The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1888-04-19

Vlded with lucrative offices, except one
colored member (Cassanave), who had not
been so provided, and who had come to
Washington and appealed to Mr.. Hayes
and Mr.. Sherman then Secretary of the
treasury for pecuniary aid, which had
been given or offered to him to the amount
of over $1,000. He (Mr. Vest made no
charge, he said, of any corruption in the
matter on the part of the Senator from
ONO, but what claim had that member of
the returning board on Mr.. Hayes
If CaSsanave had simply carried
out his legal and constitutional duty
Why had it been that every man connected
with that board, from the highest to the
lowest, had been rewarded with an office9
There was no page of administrative his
tory that demanded more explanation than
that which now stared him in the face. The
Senator from Ohio had attacked the people
OF Louisiana, charging them with crimes
that would stamp them with infamy, but
he (Mr. Vest stood there to avouch that
whatever had been done in Louisiana on
that occasion had been done, not to bring
about an unfair election, not to trample on
the ballot of any human being, but to
defend themselves against ruthless, out
rageous and criminal conspiracy against
their property at the hands of men who had
gone there for the single and sole purpose
of plunder.
The Senator from Ohio had read news
paper extracts with stories of outrage and
murder and crime in Louisiana, bur where,
he asked, would that Senator or himself be
to-day If the newspapers spoke the truth
about them? What would become of any
public man in this country if newspaper
statements were to be taken as evidence be-
fore any tribunal9 He criticized sarcasti-
cally the opposite sentiments expressed by
It,b hi lot
Nashville, Tenn, and Springfield, ILL.,, and
said i'll conclusions 'At the risk even of
the Senator's contempt, | undertake to say
that the American people never will be
satisfied with the explanation made to-
day, but that, like James G.. Blaine
they have already come to the conclusion
that it is impossible even for the ingenuity
of the Senator from Ohio to explain why it
was that the vote of Louisiana as returned
by the Returning Board, was good for the
purpose of giving the electoral vote of
Louisiana to Mr.. Hayes for the Presidency,
but was not good for the purpose of giving
it to Mr., Packard for the Governorship of
that State.
SHERMAN DEFENDS HIS SPEECHES.
Mr.. Sherman thanked the Senator from
Missouri for reading extracts from his
(Snerman's) speeches. Every word uttered
in those speeches he would utter again if
speech at Springfield, every word was true.
He was speaking within sight of a monu-
ment to Lincoln, and was recalling the
circumstances of Lincoln's life and of the
war period, and telling the course of the
Democratic party, North and South. The
Nashville speech was made to the men of
the future, to the men who he believed
were hopefully looking forward to the
disappearance of the results of the war.
The other was a recital, a recapitulation, a
review of the past, every word of which
was true If the Senators from the South
would only give assurance that there shall
be free and fair elections in the South, if
they would only do what the constitution
and laws require, there would be peace and
fraternity. He wonld say to them now in
all seriousness that if the colored people are
deprived of their rights in the future, as in
the past, the difficulty and danger that sur
rounded the South would go on increasing
and the time would come when these rights
must be yielded or worse would prevail.
There can be no doubt of this.
OFFERS HIS ASSISTANCE.
He would be glad to do anything he could
to relieve the South of this question. In
some States the negroes are increasing
rapidly in numbers while the whites are
decreasing. The power was passing from
one to the other. The South wanted diver
siied industries. Instead Of breaking down
the industries of the North the South ought
TO try to reveal them. Instead of breaking
down the tariff laws they ought to seek to
strengthen them and share in their benefits.
1t was in the spirit of this suggestion that
he had made his Nashville speech. Mr.
Sherman closed with a reassertion of the
propriety of Mr.. Hayes action in connec-
tion with Louisiana matters.
Mr.. Hawley, who was a member of one
of the Louisiana commissions of 1877 also
replied briefly to Mr. Vest, and the debate
ended without once recurring to the bill
before the Senate the Dakota bilD.
Upon the suggestion of Mr.. Allison and
others, that several other Senators wished
to make speeches upon the Dakota bill, Mr.
Platt assented to postponement of the vote
upon it until tomorrow.
Mr.. Frye presented the conference report
on the bill TO invite conference of the
American republics, but no action was
taken upon it and the Senate adjourned.