Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-10-19
A SOUTHERN VIEW Or TEE CLAIMS
QUESTION.


The Cleveland Herald publishes letter
written by prominent Southern business
man to friend in that city, and as it con-
tains an evidently truthful and candid
statement of the Southern view of the
claims question, some extracts from ii may
be instructive. The writer says: &c am,
SC as you know, a native OF the South was
g educated and have been engaged in bust
ness here all my life. Am now nearly
" sixty years of age. Was in the war. and
e friend of General Hancock. tell you
e the Southern people do not intend to
&C abandon the Southern claims. General
Hancock speaks for himself alone on that
subject. BE cannot get the assistance of
single Southern man OF position to aid
him in defeating the Southern claims.
General Hancock is grandly mistaken if
he supposes these claims are bugbears
g anywhere in the South. They are not
"' bugbears in the estimation OF the
" Democrats of the North. The records
twill show that Bragg, of Wisconsin, IS
50 the only Democrat who ever set his face
&c strongly against Southern claims. No
IS Southern man ever asked Demo-
&c cratic Presidential candidate to COM
NIT himself against such claims. 1t
50 was left to the dough-faced Demo
+" Gratis of the North, who were for
"a vigorous prosecution of the war
e. against the South, and who fattened
| q and grew rich out of contracts and
suffers permits, to urge a Democratic
candidate to write letter rejecting on
'sthe integrity Of Southern claims. [ tell
fyou the Southern people do not feel any
g more kindly to General Hancock after
a his writing that letter than they did to-
ward Samuel Tilden. They will, how
e ever, vote the ticket to get the control of
affairs Mr.. Z : ISL is well thought Of
sin the South. His public record shows
g that he has at all times been In SYM
"pathy with the South. No Northern
"doughface could have gotten him to
write letter against Southern claims"
This is frank and outspoken presentation
OF the prevailing sentiment at the South
on the claims question. The Southern peo-
pie do not like Hancock's letter on the
question, but they will vote for him " to
get the control of affairs, feeling conf
dent that if once they can accomplish that
the resistance of Hancock to their
claims will be easily overcome. That
this letter represents the Southern view
faithfully cannot be doubted, because it is
at once evident that it fully harmonizes
with all the positive action taken by
Southern men in this connection. The
Northern Democrats have endeavored to
make it appear that General Hancock was
right in referring to these claims as
"bugbears," but it is certain that the
bills which have already been introduced
to Congress, and the claims which have
been already carefully drawn up and
placed in the hands of Washington claim
agents, were not manufactured for the
mere sake of amusement. nor was that
scheme for increasing the United States
Supreme Court embodied in Manning's
bill, devised for any such purpose. All
these proceedings, systematic, regular, and
purposeful, indicate the existence of a
powerful and far-reaching popular deter
mination behind them. Like the Southern
practice of keeping registers of slave prop
erty, they reveal vigorous and sanguine
expectation of reimbursement, and it
would be simple imbeoility to shut our
eyes to these speaking evidences, and to
refuse to believe what has in fact never
been concealed.