Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-11-02
STAND TO YOUR COLORs.
DR. JOHN A. BROOKS DISCUSSES THE
GREAT ISSUE,

Dhs' JOHN A. BROOKS DISCUSSES THE
GREAT ISSUE,
ne Replies to Those Who Call Him a
!srb:i, and Thanks God That Slavery L,
No L niger in Existence-Republicans and
Democrats Scored.
lPassages from speech delivered at Detroit.l
inc era OF compromise is about passed. The
e , that are to be tried in this contest
nave reached the climax in local option. n Won
Please, and now tho edict goes forth that this
Gonnict is irrepressible. and we will save this
s onlon right, ornot save it ut all. Now, we have
tbaa , strange manifestations Just as We did in
Oh gnis country must inevitably meet this issue,
and what ia your conclusion? WHY, lust M In
ina ngat. you tried to save this Union half free
1t half sober and half drunk. Sober in Kansas
ana drunk in New York. Same old battle
~ hhe democrats now, as then. are going to try
70, save ~. 1T oil drunk but the Prohibition party
oy me grace OF God, mean to save it all sober
OF ale N the coming conflict Again, there ia
lnls difference between this conflict and that
mat mat was sectional conflict. That was one
against another. The slave oligarchy was a
sectional despotism. 1t reigned in one part Of
tm ,as, country 1t vas not strange. my country
should become arrayed against that section in
mat conflict. But this is not sectional des-
potism, an oligarchy that puts its heel upon the
neck OF the people of the South; it is not a
great moneyed power, great autocracy that
goes into one section of our common country
and attempts to ruin and corrupt that, but il
Mpe aiag to every part OF this country, from
your own beautiful lakes to the Gulf in tho
South. Its despotism reaches all over this land,
INTO every city and every village and every ham,
ton OF ours; Not q single home escapes its
despotism. 1t ia national, and therefore none
but national party Gun ever meet 1t in the
which nc We enter sa You
pot by an appeal alone to the North. Do you
feel, my countrymen, that without the aid Of
your Southern brethren you can save
20 you feel that you can say to the South
mo. We do not want you to help us in this
conflict Does my section Of our common
do not want you in this contiict2" No. sir. The
great Prohibition party, III convention assem-
bled at indianapolis. realizing the truth which
have Just stated, said II We ever redeemed this
country it cannot be by the Republican party,
because It is sectional; it cannot be by the
Democratic party, because it is sectional but 1t
must be by party that knows no North, no
South, and no East AMI no West and to that
end they selected and placed at the head of this
ticket your distinguished and illustrious How
citizen. Gen Fisk, who sits before you tonight,
and sRa in the .ngg spirit Of they locked
stand with Gen. Fisk in this contest, and they
said we want man whose sympatbies are with
the South, at least. We want man whom our
rebel, at least; man whose training
and birth and sympathies were with the
South, that the last vestige of this war may
be- obliterated in the presence Of the com:
of the nation reunited upon q living and a ma
tional issue. I want to say tonight that never
did q body of patriots live on earth that
breathed more the spirit Of true patriotism than
that convention at Indianapolis; but in the
light of a large portion Of our fellow-citizens
No North and South, they committed fatal error
ranks of the Confederate army its illustrious
leaders, not one of them, and these leaders who
have never professed one moments pentence
one single conviction Of wrong in al Their lives
and placed them upon this ticket, but they tool
a man who, though his sympathies and his con
yictions were with the South in the midst Of
that struggle, had already from Maine to Texas
declared upon thousand rostrums that in the
issues of the war. in SO far as the institution Of
human slavery was concerned, and the per-
petuty of the Union was concerned, the North
was right and the South was wrong. But this
was the objectionable offense of that conven
ton. objectionable, why? Because 1t made al
honest, earnest effort to break down sectional
ism, because it made an honest, earnest effort u
reunite this great nation under one flag and fo
one grand purpose the redemption OF every home
In America. And the unfortunate victim of this
patriotic spirit of the Indianapolis convention
stands before you tonight, inundated upon the
altar OF hate, both in the South and in the
North-in the South because it Is said he has
deserted the grand old Democratic party ant
and ia the North because he comes a rebel from
the South and appeals to the Christian patriot
of the North to bury the dead past and unit
upon the living Issues of the present; immo
Lated because in this last conflict along this lin
lie is the Object of hate to the politician, NorSl
and South, because if this contest succeeds ant
victory porches upon our banner, their voca
ton is gone forever and they will be remande,
horl- In 11rivp C0f1ntrVmen-im
lnolated because of the fact that they know tina
the present party lines and condi ions existing
pie upon which this party stands shall succeed
and sectionalism shall go down IN the presenc
of our armies, as they gather them from tn
North and from the South. God Almight
the republic shall be dethroned and a lovin
people shall realize the fact that this is on
common country, whether North or South, All
that we are one great brotherhood under God t
redeem this nation, aud all nations, from th
curse Of the liquor traffic and from the power
K! Of darkness
| The papers of the Prohibition party ever
catching the spirit of the Indianapolis CONVEX
ton, We're won't to speak of me as u rebel; br
one man in INDIANAPOLIS asked me coneernir
my relation to the Confederate service-a dele
gate from Now York-nnd said to him, "Sr,
had no connection whatever with the Confedel
| ate service, civil military, during the Int
war; and that statement 1 have repeated
| During the beginning of this campaign I In
hoped that this issue would not be made, and
friends saw fit to class me as q rebel because {
the sy1npathies of youth. and if my enemies sa
fit to cali me Il rebel because, in common wit
the people of tho South, I was misguide
and saw wrong upon that question,
| said. $50 let it be- but when ut las
they began to pile upon me the honors OF Con
| federate services / was compelled to arise i
open meeting and decline the proffered honor
which they would confer. was Captain Brooks
and Major Brooks and Colonel Brooks aud no
| am General Brooks, and before this campais
is over will be General-in- Chief of the Confet
erate service. have almost lost my identity
and doubt if my wife will know me when y
turn home after the close of this campaign
Now, regret to spoil the fun of you Republ
cans but want to emphasize i'll this presenc
tonight again tho statement that was not
rebel or that had any connection WnateVt
with the Confederate service, civil or militar!
But suppose had. suppose had been reb
Il general ought that to condemn me forever?
80. there is not much chance for the Republican
party to get to Heaven. Why, you have got
the rebel generals now living, except joe Johl
ston, in your party of any note. And they a
leaders in your party. Your own Grant had on
rebel general in his cabinet; and your Hayes na
another; and Longstreet is in your party, an
Chalmers, of unsavory Fort Pillow memoir
is in your party; and that other ms
whom you denounced omerci IL sly years ago
Confederate soldier in Kansas told me the 9th
day. During the campaign in Virginia, pass
along the way where Mo-;by had been depreda
ING and saw nine Union soldiers hanging by the
necks, hanged by this guerrilla; ana yet, n .!l
derer that be was, you ha Q received him In
the Republican church and placed him IN oftlcl
position and oday he is an honored melnber
your party and you lift not one single word
Condemnation against him, while l, though
never fought you eyon ana WINE nave ,,e OH y