Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-07-08
8ailg gtn,rtbtf 9Onrnal.
Augusta, Saturday Aassjag, July 8.
Candidates for Congress.

Candidates for Congress.
The candidates Of the two parties in
this State for seats in Congress are now
before the people.
On the republican side every candidate
presented Is Of acknowledged ability to
fll the position for which be Is nominated.
and Of pronounced and positive opinions
in relation tn political questions in this
campaign. They are earnest, live. active
men. fair representatives Of the republi-
can party.
On the fusion side. the candidates
some of them-are such that it is an in
suit to the intelligence of the people to
assert that they are qualified to fill the
seats of Congressman with ability. With
what party to class them il a puzzle
whether a. greenbackers. democrats or
mongrels. They seem to have no politi-
cal convictions, no certain abiding place
in any party, no fixed purpose except to
make scramble for Office regardless Of
every honorable principle.
The republican candidates stand for
principles well defined. They represent
the ideas, the forces. which sustained the
government in the great rebellion. and
the sentiment which now maintains that
the ground then won in the struggle with
the Slave Power shall be firmly held for
ever, until freedom and equal rights reign
In the Sou.h the same as in the North.
They stand for honest elections, for sound
currency. for the payment of the national
debt. for keeping full faith with
the nations creditors, for honest
and economical government. for
the protection Of American labor by ju-
dicious tariff against the pauper labor Of
Europe, for the advancement and extern
sion Of common schools everywhere, for
all reforms that will promote honesty and
efficiency in the civil service. for elevating
the common.people in the social and po-
litical scale, in fine for all things that will
promote the progress and prosperity Of
this country.
The fusion candidates. what do they
stand for' Why. this is question which
greenbackers and democrats themselves
are asking. Some Of these candidates
arc in favor of Protection; others are
ultra Free Traders. Some want \
paper currency exclusively; others want
currency based upon gold and silver.
They declare in their platforms in favor
Of honest elections. but Murch and Ladd
never have failed to vote in Congress in
favor OF the tissue ballot frauds. even
those monstrous ones in the Shoe. string
district of Mississippi. also those
which would have excluded an Alabama
greenbacker from the seat in the House
which honestly belonged to him. and
which he at last attained through the
votes and influence Of the republican
members Of Congress. The inconsistent
cies. contradictions. cross-fring. opposing
tendencies, straddlng. and confusion in
which these candidates are involved are
amazing and past remedy. No two of
btcth nStCV W. Soh "fiVV' ANVs VpV Va
them can define his position without Of
tending some section Of those who are ex-
pected to support him.
Between these tickets for members of
Congress there is but one really sensible
choice to make. that is. TO support the re-
publican ticket. 1t Is the only complete
ticket which men can vote for without
stultifying themselves. The other ticket
means nothing. To vote it. or for any
man upon II. is to vote cheat and an alb
surdity. Il Is neither greenback nor DEM
ocratic; neither bird nor fish. 1t is spit
upon by both factions of the fusionists.
and will be repudiated by them as the flu
sion ticket was last winter in the second
congressional district. The fact that no
democrat Of any political prominence in
the first district would consent to allow
his name to be used on the fusion ticket.
and that the nomination went to an OBJ
scure individual. signifies that the leaders
saw the impending overthrow Of the
ticket and very shrewdly determined to
stand from under