Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-09-01
Democratic Promises.
In THE CAMPAIGN OF ls84-How FALSE THEY
HAVE PROVED.

Hon. R. G. Horr of Michigan is speaking
with great effect at important points in the
State In his speech at Bijdeford he said ::
sFor years the democratic party has been
holding out great promises to the people as
to 81 hat ii wonld do if it once got into power.
Well. the democrats got into power; II Is
now two years since they have been running
the institution. and what have they done!
am going to talk to you about the promises
they made and then make few concluding
remarks about how their promises have panned
out ND to date One of the things they insist
ed on was getting at the books to show that
the republican party is largely made up OF
thieves and scoundrels. Soon after getting
into power they examined the books. They
were weeks in finding ont how much money
there ought to be in the treasury, and finally.
when they came out with the balance sheet
showing the amount, they went to work aud
counted the hundreds of millions of dollars
and found that il was all there with the ex-
ceptiou of two cents, which was found on the
floor the next day where some democrat had
dropped it.
One of the charges made against the re-
publican party was that it was boarding up
! SiO0, ZOO, 900. Mr.. Hendricks talked about
this in the first campaign speech he made
two years ago, he talked about it in his second,
fourth and fortieth and that was about all he
did talk about. He said that the government
ought to open the fash boards of the treasury
and let the money flow out. After he had
sounded the alarm the other democrats on the
stump took up the cry and it went from one
end of the country to the other During the
first nine mouths the democrats were in
power they never paid dollar of the bonded
debt until they had piled up seventy-two
millions more of money than the republicans
ever carried. and l don't know that they
would ever have paid dollar of it had it not
been for little democrat from Kentucky,
Beck by name, VINO got at them IN speech in
the Senate one day and told them they were
not keeping their promises. That brought
them to their feet with a bang.
Another thing the democrats did two years
ago was to tell you that the republican party
hadn't proved true to the soldier and that
they themselves were the friends of the SOL
dier. The worst thing about it was that some
of the soldiers took stock in what they said,
and thinking perhaps they might have grown
better in twenty years, went and voted for
them. They said that all things being equal,
the soldier was entitled to the first considera-
ton in the besOwal of patronage. Have they
lived up to their word and kept the soldiers
in Office? No, they have turned them out
How was it about that one-le gged soldier that
they kicked out of Office simply for editing a
temperance paper and supporting Blaine?
Who did they put in his place, soldier?
No. They gave the office to man who was
lodged in Jail for illegally collecting pension
fees Now, don't find much fault when
they turn out a republican and put a demo-
crat in Office, or if they Dust a republican
soldier to make room for democratic sol
der. but | do complain when they turn
out a good republican soldier for a par
tisan democrat or Confederate soldier
Not only have the democrats forgotten
their pledges as to what they weuld do for
the Union soldiers, but there is a large num-
Der of disabled soldiers scattered all over The
United States, as well as widows and orphans,
who are not able to get their pensions simply
because they cannot make their proof suffi-
cientiy clear to make good their claim. In
this connection the speaker related the story
of soldier who lost the use of his arm seven
years after the war closed as the result of a
wound received while in the service on picket
duty. "rhat boy" he said, "couldn't make
legh proof of his disability, but special
bill was carried through Congress and he got
his pension. That bill was gotten through
under President who signed such bills Is
there a soldier before me tonight who thinks
| Cleveland is doing his duty? No? Then why
do you sustain him? The President has no
legal right to veto bills of this kind as Cleve-
land is doing | thank God that no republic
can President was ever guilty of taking the
bread out of the mouths of the soldiers
widows and orphans"