Republican party is no exception. They
are grasping to-day, They are exercising
to-day powers that never would have
been tolerated before the war Selling
an occasion Of wal for the use Of power
pretending to be under the constitution,
they have gradually gone on and gather
ed power to themselves, assuming it
here and there in the n place by
usurpatiOn and in another place by CON.
struction until they have gotten into
their hands to-day the mass of power
we the persons and interests of the
people of this country. Such cannot be
safely entrusted to any set of men.
Their tendencies, their instrumental
ties, their desires are all to a Consolida.
ton and concentration of power in the
federal government. They have estab-
lished a great system of banking and
that net work is spread over the country
until it touches at illimitable points Of
industry and commercial interests of the
land and chartered railroad companies
which lie between the Mississippi ard
the Pacific ocean and these falling into
the hands of magnates and powers, who
by their aggregation of wealth, can com.
mand these great corporations until
they have gathered together in the city
of New York and in the hands of a few
men powers over the transportation of
the country which touch the interests of
every farmer and merchant and me-
chanic in the land and touching the
commercial and personal interests Of the
people come also in contact with the
powers of the government until there 10
almost a partnership established between
these great corporations and the govern
ment itself, And under the influence of
these things, influences which are felt
and which human nature cannot help
but feel, they are breaking down the
traditions of the republic, breaking
down the limits of power. We saw the
other day at Chicago nearly n half of
the Republican party willing TO set aside
the tradition in favor of but two terms
of the Presidency. These vast powers
have cast over our republican institu-
tiOns the shadow of an empire, and un'
less the people rend the cloud and allow
the sunlight to shine in upon it, that
shadow will be as deadly to our institu-
tiOns as is the Upas tree to anything
that comes within the circles of it's
branches [%applause]. They tell US that
our candidate is a most excellent man