The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-08-26
HON. JOHN GIBBoNs.
His Reasons for Abandoning the Democracy
and Supporting Blaine.


and Supporting Blaine.
Special to the indianapolis Journal
CRAwFoRDsv1LLE, Aug. 25-Hon John Glib
bons OF Chicago, the eloquent Irish American.
and lifetime Democrat, who has recently come
out for Blaine as the exponent Of the American
idea and protective tariff, spoke here this even
ing, his speech being substantially as follows:
Fellow-citizens: It was not mere chance nor
i passing caprice which caused me to abandon the
party with which have hitherto affiliated. If
! was no pleasing undertaking for me to sever the
ties which bound me to the Democratic party
/ and TO renounce the political associations of
i Hfetme. 1t is due to myself and friends to be-
i able to give some controlling reason for my ac-
ton IN this regard. To me personally it makes
little difference which party comes out victorious
IN the approaching political contest / have no
am bltlon Tor political perferment But as loyal
adopted citizen of this great Republic it concerns
me very much, as it ought to concern every true
American whether our institutions Of learning
| VIII continue to multiply and fill the land, our
/ internal trade and domestic industry increase,
our commercial relations expand and our ma
tIonal greatness progress in the future as in the
past fifteen years; for the growth and progress
OF our institutions, the development of our in
ternal resources, tho expansion Of our trade and
commerce. thes unifcation of our national
thought and national aspirations attest and bear
witness to our rapid strides along the highway to
national greatness The question is often pro-
pounded now, How can you vote for Repub-
licanF And yet, strange as it may seem, the
solution of that question is not SO difficult
as is the question, why was ever a Democratgp
adopted the political creed of that party, with
out inquiry into its history traditions because
led to believe that it was the party of the peo-
pie the party Of liberty and equality; that the
Republican party was thing to be dreaded
the foe of liberty, the enemy Of the common peo-
pie the party Of extreme ID ntolerance and saYiah
bigotry.
Whatever may be reasonably urged for or
against either party on these points, it must be
conceded that the advent of the Republican par
ty into American politics dates new era in the
progress OF a broader and more enlightened civ
ilization interviewer with and inseparable from
the history of this party is found the grandest
page that ever adorned the book of time page
waich chronicles events so recent that they are
familiar to Us ALL The formation of this party
marks the end of an era of intolerance and big
otry-the beginning of an era of liberty
equality and liberation such as the
world had never before witnessed or understood.
When the Republican party came into power, it
found the governments of the Southern States
arrayed against, and threatening the diss0lu-
ton of the federal Union the arms and NUM-
tions Of transferred to the forts and arsenals
of the enemy through the connivance OF Demo-
cratic officials. 1t found 10000 600 Of people
wearing the rings of bondmen and fettered by
the chains of slavery. 1t saw human beings
bartered and sold like beasts of BURDEN the
wife torn from her husband, the mother from
her child, and the pityng cry of DISTRESS as they
parted to meet no more answered by the taunts
and jbes of the autioneer, the scourge and lash
i OF the UaSklQdSGer IT IOunQ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
and Southern Democracy firmly planted side by
side on the planks Of s-rightism and slavery
| it found English statesmen IN alliance with jeff
Davis and his confederates, plotting the over
throw and destruction of the Union; it found
treasury without funds, nation devoid of credit
/ it found mushroom State banks issuing wild
| cat scrip, and the wage-worker was uncertain,
| as he pocketed his pay on Saturday night
whether the price received for whole weeks
honest toll would purchase from the grocer his
Sunday breakfast This is but faint picture of
those times These are but few Of the obstacles
which confronted that party while yet IN its in
| fancy, struggling for existence; but it entered
upon its divinely inspired mission; opposing
all factions uncompromising IN the right
it fought the grand fight Of freedom and prog
ress, and gave to the Nation new Declaration
of Independence-a new charter of liberty, not
| intended for race Of men, but embracing all
! mankind. It struck the shackles from the limbs
of 1000 600 and elevated them to manhood and
citizenship; it restored the wife to her husband
the mother to her child, and converted the cattle
pen Of the slave to the cabin home of the free
man; it brought back the shattered States,
cemented the broken parts with the warm life
| blood which flowed from the hearts Of PATRIOTS
and restored each missing star that it might
shine with greater lustre in the bright galaxy Of
a re-established Union. It waged the most
and in less than ten years after the
declaration of peace the bonds of the Nation
were held at premium in the markets Of the
world; it gave a new monetary system to meet
! the exigencies Of the war, and has made every
dollar as good as gold, by pursuing a wise finan
! cial policy in times of peace 1t has given us
| State banking system, and through it the Ma
tion's pledge that every dollar earned by the
mechanic and laborer will be worth its face
value in every State in the Union, in any nation
i of the world. Nor did its mission end there
4 During the lifetime Of that party it has never
/ broken faith with the people, and in 1884 it
comes befere the people with renewal Of its
! pledges for the elevation of American labor,
the protection of home industries, the care Of
hal
lot the right Of the citizen to express his SEN
i timents without fear Of intimidation at home
/ and to travel without let or hindrauee abroad;
and as additional guarantees to the peo-
pledges It selects the greatest living
] exponents of these principles as the party's
standard bearers james g. Blaine and John A.
notwithstanding the fact that the Republican
4 party can point with pride to the grand
est achievements and the broadest liberal
ism Of any party that ever existed in
! amy country, the assertion that it is the
party Of ow-nothingsIn has been often
| repeated that it is taken by many as an
accepted fact. II is due to this, no doubt thatI
4 became Democrat; and believe that many of
| foreign BIRTH who vote the Democratic ticket
4 will admit that they have kept aloof from that
/ party because of these assertions. The Know
nothing party was short-lived party; and
whether the greater number Of Know -nothings
| became Republicans OF Democrats, after the exs
4 citing contest of 1860, it is immateriaI now to
investigate Yet It may be safe to say that the
broad gauge men Of the Knownothing party
1 affiliated with the party of broad and national
j principles, and that the narrow minded and
/ bigoted found a more congenial companionship
with the party that arrayed itself on the side Of
/ slavery and provincial Democracy
Who is this man Cleveland this political ac
/ cident, this mushroom statesman, whose name
| is foisted upon the masses by the blundering
bosses Of the partyl give it up. They say he
4 was lawyer of Buffalo, but if he ever had
| brains enough to make lawyer, he never would
retire from his practice for the sherinalty Of
! Erie county They say he was mayor Of
Buffalo, but any respectable man might make