Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1880-10-07

! New Jersey, and Mr.. Tweed did it II New
! York.
| doctrine have declared these amendments lie
/ gaIly carried-3llegal, because Democratic
States that were out fighting were not in 70
vote. They never yet have said or admitted
| that the amendments We're legally adopted
] They did say IN national convention in 1872
! that they opposed reopening the questions
/ settled by the amendments, and they did say
! in 1876 that they would accept them but that
/ t5ey were legally valid, they never said.
These amendments are constantly and fla
GRAVITY def3d il more than half the Demo-
cratic States, and have been for years. The
| laws enacted under them have been denounced
in every form. and denounced as null and
void, even since the Supreme Court has SOL
EMMY decided otherwise Il was to get rid Of
| these laws thai the revolutionary plot was laid
last yeac to stop the wheels Of government, to
. close The courts and post-offices and put out
/ the beacon lights on the ses and on the lakes
/ unless repeal was yielded. With thorough
bred Democratic President, whatever may
happen in form to the amendments, they viii
/ become moro dead letter than quickening
spirit, and tae laws made to enforce them will
! be swept Ike leaves before gale. Should
! these laws b3 swept away. and should the
spirit which 2ssails them IN the South and
which called them into being continue to rage,
nlildew viii follow in the wake.
/ When Lincoln issued his proclamation Of
emapc patton, men and women in this city
were maddened by being made 20 believe that
the slaves set free would swarm to the North,
crowd out white labor, and cut down its
| wages. The draft riots were largely melted by
this wicked insane pretenCe. Throughout
the North this was the appeal to the laboring
man, and many members of congress who had
supported Lincoln were defeated at the ensu-
ing election. Vainly We pleaded for reason.
We said no men do not fly from liberty they
fly from slavery ard wrong. Events have win.
Dictated the logic Of freedom.
! Once more ! repeat the argument and The
warning. TIE black man wants to remain by
the graves of his fathers, but let prosecutions
go on and the story of Pharaoh and of Egypt
| will be repeated. An exodus, not Of few
deeparing souls [applausel but s. real exodus
VII begin. deprlving southern fields of the
hands that should and would till them, and
| bringing TO the North and West a population
not enured to northern 'climes, and not adapt
ed to usefulness and advantage here which
fairly treated would come from them in the
South. [Applause.l
THE NATIONAL BANKS.
The National banking system is anyther eye
sore to the opposition. Their National conven-
tions have denied al power Of Congress to
authorize banks. BY votes and speeches III
| Congress, by declarations Of conventions and
leaders, by elaborate amendments offered to
the bills under which the National banking
/ DlOE CcuiG
be put IN. This fabric of banking is now in
wrought not only IN the business of the coun-
try, but with the maintenance of specie pay
rnents-it stands lion in the path Of fat
money [applauee], initiation, and all the long
train Of financial heresies which possess the
Democratic mind, especially in the South.
Applause In unnumbered ways, direct and
indirect, this vast interests constantly exposed
to the action Of Congress.
The Cincinnati convention seems to have
felt the need of little caution On this point
when it nominated MIR. English for vice Presi-
dent. He is president Of National bank.
They nominated Union general as a blind to
the soldiers, ana bank officer as a blind to the
bankers. [Applause.] Evidently it is thought
tie Northern Democratic team drives better
with binders. [ApplauFe.] But even binders
do not always answer. In 1864, after solemnly
asserting, just when the rebellion was gasping
its last, that the war for the Union was q fail
ure, the Democratic convention, at iustigstion
conf E then from the sheltering refuge OF the
Canadian shore, the same instigation which
prompted like expedient now, put up Union
general. That general did not issue Order Ne.
40 in the midst of lawiessness and butchery,
which civil authority could not arrest. No, he
issued orders arresting the Legislature OF Mary
land, State which had not seeded, and he
Issued orders proGlaiming martial Law and sus-
pending the habeas corpus at election time,
and placed soldiers as supervisor of the polls.
ISuG even WlGn SucQ q Union general the QlS-
gul59 was too thin.
SOUTHERN WAR CLAIMS.
War claims upon the treasury have been and
viii be subject fruitful of much agitation.
l an moved to refer to it by the wholly ground
less assertion in regard 30 it now going the
rounds OF party journals. the fashion Of this
assertion seems to have been set by Mr.. Ran
dali. the Speaker of the House Of Representa-
tiTes Mr.. Randall is one of the ablest and
most int .hgent as he is one of the most
courageous men Of his party, and [ speak of
him with much respect In several speeches
he has taken I'D the matter of Southern
claims, always to say that they are barred in
the fourte enth amendment of the constitution.
1t puzzles me to see how discerning man can
have fallen into such an error. The proceed
ings over which he presides constantly refute
the assertion.
In the fourteenth amendment stand these
words: Neither the United States nor any
State shall assume or pay any debt or obiga-
ton incurred in aid Of instruction or rebel
lion against the United States, or sny claim for
the loss o. emancipation Of any slave; but all
such debts, obligations and claims shall be
held illegal and void" Tho claims which stand
in staggering totals in bills already before
Congress and IN other bills said to be waiting
are not touched by this section Of the consti.
tuition.
For example, it is Insisted that tie direct
tax imposed by the Nation on all States IN
1901 ShCuld as tO the seeded States be re-
funded. [Applause.] The amount claimed is
81, 1872, 10. Again, it is said the war tax laid
on cotton should be refunded. The argument
Is that cotton, like wheat and corn, is pro-
duct OF the earth, and that wheat and corn
were net taxed, and therefore cotton should
not have been taxed. There is plausibility IN
this; but petroleum is product of the earth
also, and that was heavily taxed not only
during the war but afterward, and yet Penn
syivania has never q lined that the money
should be refunded. The amount Of cotton
tax claimed is $40, 1870, 900.
again. buildings were occupied, crops were
! trampled, fences and wood were burned, pro-
| visions were consumed, edifces were deTnol-
| ished, and regions were laid waste by the ann
! les of the Union. The total of such claims
| Gizzies arithmetic. These are ret ''debts or
| obi cations incurred in aid OF instruction or
| rebeIion"-dec dedIy not IN aid OF rebellion
They are claims because Of acts done to crush
! rebellion. The Constitutional amendment
does not come within gunshot of them.
The error OF the distinguished speaker is the
! more puzzing because as reported he said in
| another part of his address recently that the
Repu} can majority in Congress had paid
] 500, 900, 600 of such claims. This I presume
is true if he means that Republicans have
voted to pay Union men whose property was
! taken for public use, the value Of the property
in the amount or not he is certainly correct In
saving that vast sum has been 80 paid DOES
| not this fact clearly show that such claims sre
not extinguished by the Constitution? If
they were so eXtingUished, surely the law
making power would not have been so stupid
or wicked as to pay them year after year, and
| tbis WithOT1t any member Of either HOupe ever.