The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-07-13

MENTOR, O., July L.
Dear Sir:-On the evening OF the Sth of
June last had the honor to receive from you
in the presence of the committee of which you
were chairman an official announcement that
the Republican National Convention at Chica-
go had that day nominated me as their candi-
date for Presidentof the United States l ac-
cept the nomination with gratitude for the
confidence it imposes and with deep sense of
the responsibilities it implies. 1 cordially in
dorse 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
Congress.
venture however to make special mention
of some of the principal topics which are like
ly to become the subject of discussion without
reviewing the controversies which have been
settled during the last twenty years, and with
no purpose or wish revive the passions of the
late war. 1t should be said that while the
Republicans fully recognize and will siren
| uOusly defend all the rights retained by the
people and all the rights reserved to the states,
they reject the pernicious doctrines of state
supremacy which so long crippled the func-
lions of national government and at one time
brought the Union very near to destruc-
ton. They insist that the United States
is a nation with ample power of
self preservation; that its constitution and
laws, made in pursuance thereof, are the SUI
preme law of the land; that the right of the
nation to determine the method by which its
own legislature shall be created cannot be sur
rendered without abdicating one OF the funda-
mental powers of the government; that the
national laws relating to the election of repre-
SentativeS in Congress shall neither be violated
nor evaded; that every elector shall be per-
mitted freely and without intimidation to cast
his lawful ballot 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 we'll being in which all have COM
mon interest Such efforts will soonest restore
perfect peace to those who were lately in arms
against each other, for justice and good will
Outlast passion. But it is certain that the
wounds of war cannot be completely healed
and aspirit of brotherhood cannot fully pervaGe
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 laws.
Wherever the enjoyment of these rights is
| not assured discomfort will prevail, immig ra-
ton will cease and social and industrial forces
| continue to be disturbed by the migration of
the laborer and the consequent dlminutlOn OF
prosperity. The national government should
exercise all its constitutional authority to put
an end to these evils for all the people and all
| the States are members of one body and no
member can suffer without injury to the
whole. The most serious evils which now
affiict 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 tyranical and COR
rupt. The prosperity which is made possible
in the South by its great advantage 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 neither
| Justice nor freedom can be permanently main
] tained Its interests are intrusted to the
States and to the voluntary action of the peo-
| pie. Whatever help the nation can justly
afford should be generously given to aid States
| in supporting common schools. But it would
| be unjust to our people and dangerous to our
| the Nation or Of the States to the support of
| sectarian schools. The separation of church
and state in every thing relating to taxation
| should be absolute.
On the subject of national finance my views
have been so frequently, and fully expressed
statement. The public debt is now so well
| secured and the rate of annual interest has
been SO reduced by the refunding that rigid
| economy in expenditures and faithful appli-
| cation OF our surplus revenues to the payment
| of the principal of the debt will gradually but
| certainly free the people from its burdens and
| close with honor the financial chapter of the
war. At the same time the government can
| provide for all its ordinary expenditures and
| discharge its sacred obligations to soldiers OF
| the Union and to the widows and orphans OF
| those who fell in its defense. Resumption OF
| specie payments which the Republican party
| so courageously and successfully accomplished
has removed from the field OF controversy
many questions thatlong and seriously disturbed
| the credit of the government and the business
| OF the country Our paper currency is now as
national as the flag, and resumption has not
| only made it everywhere equal to coin, but has
brought into use our share of gold and silver
| The circulating medium is more abundant
| than ever before, and we need only maintain
the equality of all our dollars to insure to la
| Dor 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 experiments.
In reference to11our customs laws policy
| should be pursued which will bring revenue
| 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 producers. We
legislate for the people of the United States,
not for the whole world, and it is our glory
that the American laborer is more intelligent
and better paid than his foreign competitors.
Our country cannot be independent unless its
people, with their abundant natural 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 nipple
ments of labor. 1t was the manifest intention
OF the founders OF the government to provide
| for the common defence not by standing armies
alone, but by raising greater army of artisans
whose intelligence and skill should powerfully
contribute to safety and glory of the nation.
Fortunately for the interests of commerce
there is no longer any formidable opposition
to the appropriations for the improvement of
our harbOrs and great navigable rivers, pro-
vided that expenditures for that purpose are
strictly limited to works of national import
ance. The Mississippi river, with its great
tributaries, is of such vital Importance to so
many millions of people that the safety of its
navigation requires exceptional consideration.
In order to secure to national control all its wa
tiers President Jefferson negotiated the pur-
chase of a vast territory extending from the
Gulf of Mexico to the Pacific ocean. The wis
dom of Congress should be invoked to devise
some plan by which that great river shall cease
to be terror to those who dwell upon its
banks and by which its shipping may safely
carry the industrial products of 25,O00,000 of
people. The interests of agriculture, which is
the basis of all our material prosperity, and in
which seven-twelfths of our population are en-
gagged, as we'll as the interests of manufactures
and commerce demand that facilities for cheap
transportation shall be increased by the use of
all our great water courses
The material interests of the country, the
traditions of its settlement and the sentiment
of our people have led the government to offer
the widest hospitality to emigrants who seek
our shores for new and happier homes, willing
to share the burdens as well as the benefits of
our society and intending that their posterity
shall become an undistinguishable part of our
population. The recent movement of Chinese
to our Pacific coast partakes but little of the
qualities of such an emigration, either in its
purposes or its results. 1t is too much like an
Importation to be welcomed without restric-
ton; too much like an invasion to be looked
upon without solicitude. We cannot consent
to allow any form of service labor to be intro
duced among us under the guise Of emigra-
ton. Recognizing the gravity of this subject
the present administration supported by
Congress has sent to China a commits
sion of distinguished citizens for the
purpose OF securing such modification of the
existing treaty as will prevent the evils likely
to arise from the present situation. 1t is con-
fidently believed that these diplomatic negotia-
tons will be successful without loss of COM
| mercial intercourse between the two powers,
which promises great increase of reciprocal
trade and enlargement of our markets. Should
these efforts fail it will be the duty of Congress
| to mitigate the evils already felt and prevent
their increase by such restrictions as without
VIGILANCE or iniuStice will nlace unOn a Sure