Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1882-10-26
REPuRLIcaN coUNTY TIoKET-
RATHER LATE.


After the Committee on Platform. of
the New York Democratic State Con.
vention had reported the Usual string of
words intended to cover up a lack of
principles and an uncertainty of ideas,
Gen. Pryor, at the instance of Mr.. John
Kelly. made the following supplementary
resolution
awe also arraign the Republican party
for its wholesale gift of public lands to
railroad jobbers. thus robbing the mass of
people of their rightful inheritance, and
we demand that, so far as possible, these
lands shall be reclaimed and reserved for
occupation Ly actual settlers, and we re-
quest the Democratic representatives of
Congress from the State of New York to
use their power to secure this blessing"
Surprising that the "gift of public
lands" means the land graDts to the Union
PGcifc, the Atchisou, Topeka & Santa
Fe, the Missouri, Kansas & Texas, the
Texas Pacific, ETC., this piece of Demo
cratic wisdom came triAe to1 late. It is
nearly twenty yearsgihce, without oppo-
sition on the part ofthe Democratic party
the 6rst land grants were made t0 aid in
she construction ola railroad to the Pa
eifc, and IL is ten years since any gift
has been made to any railroad, but the
Democratic party of the State of New
York appears to have just heard of it.
It Is q usual, case Of Democratic hind
sight
The gravity. of the convention in de-
handing that ''these lands shall be re-
claimed, years after they have passed
out IF the hands Of the grantees, have
been paid for, and are now covered with
farm houses, and even towns and cities,
is quite astonishing. 1t is safe to say
that no body Of men except Democratic
convention, accustomed to the theory and
practice Of Hypocrisy and humbug, could
have controlled it's mirthfullness while
such piece Of claptrap vas on the
boards.
The'gifts" alluded to were not made by
the Republican party. The first land
grant scheme carried through Congress
was in the interest of the Illinois Central
railroad, and its engineer was Democrat,
Stephen A. Douglas, and to this day
Democratic newspapers are eulogizing him
for doing it. Every "giit" made since
his time has been made on the same
ground and for the same reasons. nor
has the Democratic party, as party, or
any number of prominent Individuals in
1t, ever opposed land grant, be it gift"
or a steal, from the beginning to the end
of the chapter.
The time to have opposed the land
grant System was twenty years ago. Did
the Democratic party dc it thenP Has
1t ever since? Has it ever reclaimed
any lands from anybody for anybody 2
Everybody can answer these questions.
The truth is the land grant system,
When it began, met the approval of the
country. All the parties were in favor Of
it, and that great good resulted from it
is certain, But in time it became q
source Of corruption; attempts were made
and they are not over yet, to defraud
the government and the people ana
when it came to that pass, did Gen. Pryor
or Mr.. John Kelly, or any other Dem
ocrat, do anything about it p? Certainly
not. 1t was the Republican party
through its press and its conventions
that called for the reform of these abuses
and which finally ended the land gran
policy at least ten years ago. A Kansas
Republican State Convention was among
she first to call for a reform.
This silly and hypocratical resolution
is OF piece with all the Democratic part,
does. 1t is the party of reforms after re
forms have been effected, it is the cor
rector of abuses that have already ceased
When there is any present good to b
done, the Democratic party endeavors t
dodge it, Internationally attacks it anc
Their, after it has been effected and Yer.
nearly forgotten, resolves in favor of it.
In this fit of belated honesty In tn
New York Convention, the party wa
truly favored in the character of the ad
yocste Of this pious resolution. Ate
the platform had been presented I'll
John Kelly insisted that it should
sect back to the committee in order tina
the anti land grant resolution should b
Incorporated. Now, if there was THE
Ia that convention it was Mr.. j ohn Kelly
If auy corporation fustered by the GOV
eminent of the United States had 70 bbe
it as John Kelly has the City oiNe
York, it would be cause for indignation
not to break out twenty years hence, bI
10 begin now and last for all eternity.
Poor old Democatie party! How 10,
how lost. Its great men dead, it h
fallen into the hands Of w-brow,
shysters like this man Kelly, and is Ell
aAged in fostering evil, and that CO
tiBually; its only endorsement of al
good being that fsOme reform alreat
effected by the Republican party in Il
race of pcmOcaatie opposition Char
piOu.
eE-Gov. St. John seems to be abol