The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1880-07-16
GEN. GARFIELD.
His Letter Accepting the Repub-
lioan Nomination.
An outspoken Document Which
Will Command Many Readers.
MENToR. Ono. Jnlv b. 1880.

DEAR e01R Ou the evening OF the oC0 OF
June last had the honor to receive from you,
in the presence of the committee of which you
were Chairman, the official announcement that
the Republican National Convention at Chicago
had that day nominated me as their candidate
for President Of the United States. accept
the nomination with gratitude for the conf
dence it implies, and with a deep sense of the
responsibilities it imposes I cordially indorse
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 Con-
gress. I venture, however, to make
special mention of some of the principal topics
which are likely to become subject of discussio1.
Without reviewing the controversies which have
been settled during the last twenty years, and
with no purpose or wish to revive the passions
Of the late war; it should besaid that, while Re
publicans fully recognize and will strenuously
defend all the rights retained by the people,
and all the rights reserved to the States, they
reject the pernicious doctrine of State suprenn-
acy, which so long crippled the functions of the
National Government, and at one time brought
the Union very near to destruction. They insist
that
THE UNITED STATES is A NATION,
with ample powers of self preservation that
its constitution and the laws made in pursuance
thereof 'sare the supreme law of the land =
that the right of the nation to determine the
method by which its legislature shall be crea-
ted cannot be, surrendered without Indicating
one of the fundamental powers of Government;
that the national laws relating to the election of
representatives in Congress shall neither be vio-
lated nor eyaded that every elector shall be
permitted, freely and without intimidation, to
cast his lawful vote 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 well-being in which all have a common
interest. Such efforts will soonest restore to
perfect peace those who were lately in arms
against each other, for justice and goodwill
outlast passion. But it is certain that
the wounds Of the war cannot be
completely healed, and the spirit of
brotherhood cannot fully peryade the whole
country, until every citizen, ricn or poor, white
or black, is secure in the free and equal enjoy
ment of
EVERY CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHT
guaranteed by the constitution and the laws.
Wherever the enjoyment of these rights is not
assured, discomfort viii prevail, immigration
will cease, and the social and industrial forces
will continue to be disturbed by the migration
of laborers, and the consequent diminution 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 all.
The most serious evils which now aflict the
South arise from the fact that there is not such
freedom and liberation Of political opinion and
acIlon that the minority party can exercise an
effective and wholesome restraint upon the
party in power. Without such restraint, party
rule becomes tyrannical and corrupt. The
prosperity which is made possible in the South,
by its great advantages 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 maintained. ITS interests are
intrusted to the States and to the voluntary
action of the people. Whatever help the ma
ton can justly afford should be generously
given to aid the States in supporting common
schools but it would be unjust to our people
and dangerous to our institutions to apply any
portion of the revenues of the nation or of the
State to sectarlan schools The separation of
the church and the state, in everything relating
to taxation, should be absolute
On the subject of national finances. my views
have been so frequently and fully expressed
that little is needed in the way of additional
statement. The public debt is now SO well Sc
cured, and the rate of annual interest so re-
duced by refunding, that rigid economy in ex-
penditnres and the faithful application of our
surplus revenue to the payment Of the princi-
pal debt, viii 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 or
dirary expenditures, and discharge its sacred
obligations to the soldiers of the Union and to
the widows and orphans of those who fell in
its defense.
THE RESUMPTION OF SPECIE PAYMENTS.
which the Republican party so courageousIy
and successfully accomplished, has removed
from the field Of controversy MANY ques-
tons that long 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 store of gold and silver.
The circulating medium is now more abundant
than ever BEFORE and we need only to maintain
the equality of all our dollars to insure to labor
and capital measure Of value from the use of
whlchno one can suffer loss. The great pros
perity which the country is now enjoying
should not be endangered by any violent
changes or doubtful financial experiments.
THE CUSTOM LAWS
In reference to the custom laws a 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 product. 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 COMPETE
tor. Our country cannot be independ-
ent unless its people, with their
abundant natural resources, possess the requi-
site skill at any time to cothe arm and equip
themselves for war, and in time of peace to /
produce al the necessary implements of labor
1t was the manifest intention Of the founders
of the Government to provide for the common
defense not by standing armies alone but by |
raising among the people a greater army Of !
artisans, whose intelligence and skill should /
powerfully contribute to the safety and glory of
the nation.
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS.
Fortunately for the interests of commerce,
there is no longer any formidable opposition /
to appropriations for the improvement of our
harbors and great nayigable rivers, provided +
that the expenditures for that purpose are /
strictly limited to works Of national import I
ance. The Mississippi river, with its great I
is Of such vital importance to so \