The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1880-08-24
A GERMAN.AMERICAN SPEAKS.
Letter of Judge StallO, of Cincin-
natl, to the Chairman of a DEM
Ocratic Meeting in that City.

You are aware that for many years
from 1856 to 1871 acted with the
Republican party. But the very pui-
poses for which that party was founded
now demand that the men who have
controlled it, and through it the Gov
ernment during the last fifteen years,
shall he dislodged from power. The
persistent usurpauon by the National
Government of powers beyond its con-
stitutional sphere, and its conversion in,
to an instrumentality of robbery and
oppression are not, in my judgment, con
ducive to the maintenance of its suprem
acy within its constitutional limits.
find it difficult to believe that the equa
civil and political rights of our citizens
and the purity Of our elections are to he
secured bv placing the ballot-box under
the exclusive control of the party in
power-even if this control be not i'm.
mediately exercised by rulfians hired fol
the declared purpose of suppressing ad
verse majorities-or by the methods
countenarced and promoted by Gener-
al Garfield after the last Presidential
election in Louisiana And / am whol.
Iy unable 10 undersa and that the appoint
ment of Madison Wells and his COM
peers to office as a reward for the mos
infamous political crime recorded in the
annals of our country, or the attempt to
place Chester A. Arthur in the chair OF
the Senate, afford very striking evlder &C
of sincere purpose 10 reform and pu-
rify the Government service.
Whether or not the Democratic party
will make worthy use of the opportu-
mites which the control OF the Govern
ment affords remains 10 be seen For
the present it is enough to say that
very much prefer its platform and its
nominees to the platform and nominees
of the Republicans. The Republican
platform (which ia, of course,to be inter-
preted in the light of the Republican
nominations), so far as it is more than
mere senseless fustian and rhodomon-
tade, is simply an audacious sneer at
public morality; and the Republican
candidates appear to have been chosen
for the express purpose of compelling
the voters of the Republican party dis
linctly to indorse and approve the iniq-
uities which have driven so many of its
members from its ranks. Or in what
other sense is James A. Garfield offered
to US as the representative OF Republic
can detestalion of bribery and corrup
ton, and Chester A. Arthur as an index
of Republican enthusiasm and civil SER
vice reform!
The nomination Of General Hancock.
however, is not only fit as q grateful
recognition of his merits, but is pecu-
liarly auspicious in view Of the exigen-
ces of the time. 1t is the most trust
worthy assurance that the results of the
late war are at least as safe in the keep
ing of Democratic as in that of Re-
publican Administration. And what is
equally important, it is an augury of the
restoration of peace and good will
among all the citizens of this Union.-
The. men of the South who once bore
arms against the Union have not only
laid them down. but they have renewed
their allegiance to our common country
with demonstrations of affection whose
very sadness is the best proof Of their
sincerity. They have for years been
against the disorders neces-
sarily consequent upon the complete
of their social and industrial
system and the misfortunes entailed up
on them by the way-misfortunes which
certainly have not been alleviated by the
practices of majority Of the men who
came to the Southern States as the
agents and representatives Of the Re
publican party And ! cannot conceive
more despicable than the at
tempt of certain Republican politicians
who aspire to the highest honors and
trusts of the republic to fabricate parli-
san capitsl hy constant reference to
the inevitable incidents to the reorgani-
cation of our Southern communities as
evidence of the continued .disloyalty Of
the whole Southern people. With the
election of Hancock all this will come
to speedy end. The insane vociffera
ton about "solid South" will be silen
ced, and l am not without hope that at
the Presidential election in 1884 we shall
have two parties at the South as we'll as
at the North, whose lines of division are
no longer the lines of color or of race
j B SrALLo