The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-09-25
He Pays His Respects to Curtis,
Schurz, and Other Apostles
of "Purgatorial Politics."
The Independents Falsely So Called
Hot Shot for Bourbons-The
Peoples Choice.
An Eloquent Review Of the Two Prin.
cipal Parties-NO Fear for
the Result.

uiSCusSlOu, tltutf Oh the principles involved In
the pending Presidential campaign or of the can
didates themselves 1t seems TO me, since read
the papers this morning, that the necessity for
very much discussion has passed, and that pO-
litical oratory has resolved itself, after all
pretty much into halelujah of great delight
on the one side and wall of lamentation on the
other llaughterl, with an occasional bleak
and dismal whistle coming from the brush and
from obscure places in the scenery, intended, no
doubt, to keep up the courage OF the whistler
am not unmindful whom am addressing. 1
know i am In Boston, in the State of Massachu-
sets, In the New ENGLAND States. l am resi-
dent OF the State of Illinois,; am citizen of the
United States. tApplause.l / am with you
Joint proprietor otaBunker Hin lapplausel, made
so by the fourteenth and fifteenth constitutional
amendments and have common interest in Paul
Revere and In that remarkable cargo of tea, the
unshipping OF which led to such splendid results
good many years ago. i am from what In New
York has been characterized as the "rowdy
West, and what, by one at least of New Eng
land 3 famous clergymen, has been denominated
| as the "ritf-raff West" ILaughter.l May / say
to you, because | know it VIII be something
that this characterization has not greatly dis
turbed us in the West, nor has 10 made us angry
and yet Senator Hawley will tell you we do not
lack spirit on proper occasion. Laughter. ]
We have an abundance OF IL. Don't trife with it,
Laughter Our State was the only State in
the Union, Mr.. Chairman, that filed it's quota
without draft lapplauseJ, and we sent over
about eighteen thousand troops besides to Mis-
souri,, a strong Democratic State. as you may re-
member which will cast its electoral vote for
Cleveland.
am not an Independent In politics. Laugh
teri L recognize no purgatoria politics, no
hating, half way station between heaven and
hell. tLaughterl To me it IL the heaven OF
good republic III government, or it is the hell of
| that diabolical old, Internal Democratic party
LliaughterJ-t has never, In all itslong, con
sistent, bad, and criminal career, done a right
thing except at the wrong time. lLaughter.l
wish to say Of this Democratic party nothing
unund or ungenerous, and of the Independents
1t Is my purpose to speak in terms of the ut
most tenderness. lLaughter.I
Why should we mourn departed friendsl"
When l read the announcement a few weeks
ago, Mr.. Chairman, that they had gone, ac-
cepted it with great deal of solid comfort and
Christian resignation laughter when
read along little further, to the statement that
their absence was to be temporary merely, and
that they intended some day TO return, l con-
fess-who should not confess?-that my mind
filled with the drest apprehension. Our
party has made some mistakes. II YOU will per-
NIT me to suggest-it has been growing a little
too rapidly at the top Laughter l am pre-
horny-handed and the hard-fsted Jap
plause.l L see Mr. Curtis and Mr.. Schurz going
for the fourth or fifth time. lLaughterl NV
feelings have been lacerated, and my heart
has been wrung many times at their de-
'parture. They have played already too many
farewell engagements. lLaughter.l see COM
ing to us in countless thousands the old
fashioned Democrats from whose eyes the scales
have fallen, liberated and freed; and as / see
the aesthetics going and the patriotic hard
working citizens coming, recognize the first
rule OF private hospitality. / welcome the
coming and speed the departing guests" Loud
laughter. applause, and cheers and voice,
Give 1t to them We have heard in the West
something about the better element" Of the
party. lLaugfrer.l In our plain way, because
we have been building up States and cities and
empires, and have not had time to bolt, we have
thought that the better element of the party
was the biggest element, and that the wisdom
Of this great party OF ours was in the majority.
Now, don't you think so? Voices. Yes, sir ]
Every time. / dislike this appropriation of the
phrase The thoughtful and the conscientious
citizens" by few gentlemen who do not act
with the majority OF the thoughtful and con-
scientious citizens. tAppause.l i am in favor
of the scholar in politics; but, nevertheless, /
do believe with Edmund Burke that it was the
great good fortune of the British people that
they were never ruled over a few months at q
time by their philosophers and their wise men.
My fellow citizens, the great reforms in this
world, those reforms from which civil liberty
and individual liberty have derived any benefit,
have not come from the clouds down, but from
the ground up. lApplause.l j believe in the
spinal column of this country. L read the an
nouncement, for in the West we do take the At
| Ldntic Monthly, and have gospel privileges
| (laughterI, read that these gentlemen are ex-
ceedingiy solcitouS az to what they call the
| purity or the young men. May be permitted
TO Suggest that the farmers OF illinois and of the
great West-those strong, splendid, broad
browed. great, big hearted men, those men who
buried the doctrine OF fiat money under ma
| jority of 40000-think they quite capable
themselves of taking care OF the morals of their
sons. tLaughter.J And, most of all, they do
not propose to turn the custody of these morals
| over to an assorted lot OF gentlemen, half of
whom deny the existence of God and the 9TH
| er half of whom believe that mankind, them
| selves included, were developed from an ape
| lLaughter.l
Now. then, what does it mean to be independ-
| ent in politics? IL the word has a particle of
significance it is a refusal to acknowledge ale
glance to either of the great political parties of
| the country. These gentlemen are simply indie
pendent OF the Republican party, to which they
| formerly belonged-spasmodicaily and occa-
sionally belonged. They have attached them
| selves to the Democratic party. And they are
not Independent of that when they acknowledge
allegiance to IL.
HOW ABSURD IT Is.
III q refusal TO vote the Republican ticketRnd
indorse Republican doctrines and to support
Republican candidates is an evidence OF indie
pendence then the Democrat Is a good deal
more Independent than the Independent, be-
cause he has that way as independent been in
dependent good while longer Laughter.l Will
some astute logician tell me the difference be-
| tween a genuine real old-fashioned and one of
| the original Democrats, this campaign and the
new article, the independently fLaughterI They
support the same man and for the same reasons.
| The old Democrat and his ally will support
Grover Cleveland because of his high moral char
acter Loud laughter and applausel Mr. Chair
man, cannot understand why that should pro-
| duce such demonstration. lDaughter.J They
support him, both of them, because he vetoed the
scent fare bill, because he vetoed the bill short
enin9 the hours of labor for the street-car con-
| ductors and drivers, and because he vetoed the
mechanics lien law in the State of New York.
| The Democrat and the Independent both support
Mr.. CLEVELAND Tor these ons, among others,
and for the same reasons precisely they both OPP
pose Mr.. Blaine. Mr.. Schurz and Mr.. Curtis both
| withhold their support from Mr.. Blaine for the
| same reason Hubert o. Thompson and Mr.. Sheriff
Davidson withhold theirs, exactly. They use
the same methods. work through the same chan
nele, and seek TO accomplish the same end in
exactly the same way. Both mourn when they
are defeated, would rejoice IL they could sue
| coed, will be buried in the same common coffin
laughter, applause, and cheersl and when, after
November, their bleached and whitened skele-
| tons lie on the beach and shore OF political de-
| feat and disappointment, you can not tell the
| skeleton OF an independent from that of Dem
| ocrat. tLaughter.I
This is a very remarkable party of ours. the
Republican party. IL never had, In all its long
| and splendid and lustrous career, a leader who
could take IL one single inch In the direction it
didn't want to go. tApplause-l Our leaders
have sometimes left us, and in wholesale way
| So much the worse for the leaders, so much the
better for the party. lApplause.l In 1872 Gov
errors and ex- Governors, Senators and ex SEN
ators, Judges and ex-yudges, Tray, Blanche
and Sweetheart, crowds of them, left MS because
the party, as they said, was corrupt, and how
splenddly the old ship did right herself up after
| they got on tApplause aud lauehter.l How
| magnihcently she made for the harbor Of
/ splendid success: and how desolate, discom-
1 flied, and water logged have been the leaders
/ who jumped overheard ever since Laughter ]
/ There is another remarkable feature about
our party which distinguishes It from
| the Democratic party. To write platform for
n ~ 49,