The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-09-09
NO. 2t

party, with such aims and ends, bats its hoo;
with a soldier who did honorable service in
our cause. We are intelligent enough to LOOK
beyond this tempting bait to the anmating
principles which lie behind this demand for \
change. They say they want Hancock, a
major general in the regular army We ha |
for several years, while Gen Grant was Pre-
dent, Democratic defamation, without limi
against military rule We have been warne
by the lessons of history that free institutions
are only endangered by ambitious men, who
may SEEK under military forms, to enslaye tie
people. And yet this party, forgetting the :
defamation, proposet to take soldier, who
has had no civil experience whose mind was
developed in military school, and whose Ii 9
has been spent under military laws; but the :
take him to carry out and maintain the prin-
ciples for which they fought and not for thos.
for which he fought under Republican au-
spices Excepting the adoption of the old doc
trine OF state rights, l know no distinctive
principle of the Democratic party, which calt
be named by an intelligent citizen, no othe:
measure which they seek to accomplish, no
other policy which they seek to develop and
yet we are asked to make this great change
| And now, fellowcitizens, suppose a change
is made; suppose the restraint ola Republican,
president is withdrawn, what will the Demo-
|
Judge Thurman and General Hampton plead?
On the day of the Inauguration a horde of
greedy office-seekers, hungry in search of Of
| ice, VIII come down upon the heads of de-
| partments with their claims for reward for
| party services, and inexperienced men will be-
thrust in to discharge the most difficult func-
| lions Of official life.
A still more dangerous horde ofcaim agents.
now haunting Washington, already keen for
plumber, and versed in all the tricks of tho
trade, will seek to open the doors OF the treas
ury to the brood OF Southern claims, which.
despite our overlooking revenues, will bank
rupt the treasury in year l know from my
personal knowledge number of claim agents.
influential men, who will vote for Hancock on
the ground that his election will enable them
to recover claims now barred All that is
needed to cause the refInding of the cotton
tax, amounting to $6S,000,000, is an appropri-
alton. Most of the members of the South.
through their constituents, are interested in
these claims.
A slight extension of the period of limita-
ton as to claims for captured and abandoned
cotton will open up tens of millions of this
class OF claims. If the principles of the dem
ocratic party are to be again adopted by the
votes OF the people, and the very men who
fought for them are to placed in power, why
should they not be Unidentified for their
losses? Why should they not Oe paid for their
slaves? Why should not the brave rebels who
fought for their principles be placed on the
pension roll
The election laws of which have spoken
will be the first to be repealed, and thus will
be legalized all the atrocious crimes and frauds
Of the South, and even the great fraud Of New
York will be condoned forever.
What further is likely to happen The dem
ocratic party has opposed from the beginning,
as unconstitutional, our whole system of ma
tional banks, and favored q system of state
banks as matter of constitutional right. By
the passage of law OF two lines they can re-
peal the tax of ten per cent. now levied upon
the notes OF state banks, and thus, without a
formal repeal of the national bank system, they
can revive the whole state bank system, and
flood us with wildcat and red-dog money
That this will De done | have no earthly doubt
whatever. All war legislation, or that which
has grown out OF the preservation of the
Union and the maintenance of the govern
ment, will be gradually swept away, the army
and navy will be opened to rebels, and the
men whom we fought against will again weld
the military and naval arm of the government
The public credit cannot long escape from the
strange and unnatural restoratlon and the bus
mess interests of the country, so intimately
identified with political events, will feel the
staggering blow.
We want a change. We want to change
this Democratic Congress into Republican
Congress, in harmony with the spirit of ther
age and with the general policy Of the Repub-
lican party; Congress that will, while closely
scrutinizing the public expenses, be just and
liberal for all necessary purposes, and econom-
ical careful and prudent in the appropriation of
public money. We want to uphold the nation
al authority, SO that the time will soon come
when neither mob, nora State, nor local pub
lie opinion will be strong enough to deprive
any American citizen Of his civil and political
rights. We want to continue activity and in
dustry and good times. We want to foster our
industry, extend our trade, and fill our vast
area with thriving, industrious people, native
and naturalized. While maintaining American
principles we offer the industrial classes of all
nations who are willing to share in our lot and
conform to our policy, the liberal and equal
benefit Of our laws. We wish to see the rights
of labor protected without disturbing the,
rights of property. We wish, above all, to-
maintain the national credit and the national
name, so that, both in our foreign and domes--
public will be just to the weak as well as to.
the strong, will ask nothing but what is right,
and submit to nothing that is wrong in our
dealings with foreign nations.
To secure these great objects we have placed
in nomination General Garfield, a citizen of
Ohio, who was trained in the school of advers-.
ity, which has produced nearly all the great
men in American politics. He is self-educated
He has been tried i'll both civil and military
life, and in every position occupied by him has
rendered satisfaction to his constituents. He
entered the volunteer army at the beginning of
the war as a soldier, performed brilliant ser
vices, rose rapidly, until he was called by the
people Of his district to represent them in Con
gress He is thoroughly informed and trained
in all the questions OF the day, and in all of
them is in full harmony with the Republican
party. He is admirably prepared to discharge
the civil duties of the high office for which he
has been nominated, and, compared to Gen.
Hancock, by any test that may be applied to
him, is his superior in ability capacity, and fit
ness for President Of the United States. Gen.
Hancock relies solely upon his service in the
army, and upon the issuing of an order which,
a concession to rebels that ought not to have
been made; while General Garfield can point
to a varied civil and military life, combining
the heroism of the soldier and trained expert
ence in the highest civil duties. Let no perso-
nal disappointment enter into or color our
zeal in the good cause, but with the courage
and hope that animated the Union army dur
ing the war, let us press forward our Republi-
can principles until all that we have guaran-
teed by the Constitution or the laws shall be
fully secured to the humblest as well as the
loftiest citizen of this republic.
Tariff on Salt.
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