The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1880-04-30
EXTRACT FROM 4 SPEECH OF nON. CLARK
son n POyrER, DELIVERED ~ OCrO.
BER, 1879


BER, 1879
Men tell us that the South will repudiate
the National debt because they have rcpu-
dated their own debts. And So they have,
and so have also many Northern commun-
ties There are scores of towns in the North;
yes and Republican town. in this State,
which are nov engaged in repudiating their
debts Communities are too apt to repudiate
their debts when they have been frauduen.
tly contracted, or when they are unable to
pay thlm. The debts of the Siuth have OF
ten beea iraudulcnty contracted, contracted
without value, and for communities utterly
unable to pay them. You have little idea
Of how wretchedly poor aud beggared those
Southern States are. But, at the same time.
they have no interest in rtpudiating the Ma.
tioual debt. Its burden does not fall on
them, and it is So interviewer with the COM
merce and industry of the county, that the
first movement to repudiate it would bring
ON shock to the credit and business of the
whole of the country which would involve
them and every one else in common disas.
ter.
So with the payment of the Rebel debt.
The South does not hold that dett. 1t was
largely owned abroad. There were, to be
sure a considerable amount of Confederate
notes held at home but they became so ut.
terly worthless that the people did not even
preserve them, and it is doubtful whether
many millions Of them could be got together
in the whole country. Besides, it the South
could be 80 Insane as to wish either to pay
tie Rebel debt, or to orepudiate the National
debt, remember that under the Constitution
it requires three lourhs of these States to do
that and the South is not three. iourths.
but only one third aud after the apportion.
ment Of lsso it will be less than one.lourth
of the whole country and every year these
Northern States are growing richer and
sronger, and the South is growing weaker
and poorer. There would be danger from
such insanity, or any other insanity of the
south, exactly when one fourth gets to lie
greater than three-iourhs aud not before.
- with the pretonce that the South will
beggar the treasury with Rebel claims. Thi,
Is not only most gronndles., but in view oi
what has occurred it is wickedly nnfouuded
You must remember that there is no such
thing as the payment of an enemies wal
claims BY the law Of nations they can new
er be, and, indeed never have been paid \
Republican Congress passed statute Just ai.
tAp ha tpar tI.,r, IL Il
South who were loyal, to claim upon the GOV.
ernment for supplies furnished the covert.
ment, if they presented their claims within &
limited time. That time has long since ex.
pired but men still come to Congress witt
petitions, saying that they were loyal, anC
that because Of some accident-their absence
or minority, or the lke-they failed to pre-.
sent their claims within the prescribed tme
and asking now to be permitted to have Their
claims heard. a great many of these peti.
tions are presented, and do not doubt bu
that many of them are without merit, anc
that claimants pretend to have been Iowa
who were not. These men have right t,
petition Congress to have their claims heard
because the Constitution has secured tha
right inviolate to every citizen. But, al
though presented, such claims are far from
being generally paid Indeed, the recor,
shows that very few are ever allowed, anC
that during the past five years that the Dem
ocrats have controlled the House of Repre-
senatives, they have allowed far less of suci
claims than the Republicans did when in pow
er And when, last year, l proposed bill
which would be perpetual bar against tn,
consideration Of any Of these claims, upol
the ground that sufficient opportunity ha,
been given for their presentation, and tn,
chances of fraud were so great. that it wa
better to say now that this class of claim
should never be further considered by Con
gress at all, 1t was not the South that oppo.
ed 1t. On the contrary, the bill passed
Democratic House by Democratic and South
crn votes, but failed in Republican Senate
And when at the last session a similar bill
was proposed, it failed by the opposition O
the Republicans in the House. So that t,
say that when the Democrats get in asceu
dancy the country will be deluged with claim
Ism direct contradiction of the experience o
the past few years and all the action Of tn
two parties in Congress, show it to be a max
ed and grouDdless pretence
But 1t issaid that the South is solid, An,
50 It is. But there is no danger from lner
solidity, A section of the country may b
united, because 1t may want something o
because It suffers some evil We have had
solid New England for years so, too, W
have long had solid Northwest. OF lat
years We have had a solid West upon the Ill
yer question. New England is solid becaus
1t wants tariff protection, and the South
solid because it has suffered from carpet-ba
oppression.
| do not think that anybody was ever :
wicked as to attend the horrors of pet-ba
government But when those states were &c
constructed, it was provided that while ever
man might vote, no one who had engaged i
the Rebellion could hold office and as tn
negroes were not capable of discharging man
of the duties Of office, men came in fIor
without the State who had neither charscte
nor interest there to hold ,ffce. And thes
adventures established system of govern
ment which in extrayagance, iniquity aud de
moralization has not been equallcd in civil
zed society in our time. 1t was natural tina
the South should resent this 1t is said tha
they are not grateful to the Republican part,
do not think that they are. When the He
brews marched out Of Egypt have no dout
but that the Egyptians, whom they ha
spoiled" were glad to get rid of them
but considering what they had suffered
their hands do not believe that they fe
grateful to the Hebrews in any way.
But the South has no neutral reason f,
remaining solid. On the contrary, the il
terests of the Gulf States are with the Il,