The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1884-09-11
THE STATE CAMPAIGN.
Ringing Address OF the State Executive
Committee to the Democracy.
HEADQUARTERS
STATE DEMOCRATIC COMMITTEE,
G n Cant 1894

SOAOIn04oS Ne ~ SSEs' -
FELLOW. CITIZENS: A struggle of
far.reschine and wide spread Importance
ia now, in. progress. By its result the
collective morality of the American
people will be measured. and their fitness
to govern themselves with wisdom be
Judged. To refuse to condemn crime is
to condone it. To choose as President a
candidate who was betrayed public trust
is to invite and encourage official infidel-
ity. In a government OF and for the
people, venality in him who is elected
Chief Magistrate is more portentous OF
ill than the shadow of the sword. The
wounds inflicted on liberty by the hand
of military power may, in course OF time,
be healed but national blood poisoning,
byscorruptior in high places, is necessari-
" incurable. This political campaign,
therefore, concerns you, not only as South
,Carolinians, not only as Democrats, but
ss Americans, who know neither North
nor South when the honor and welfare OF
the Union are imperilled. AS you value
rec.itude and constancy in the servants
Of the people; as you prize the general
welfare, and are resolved to secure to
posterity, your heritage of freedom 80
must you, in the coming election, zeal
ousiy and unfinchiDgly do your whole
duty. -.
In name, the present political contest
is between two great parties, the Demo
cratic and the Republican. In one of
these parties, however, the political line
is broken. Among the most ardent
advocates of the election of Cleveland
and Hendricks, the Democratic candi-
dates for President and Vice-President;
are Republican citizens of upsullied
reputation and high position, who have
hitherto voted the Republican ticket.
Their reasons for severing old and cher
ished political associations are best given
s 81 e their own words. They refuse to 60
with the Republican party, IN this cleo
!. tion, because tha. party offers them, in
the person of James G. Blaine, "a can
jdidate who is an unfit leader, shown by
his own words and his acknowledged acts,
which are of official record, to be unwor'.
thy of respect and confidence; who has
traded upon his official trust tor his
apecuniary gain ;ia representative of men,
methods and conduct which the public
conscience condemns, and which illustrate
the very evils that honest men would
REFORM The Independent Republicans,
in the address adopted at the New York
Conference, say further: while the
Republicans present q candidate whom
s We cannot support, the Democratic party
presents one whose name, is the synonym
of political courage and honesty and
administrative reform. He has discharg-
ed every official trust with sole regard to
the public welfare, and with just disre-
gard of mere partisan and personal ad.
Vantages, which, with the applause and
confidence of both parties, has raised
him from the chief executive administra.
tion of q great city to- that of great
State. His high sense of public duty,
his absolute and ~upchsllenged official
integrity, his inHe1ible courage in-resist-
ing party pressure and public outcry, his
great experience in the details of admin
istration, and his commanding executive
ability and Independence are precisely
the qualities which the political situation
demands in the chief executive officer Of
the Government, to resist corporate mo-
nopoly on the one hand and demagogic
communism ON the other, and at home
and abroad, without menace or fear, to
protect every right of American citizens,
and to respect every right of friendly
States by making political morality and
private honesty the basis of Constitution
al administration" In these utterances
of earnest and patriotic men, the Demo.
Gratis of this State and of the Union find
an exact definition of the paramount
iesue ir the present canvass.
Again and again, the Democracy have
presented to the country candidates who
ioined marked ability to cleanness of
personal character aud experience in
public life. !. No "tattooed man" has ever
received the nomination of the National
Council of the Democratic party. The
pergonal qualifications of the Democratic
nominees now command the general
recognition they always deserved. There
is good reason for it. The Independent
Republicans remind us that the country
has seen, with surprise and shame,
Republican Vice President driven in
disgrace into private life; Republican
Secretary of War participating in felo-
ny; Republican Secretary of the Navy
growing rich, while our fleets, for which
millions of money were appropriated,
became the laughing stock of nations;
Republican Attorney. General accused
of sharing in petty frauds. The last
Republican Speaker of the House OF
Representatives was convicted of nepot'
ism and mendacity. Nefarious associa-
tious for obtaining corporate contracts
bestowed their qualification" and ito.
kens of thankfulness" upon the Repub-
licans who was elected President four
years ago. Fresh, too, in public memory
is the story of the star route frauds, OF
the doings of the whisky ring, of tue
land grants to grasping corporations, and
the land grabs by alien absentees. The
people, this year, were ripe for political
revolt, bu: the managers Of the Republi.
can machine scoffed at criticism and
hooted at warning. Rendered reckless
by a long lease of misused power, de.
bauched by ill-gotten gains, the machine
made delegates in the Republican
Convention chose as their party's candi.
date for President man who attracts to
him, as with magnet, each official rogue
and hungry knave; and who draws to
him, as like unto like, every political
speculator z who Graves the means OF
speculation in the future, or who needs
immunity for misconduct in the past.
So it is that, in the person of the leading
candidates, Cleveland and Blaine, good
and evil will struggle for the mastery in
November.
The success of the Democracy is desir-
ed by legions of citizens who have
heretofore looked upon the Democratic
party with dislike, if not with distrust.
Former differences are forgotten, now
that the country must choose between
the high-minded champion of admins
trative reform and the self-regarding
representative of what is most debasing in
American public life. In the days Of
the Revolutionary war, the embattled
freemen of the United Colonies were one
in thought, one in purpose, one in action.