Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1884-08-14
Parties Compared.

week, on opening the campaign, vigor-
ously attacked the record of the Demo-
cracy and made the following COMPARE
son of parties, of which we quote
few paragraphs:
In a country like ours. history repeats
itself frequently. The Republican party
is engaged to-day in an effort to save
the industries and the labor system of
the country from utter ruin. The Demo-
cratic party is engaged in trying to des-
troy both. In 1856, the republican
party opposed the extension of slavery;
in 1860, it refused to allow the dismem-
berment of the union in 1864, it re-
| fused to submit to dishonorable peace;
| in 1868, it insisted upon the adoption of
the constitutional amendments; in 1872,
it repudiated insincerity; in 1876, it OPP
posed sham reforms; and in 1880, it was
| in favor of honest money, in all of which
it was opposed by the Democratic party
So, to-day, the democratic party is en-
gagged in an assault upon the industrial
interests of the country in as fragrant
and wicked manner as it was to these
| questions in each of the periods have
| named.
Since the democratic party have eulo-
| logized a gentleman whom they are
pleased TO canonlze rs the great embodi-
ment of Democratic sentiment and prin.
ciple, it becomes pertinent to anmad-
vert upon sentence contained in his
letter declining the nomination of presi-
dent at the hands of that party. Mr..
Tilden's language is as follows:
Twenty year of continuous malad-
mlnistratiOn, under the demoralizing in
fluence of intestine war and of bad fl
nance have infected the whole govern
ment system of the United States with
the cancerous growths of false con-
structions and corrupt practices. Power
full classes have acquired pecuniary in
terests in official abuses, and the moral
standards of the people have been lm-
paired"
1t was recently said, commenting up
on this language, by one of the able
daily journals of the city in Indiana
polls, THAT this pessimism, if it comes
from dotage, is pardonable, though
pitiable." / can hardly view it in so
charitable light. Let us see what has
been accomplished in the past twenty
years, while the maladministration, as
Mr.. Tilden calls it, has been in power
The Republican party found an emp
ty treasury, and now it has q surplus of
$500, 000, 900. 1t found the credit of
the Nation so low that the bonds of the
Nation sold at II per cent discount.
bearing high rate of interest, and no
sale for them at this ruinous price, while
now its bonds bear three per cent. in
forest and al "a a nf
cent. 1t found an incipient rebellion
which ripened into a cyclone of war,
which it subdued and made the union
of states indissoluble. 1t found 5,000,-
900 OF slaves working without pay, with
the masters lash applied to bare backs,
and labor forced from servile hands. 1t
struck the shackles from their limbs
and made them free.
1t found the mother of the slave chill
dren denied the right of owning her
own child. The Republican party
placed her guardianship above that of
the master.
1t found fathers and husbands who
were unable to protect the virtue of
their wives and daughters; it wrote msn-
hood upon their face and placed in their
hands the power of the law for their
full proportion. 1t found slavery rec
ognized in the constitution, and it blot |
ted it out by the thirteenth amendment.
1t found the mouths of witnesses closed |
IN the courts of justice, and it unlocked |
their tongues and gave them the power |
to speak by the fourteenth amendment. |
1t found men born and reared in this |
country deprived of the right of suf- |
frage, and placed that glttering prize in |
their hands. 1t found a party conspir-
ing against the credit of the Nation. |
and it restored that credit to Il point be- |
yond the most favored nations of the |
world. 1t has paid more than $1,000 |
000,0O of the public debt 1t subdued |
rebellion and gave to the rebelious the
rights of citizenship and suffrage. 1t
extended amnesty without stint and |
charity with an open hand. 1t subdued |
the wilderness in the territories of the |
west and erected them into magnificent
provinces. 1t girdled the continent
with an iron span. 1t made the citizen
of one part of the continent intimate
and familiar with the other. 1t pen
stoned patriots and cared for the sol |
dier's widow and orphans. 1t has made |
progress absolutely without parallel in |
history. 1t built cities and made the
desert to blossom as a rose. 1t literal
ly carried out the prophecy of Abraham
Lincoln, its first president, expressed in
his own words. with malice toward
none, with charity for all, with firnness
in the right as God gives us to see the
right, let us finish the work we are in.
to bind up the Nations wounds. to care
for him who shall have borne the battle. |
and for his widow and orphans to do ali
which may achieve and cherish lust
and lasting peace among ourselves and
with all nations
And still the sage of the Democratic
party and the great leader of Democrat
ic thought has seen nothing but malad |
ministration, corruption and abuse of
power during the last two decades. Mr.
Tilden unconsciously described the
Democratic party. The picture is per-
feet. 1t is like a stagnant pool. the
waters whereof have become putrid hy
inertia and non action; or, like Col In
gersoll's sign-board. which bad on it
entertainment for man and beast
and pointed to where once stood hotel
and barn. but which had been burned
down and destroyed for mole than
%Fr-as. 49,,