Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-09-17
SENATOR SHERMAN.
The Past and the Present-The Demo-
cratic Policy i'm the South.

Senator Sherman recently delivered speech
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 have 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 in power, but
those of you who about to assume the relns
of government will appreciate this change more
by reference to some figures taken by me from
the statistics of the last census. From 1860 to
1880 our population increased from 81, 100000 to
to 100000, more than SO per cent The num-
Der of manufacturing establishments increased
from 100000 to 253,000 The capital employed
IN manufactures increased from 81 ,009 000 600 to
S2,709 100000, or nearly threefold. The number
OF hands employed in manufactures increased
from 200 to 2,739O00, or more than double.
The wages paid to laborers increased from
1919 100000 to $949, 00O0 coo, nearly three-fold
The value of material used in manufactures in
creased from 81, OBJ 100000 TO $3,396, 100000, or
more than three fold and the value of products
from $1,855.Oo0.OO0 to $5,369, 100000, or about
three-fold.
But this enormous improvement in our con-
dition is not confined to manufactures only. 1t
extends to agriculture and other pursuits as
we'll The number of farms in 1860 was 2,044,-
OOO while in 1880 it was 4,OO8,O0o The number
of acres in farms increased during that time
from 407 100000 TO 536, 100000, and their value
increased from $4,000, 100000 to $lO197, 0O0, 000
while the products OF farming increased from
$246, 900 to $4O6, 100000.
In 1860 we had 3O,685 miles of railway. In
1880 we had 81 1893 miles, and now we have
127, 900 miles. Our exports of domestic prod
ucts during the last year amounted to $780,
100000, while in 1860 they amounted to $685.
100000.
Our national debt, once an object of pro-
found alarm, is being paid off at the rate of
100000 900 year, the excess of taxes being so
lightly borne that no considerable portion OF
the people complain of them and no general
nd iS hn of of them
Indeed, it is a marvellous feature of our condi-
ton that to repeal taxes is more unpopular than
to retain them, and some of these taxes are
themselves means of prosperity, and not a
burden complained of by any.
The Senator then spoke of the triumphs of
the republican party IN the past, and declared
country. Concerning the Democratic policy in
the South he said
1.-The Democratic party is in complete control
of all the Southern States. In this way they
claim to be secure of 153 electoral votes, need
ing only forty-eight from the North to give them
power to elect a President of their choice. And
yet we know that in perhaps majority of the
Southern States, if there was a legal, fair cleo
tion without fraud or violence, the Republican
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 mlldeSt
terms, good, quiet, honest people in the North
doubt the truth of such statements because
they not capable of believing it possible that
such crimes would be resorted to. 1t has got to
be somewhat out of fashion to talk about South
the condition of this country unless are will
ing to look at the exact situation of the rebel
States.
by the policy adopted in 1876 in Mississippi
the Republicans, white and black, were either
not allowed to vote, or, if they voted, the count
was 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 it has been
denounced as a fraud. Yet | happen to know,
from the most careful examination of these cases.
that in each of these States, If there had been q
fair election, the majority would have been
overwhelming for the Hayes electors, and that
the returning boards were not able to repair all
the wrong done, but did lawfully and properly
reject the returns of counties and parishes where
the fraud was most pal able and gross, and thus
secured the election of President Hayes, You
all remember that even then bribery and fraud
In Oregon and otlfer States was attempted, and
the cipher dispatches, a disgrace to the history
of our elections, showed that bribery was at
tempted in several of the Southern States. l
affirm without fear of contradiction thatin every
one of the cotton States a fair and honest vote,
free from fraud and intimidation, would place
all these States on the side of the Republican
party.
"rhe occurrences at the recent elections in
Mississippi and Virginia known as the Copiah
and Danville 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 to
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 yet this is the way, and the only
way by which there is a possibility of the
Democratic party. succeeding at the present
election. l have often thought and
believed that If the honest, good Democrats of
Ohio could appreciate as / do, the nature Of
these offenseS, and the danger to our inStitu-
HOns growing out of election frauds, they would
revolt against all affiliations with the Demo-
cratic party. | coucede that, as citizens and
neighbors here, they are as peaceable, as order
ly, and in the main as patriotic as we are, but I
cannot but think that they are so blinded and
misled by party zeal that they will condone and
take advantage OF crime and fraud to secure
party ends, or still more charitable view, that
they cannot be persuaded, even by evidence, of
the truth of charges so disgraceful to their
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 q eulogy of the
Republican national candidate.