The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-10-30
TO THE VOTERS OF ANDERSON
COUNTY.


executive officers of the United States
and of the State of South Carolina for
the ensuing term, together with all of the
elective County officers, except State
Senator. The issues involved in the
result of the contest then to be decided
are of the gravest consequence to the
people of the whole Union, and particu'
larly to the citizens of the Southern
States. In the contest for the presidency
the issues of governmental reform are
most clearly presented, and, no people
should feel keener interest in contribu'
ting to the election of good men than the
people of South Carolina, who have 80
recently suffered so greatly under Repub'
lican corruption and misrule. The
Republican party has been in power for
twenty.four consecutive years, and under
its administration of the national gov
ernment the greatest frauds and corrup.
tions have been perpetrated, and from
time to time oyershadowed by the pre-
sentation of the old war issues, which
have always been successful, either by
fraud or force, in maintaining the Re-
publican party in power. Time would
fail me to point out the details of the
corruptions of this party. twill suffice,
however, to recall to the minds of honest
men the whiskey.ripg frauds, which
we're traced to General Babcock while
private secretary of President Grant, and
to the Belknap and Williams frauds
while they were respectively Secretary Of
War and Attorney General, thus clearly
tracing the frauds to the administration
of the government itself. : These, togeth-
er with the Credit Mobiksr swindles,
induced the people of the American
Union to express themselves in 1876 in
favor of change, by electiDg Gov.
Tilden of New York President over
president Hayes, but the party which
had become such adopts in stealing money
from the people by fraud, perjury and
unparalleled force and tyranny through
federal bayonets in South Carolina,
Louisiana and Florida, and a partisan
Court, aubverted the will OF the people
and made Mr.. Hayes, who was not elect
ed, President over Mr.. Tilden who was
elected. The Republicans themselves
now admit that Mr.. Hayes, was a fraud,
and he has to day the unbouuded con-
tempt of all honest and fair.minded men.
The experience Of 1876, however, so far
from inducing reformation of the Re-
publican party, has only served to EN-.
bolden it in its frauds, and Democratic
House of Representatives has already
unearthed great frauds in the Department
of Justice, in the Treasury Department,
in the Post Office Department, aud in
the Paymaster Generals Office. The
Republicans have the Courts of the
country, and not single guilty official
thief who has disgraced high Office has
been convicted and punished. The star
route thieves are to-day the managing
spirits in the Republican party. Not
only has the party become thus corrupt,
but it insults the American people by
imagining them to be equally corrupt, and
asks them to vote for Mr.. James G..
Blaine, of Maine, for the presidency.
Mr.. Blaine is shown by indisputable
evidence to be unscrupulous and unwor-
thy of confidence. In his own letters
about the Fort Smith and Little Rock
Railroad enterprise to Messrs. Fisher and
Mulligan, he is proven beyond the posi-.
bility of doubt to have used his official
position as Speaker of the House of
Representatives to enrich himself, and
that, too, by deceiving his friends. He
vas paid in bonds for his influence, assu.
ring his confederates in advance that he
saw various channels in which he could
be useful, and that he would not prove a
dead head in the enterprise. This was a
shameless barter of the confidence of the
people who elected him for private gain.
If be would be corrupt as member of
Congress or as Speaker, he would be 30
as President. He also stands to-day
guilty of falsehood and perjury in swear
ing before a Congressional Committee
that he paid for his bonds in this railroad
just as other people did, when the fact is
that he paid nothing. His whole record
has been one of shameless abuse of
official trust, and he is to-day seeking to
secure his election by personal appeals to
the people of Indiana and other North
ern States, in which he attacks the
South and the Democratic party because
the South belongs to that party. His
election would, we are confident, prove
injurious to the best interests of the South
and of the Union. Not only would the
election of Mr.. Blaine be the triumph of
corrupt politician, but it would be the
victory of a corrupt and wasteful party.
The Republican party is the party Of
high taxation. It is not satisfied with
raising enough money to defray the
expenses of the government, extravagant.
ly and fraudulently administered, but in
addition to this it collects an excess from
the people of over s100,O0o,OOo every
year, which is inexcusable oppression of
the many to enrich few by unjust and
unduesprotection. In opposition to this
party the Democrats offer a platform
which promises a rigid reform of the
government in every department and a