Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-03-15

upOu tHe uclHiSO VI lhat STouu oiu
party, once led by such statesmen as
Webster and Clay, he became Repub-
lican, and as grew up to manhood,
under his teachings, and the practical
doctrines enunciated by Seward, Lin
coin, Trumbull. Sumner, and others, I
became Republican, and my first vote
and many subsequent ones were cast
with and for that party. About the
time I became of age, the question of
the right of secession on the part of
slave-holding States eliminated in the
war for the union, and was one of
the first to volunteer in its defense, and
remained in the service of my country
until l was honorably discharged by
reason of wounds received in action.
After the close of the war l continued
to act with the Republican party as an
humble and sincere Member of it.,
living on and cultivating my farm in
the south part of this county. Natur-
ally inclined to form my opinions from
observation and reading the current
news of the day as published in the
leading journals of the country, l be-
came satisfied, after time, that the
political affairs of the country were
being managed and operated solely for
the benefit of those who had forced
themselves to the front rs leaders of
my party, not through merit as states
men, but by the tricks of disreputable
politicians. Confirmed in this opinion
by evidence and admissions of members
of my. own party, and the abandon
ment of it by all those great and good
men that had been the main promoters
of its usefulness, I naturally sought
such political association as appeared
likely to remedy the great and growing
evils that were driving the producers,
consumers and laborers Of the country
to abject slavery and pauperism.
About the time the national greenback
labor party was seeking to perfect an
organization throughout the country,
and from its platforms, adopted in con-
ventions, respectable in numbers and
persons, and its principles as explained
and advocated by its leaders, had
hopes, as their principles became chrys-
talized and their conditions Topped off
(many Of which did not adhere to or
believe practicable), that the great
evils so rapidly cnshrouding the coun-
try might be stayed, and honesty and
craftsmanship might again assume the
ascendancy and patriotic management
of our national affairs. For the past
FIVE years / have been an advocate of
that party's ascendancy. During that
time the greenback journals have con-
stantly asserted that our party was
growing in numbers, and increasing in
strength and in the confidence of the
people. For o time l took it for
granted that these assertions were true,
but for the past year l have been in
dustriously looking up statistics to con-
firm my impressions received from the
greenback press, especially the Lansing
Sentinel, but find that instead Of in
creasing, our numbers are decreasing ;
that our so called leaders have failed
to secure the confidence of their own
followers, or to induce accessions from
the old political organizations; that
as matter Of fact the greenback party
has been weighed in the scale Of public
opinion, and found to lack those dis
tinctive political principles necessary
to give it a foundation upon which to
stand, retaining its own primitive adj
herents, and draw by its own inherent
and lasting attractions the support of
the older organizations. Having been
firmly and honestly convinced of the
truth of the above, I have been for
some time considering what course to
adopt in my future political action.
My natural instincts, education, and
inclination would carry me back to the
party that I was born in and which
received my maiden vote. If I had
justifiable reasons five years ago for
leaving that party, what inducement
is there for me or any other honest
man to go back to it now, or for any
honest man to remain in it when it has
added to its other great crimes that of
assassination Parties are like indi-
viduals; when once they have enlisted
in the course Of crime, they go rapidly
from the minor to the greater. Never
was better illustration Of it than is at
present presented by the Republican
party. When the people of the north
at large had restored the Union by the
greatest struggle in the history Of mod
ern times, that party, instead Of taking
advantage of the suspicious closing of
the war, forever settling and eliminat-
ing the causes that had occasioned it,
to wit, slavery and the question of the
rights of secession, that party did
everything in its power to ALLEVIATE and
divide the Union by filling the States