The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-09-11
SENATOR SHERMAN.


The Past and the Present-Thc Demo.
cratic Policy In the South.
at Ashland, Ohio. The Senator began by stating
that the older he became the freer he was from
partisan pride. He then briefly reviewed the his
and said:
"Those Of us who haye lived through the
period of this struggle and growth can realize
by a single glance OF memory from the present
to the past the great and beneficial change
which has been produced in the United States
since the Democratic party was I'm power, but
those of you who are about TO assume the relns
or government Will appreciate this change more
by reference TO some figures taken by me from
the statistics OF the last census From 1850 To
1850 our population increased from 81 400, 900 to
TO 5l,0OO,00O, more than SO Ter cent. The num-
Der OF manufacturing establishments increased
from 10000 to 253,oo0. The capital employed
In manufactures increased from 81 009, 900 600 TO
81 70g. 900 900, or nearly three-fold. The number
OF hands employed in manufactures increased
from l.3li,0OO TO 2,7Ss,ooo or more than double.
The wages paid to laborers increased from
1919 100000 to S9is coo, 000 nearly three-fod.
The value of material used in manufactures in
creased from Sl,03l, 100000 TO S3396,OOO,OOO or
more than three-fold, and the value OF products
from S,s55,0 100000 TO S5,30O, O0O,OOO or about
three-fold.
dition is not confined to manufactures only. lt
extends to agriculture and other pursuits as
well. The number OF farms in 1850 was 2O44,-
900, wilhelm 1880 IL was 4,00S, 900. The number
of acres in farms increased during that time
from 407, 100000 to 53G, 0O0. 900 and their value
increased from s6,6t00 100000 to $l0,1g7000,0OO,
while the products OF farming increased from
$246, 900, 900 10 S406, 100000.
I'm 1860 we had 306S5 miles OF railway. In
1890 we had S4.393 miles, and now we have
l27, 900 miles. Our exports of domestic prod
ucts during the last year amounted to $500
0O0. 00e while in 1860 they amounted TO $685.
0O0, 000
"Our national debt, once an object of pro-
IN Al 80
% year ,s the Excess Of taxes being so
lightly borne that no considerable portion of
thfpeople complain OF them, and no general
demand is made for the repeal OF any of them.
ton that tp repeal taxes Is more unpopular than
to retain them, and some OF these taxes are
themselves a means of prosperity, and not
burden complained of by any,.
The Senator then spoke of the triumphs OF
the Republican party In the past and declared
the Democratic party totally unfit Il govern the
country. Concerning the Democratic policy in
the South he said:
The Democratic party Is In complete control
of all the Southern States. In this way they
claim to be secure OF 1873 electoral votes, need
ing only forty-eight from the North to give them
power to elect President of their choice And
| yet we know that in perhaps majority or the
Southern States, II there was q legal fair elec-
| ton, without fraud or violence, thetRepublican
party would be in the majority. We also know
that they gained power In those States by crimes
so revolving that when described in the mldest
| terms, good quiet, honest people in the North
doubt the truth of such statements because
they are not capable of believing 1t possible that
| such crimes would be resorted TO. 1t has got &c
| be somewhat out Of fashion to talk about South
ern outrages, but no correct view can be had OF
the condition of this country unless we are Will
ing TO look at the exact situation OF the rebel
States.
"By the policy adopted in 1875 in Mississippi
! the Republicans, white and black, were either
not allowed to vote or, IL they voted, the count
was so made as to reject their votes, and, in
many cases, to count them on the other side.
This fraud and violence was open, palpable, and
! scarcely denied 1t WAS proved by witnesses by
| the hundred whose testimony is recorded in
| public documents, now open to the inspection OF
| any citizen. That fraud and violence was con-
| tinued in 1876, and would have defeated Presi-
| dent Hayes but for the power conferred by State
| Legislatures upon returning boards, a device OF
| their own contrivance, which enabled the return
| ing boards in Louisiana, Florida, and South
| Carolina TO return the electoral votes OF those
| States for President Hayes Sometimes this
| has been matter Of complaint, and IL has been
| denounced as a fraud. Yet happen TO know,
| from the most careful examination of thesecases
that in each of theseStates, If there had been O
! fair election, the majority would have been
overwhelming for the Hayes electors, and that
| the returning boards were not able to repair al
| the wrong done. but did lawfully and properly
reject the returns of counties and parishes where
the fraud was most palpable and gross, and thus
secured the election of President Hayes. You
| all remember that even then bribery and fraud
| in Oregon and other States was attempted, and
the cipher dispatches, disgrace to the history
| of our elections, showed that bribery was at
| tempted in several OF the Southern States.
affirm without fear OF contradiction that In every
| one of the cotton States n fair and honest vote
| free from fraud and intimidation, would place
all these States on the side of the Republican
party.
| The occurrences at the recent elections in
| Mississippi and Virginia, known as the Copah
| and Danvillc outrages, show that this policy Is
| continued now, and the newspapers inform you
that it is the openly announced and avowed
| purpose of the Democratic leaders to resort &c
| the same frauds in Louisiana and Mississippi
| and, perhaps, other States The success of the
| Democratic party is only possible by crimes
| that in former times would have so shocked
public opinion as>to have led to the punishment
| and disgrace of every one who participated in
them, and vet this is the way, aud the only
way, by which there is a possibility OF the
Democratic party succeeding at the present
election. i have often thought anO
believed that If the honest, good Democrats OF
Ohio could appreciate, as / do, the nature Of
these offenses, and the danger TO our institu
tions growing out of election frauds. they would
revolt against all affiliations with the Demo
| cratic party. l coucede that, citizens anC
! neighbQrs here, they are as peaceable, as order
| ly. and in the main patriotic as we are, but
cannot but think that they are so blinded anC
| msled by party zeal that they will condone anC
| take advantage OF crime and fraud TO secure
party ends. or a still more charitable view, tina
they cannot be persuaded, even by evidence, o
the truth OF charges disgraceful TO thei
| party and their associates in the South
| The Senator then considered the tariff ques
| ton, the duty on WOOL and urged liberal pen
sions for soldiers, closing with eulogy of tn
III 81 I,.2