Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1884-08-06
YOUNG MEN
$ Como Gut of There"-You Have No
Business in the Democratic
Party.
Put Your Faces Toward the Sunlight.
and Turn Your Backs on the
MOldering Past.
From a speech by James Abram Garfield, Sat
nIIlaV. Nov. 4 1S16

From speech by James Abram Garfield Sat
uIday. Nov. 4. 1851
Now, fellow-citiZens, a word before / leave
you, on the very eve Of the holy day of Coda
fit moment to consecrate ourselves finally to the
great work of next Tuesday morning see i'll
this great audience tonight a great many young
men-young men who are about to cast their
hrst vote. want TO give you a word Of sugges-
ton and advice. hearda very brilliant thing
said by boy the ether day, up in one of our
northwestern counties. He said to me: Gen
eral, have half mind to vote the Democratic
ticket. That was not TIE brilliant thing 1
said to him: ~Why?" why" said he, my
father is Republican, and my brothers are Re
publicans, and am a Republican all over, but
want to be an Independent man, and 1 don't
want anybody to say: That fellow votes the
Republican ticket Just because his dad does
and have half asnlind 60 vote the Democratic
ticket JuSt to prove my Independence [ did
not like the thing the boy suggested. but did
admire the spirit of the boy that wanted to have
some independence of his own.
Now, tell you, young man, don't vote the
Republican ticket just because your father
votesit. DONE vote the Democratic ticket, even
If he does vote it. But let me give you this one
word or advice, as you are about to pitch your
tent in one Of the great political camps. Your
life is full and buoyant with hope now, and |
beg you, when you pitch your tent, pitch it
among the living, and not among the dead If
you are at all inclined to pitch it among the
Democratic people and with that party, let me
go with you Tor a moment while we survey the
ground where hope you will shortly lie. 1t is
sad place, young man, for you to put your life
into. 1t is to me far more like a graveyard
than like camp for the living Look at It'll
Ut is beloved ali over with the graves of dead
issues, Of buried opinions, of exploded theories,
OF dlsgraced doctrines. You cannot live in COM
fort in such place. Why, look here! Here is
little double mound. look down on it and
read: Sacred to the memory of SCuatter
Sovereignty and the bred Scott decision"
milton anu half OF Democrats voted for that
but it has been dead fifteen years. died by the
hand OF Abraham Lincoln, and here it lies
Young man, that is not the place for you.
M ANE n Z To- fnr2E ic
monuments black tonb-and beside it, as our
distinguished friend said, there towers so the
sky monument Of four million pairs of human
letters taken from the arms of slaves, and Tread
on its little headstone this Sacred to the
memory OF human slavery. For forty years of
It's infamous life the Democratic party taught
that it was dlvine-God's institution. They de-
Tended it, they stood around it, they followedit
70 us grave as a mourner: But here it lies, dead
by the hand of Abraham Lincoln. Dead by the
power OF the Republican party. Dead by the
justice of Almighty God Don't camp there,
young
But here is another-a little birthstone tomb
and read across its yellow face in lurid, bloody
lines these words: Sacred to the memory of
state Sovereignty and Secession" Twelve mill
Ions or Democrats mustered around 1t in arms
to keep it alive; but here it lies, shot to death
by the million guns OF the Republic. Here it
lies, Its shrine burnt to ashes under the blazing
rafters of the burning Confederacy. 1t is dead!
would not have you stay in there a minute,
even II this balmy night air, to look at such
place.
But just. before leave it I discover a new
made grave little mound-short. The grass
has hardly SprOuted over it, and all around it
see torn pieces OF paper with the word fiat" on
them, and l lock down in curiosity, wonder
ing what the little grave is, and / read on it:
Sacred to the memory of the Rag Baby, nursed
IN the brain Of all the fanaticism Of the world:
rocked by Thomas Ewing, George II. Pendleton,
Samuel Cary, and few others throughout the
land" But il dies the 1st of January, 1879, and
the one hundred and forty millions OF gold that
God made, and not fiat power. lie upon its little
carcass to keep it down forever.
u, young man, come out OF thatl That is
place IN which to put your young life. Come
out, and come over into this camp of liberty, OF