Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1886-09-06
THE FIRST MEETING.
enthusiastic Republicans partic;
pate in Grand Rally.
Inc Eloquent Hon. T. B. Reed sneak,
with Convincing Power,
an" Is Ably Followed by Gen. R.P.Ksn.
nedy OF Ohio


.e' u tue entrance. They were enthusi-
as''e' earnest, and gave their closest attention
" the eloquent words of the speakers Tho
applause given was hearty and frequent. The
haiiowell Band furnished music. pror.
inent citizens occupied seats upon the plat
iorhi' and at eight o'clock, Capt. Samuel w
Lane President of the evening, advanced
ana AFTER few happy remarks introduced
hon. Thomas B. Reed as the first snsaks-
Inc distinguished Congressman from
the First District is too we'll
known here to require any extended notice
from u.s. His eminent services in the ma.
tlonsl House of Representatives are fresh in
the minds of all, and he exposed the imbecil-
lty OF the democratic administration with q
master hand. His address was clear and
straightforward, as well as eloquent. and oc.
cupied one hour. Mr.. Reed was received
with great applause.
Hon. Thomas h. Reed.
He said he would not point wirb nr;do 70
tne past history OF the republican party, al.
thougn ne believed that character il some.
thing, and that one can Judge that another
Will behave we'll tomorrow from the fact that
he has behaved well for the last twenty years
He would speak only of the present, for no
had no desire to offend anv democrat nv al.
luslons to the past. He hoped TO assist in
gathering some of them to a new and better
future. He also hoped to show why demo.
crat, who had held firm to what he thought
was the faith IN the past, ought to feel him.
self shaken in his views by the events of the
last eighteen months.
tie desired his his hearers to contrast with
nun me di1erence between promise and full
hiiheht' tne difference between the hopes
entertained by some and the actual results
which their leaders had achieved. One prom.
inent complaint of the democratic party for
many campaigns was the terrible class Of re-
publican office holders. But he would not
comment upon their wickedness, because. in
asmuch as two-thrds of them, at least, had
been retained by democratic administration
they could not all have been very bad 1t
was asserted that there were 100, 900 of them
and that their number ought to be reduced
yet after eighteen months of a democratic
administration and eight of democratic
house, Mr.. Holman OF Indiana. q democrat
of democrats, said on the foor of the House
that he hoped the House would not at that
session further increase the number of rublic
employees. and that the new office. created by
that Congress was almost without precedent
since the close of the war, or at least since
March 4, 1873. That bright vision of Office
holders turned out and the treasury replen-
ished had vanished into thin ar, and instead
we have an absolute increase of that BODY of
men which democratic orators for years have
declared was too large. The orators of the
olan 81
large amount Of money in the treasury, and
they stated il according to their rank in the
parry Mr.. R>ntaii, an ex-Speaker of the
House, placed the amount at $500, 900 600
Mr.. Hendricks, their candidate for Vice
President, the highest rank permitted on the
stump, fixed it at $500 10000 These large
sums, they said, could be poured out over the
land in fractional streams, and the people
would have it, aud in Indiana. with their
crude notions, it is said each democrat fig
ured out what would belong to him. and at
once started for it. (Applause.) 1t was ex
planned that we had one hundred millions
there to keep S346,000,000 of greenbacks
out and that all the rest belonged to the
banks or to people who had silver certificates.
But this did not convince the democratic par
ty Their investigation, however, showed
them that there was only S8,000,0 600 there,
and instead of paying this out they deliberate
" increased it to eighty millions, and to-day
! it is S72 900, 900, notwithstanding their bond
call. Mr.. Morrison introduced bill, not to
distribute the four hundred millions which
the republicans had boarded up but the eighty
millions which his own party had boarded,
and it passed the House, was amended in the
Senate so as to allow suspension of the act
in case of emergency, and passed. 1t finally
went to the President, and he, fearing that a
two-thirds vote, if he openly vetoed it, might
upset his views, put it in his pocket. Gap
plause.1 The significance of that transaction
is that the democratic House was of the
opinion that the discretion of democratic
secretary ought to be limited, and they placed
upon him restraint which they had never
placed upon a republican secretary.
If ever the democratic party had great
opportunity it was at the beginning of the last
Congress 10 the matter of a navy. Our ships
which we had at the close of the war, like
everything earthly, passed on to decay, and
ever since IA the democratic House has re-
fused to build new. The result is. our navy
has gradually faded from the sea The DEM
ocrat orator has been in the habit OF saving,
1--WE have given three hundred millions for a
navy. and why haven't you given US one.
The answer to that was that ninety millions
went to nav sailors and the other millions
went to keep up the navy wards and to repair
old ships. And all this money had been spent
lust as it was designed by democratic House.
They had always said the reason why they
didI't build new ships was because they did
not dare trust republican officials to do it.
Rut they now have no excuse, because they
have a democratic secretary of the navy, a
New York democratic, and everybody knows
he is the highest type of democrat in the
country. They were given chance to build
a navy. and to them would have been given
all the credit and glory, the republicans OF
course coming in behind, though voting
with the democrats for navy. But
the utmost which their committee
wnuld propose was six and half millions
which would start, but not finish, half a
dozen ships But the committee cut it down
m three and a half millions at the command
of their associates in the House notwithstand-
inc the fact that every republican vote was
for the bill as reported. Our Notifications on
the coast have become obsolete ana useless.
A British gun of the largest size can throw
ton of cast steel eight miles. Foreign
mowers have modern guns of seventeen men.
The largest we have is six inch. We are a
nation of sixty millions of people with four
Thousand miles of coast, the richest people IN
the world. and we have just two of those
six inch guns. one for the Atlantic coast and
one for the Pacific. (Applause) we nave ten
guns of from three TO six inches. III 'aAes
. ,nah