Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-10-18
DR.. HATFIELD'S VIEWS.
Unsavory Reputation of the Democratic
Candidate.

DIX. HA FIELDS VIEWS.
Unsavory Reputation of the Democratic
Candidate.
The Rev. Robert NJ. Hatfield, d. D., a
leading Methodist divine, in the October
Statesman, gives his reasons at length
for supporting the Republican party. He
says, in part:
| cannot support this Democratic
party for the following and other rea-
sons:
/. Their candidate for the Presidency
has an unsavory reputation. We are
told, know, that we have nothing to
do with the moral character of a candi-
date, and that all personalities are to be
excluded from political discussions.
From this [ utterly dissent. The doc
trine may be a convenient and appropri-
ate one for roues and libertines. who
sheer at virtue and make light of the
vices that destroy domestic peace and
social order, but when a candidate So
licits the suffrages of a virtuous people
the first question to be asked is: What
is his moral character? It is not to the
credit of this country that Grover Cleve-
land was elected President four years
ago; his reelection at this zine would
be little less than a National disgrace. !
cannot support the Democratic party for
the further reason:
2. That [ believe its position on the
tariff question to be wrong and antagon-
istic to the best interests of the country.
am aware that on the question of the
tariff there is not perfect unanimity in
the Democratic party, but the party as
a whole with the President at its head,
is hostile to a tariff for the protection Of
the industries of our country. On this
question the party is English rather than
American. Its policy if adopted must
work a general arrangement of business
and in time reduce the workingmen OF
our country to a level with the poverty
stricken laborerS of the Old World. The
tariff may, and probably does, need re-
vision, but this revision should be made
by friends who desire its improvement,
not by enemies who are bent on its de-
struction. A more serious objection to
the Democratic party is found IN the
fact:
3. That it sympathizes with and en-.
cOurages the men who for four years
fought to destroy the Nation, and who
to-day are doing their utmost to secure
by other means what they failed to OBJ
largely successful, as the colored citi-
zens of the South know to their cost. I
have known the Democratic party for
forty years as the pro-slavery and whisky
party. 1t plunged the Nation into a
war with Mexico to extend the area Of
slavery. 1t exerted all its power to force
the accursed institution upon Kansas.
During all the war for the preservation
of the Union its sympathies were largely
with traitors and rebels. It denounced
Lincoln, discouraged cnlistments, and
stigmatized Union soldiers as hirelings
and dogs. In National Convention
held in Chicago in 1864 1t declared the
war failure. and demanded peace on
such terms as jeff Davis would accept,
and it is the same old party still. The
Ethiopian has not changed his skin, or
the leopard its spots. II encourages the
former Shareholders IL r0bbing the col.
ored citizens of the South of rights az
dear to freemen as life itself. The But
lers and Hamptons and others of that
ilk have disfranchised the hundreds of
thousands Of colored voters in the South.
Every important election is controlled
by violence or fraud, and the President
and his party know it is SO, and profit
by these gigantic crimes. There are at
this time more than a score of mem
bers of Congress who have nc
more right to the seats they occupy
than they have to place in the English
House Of Lords. If at the approaching
election Mississippi should give Gen.
Harrison q majority of 100000, every
Electoral vote would be returned for
Cleveland; and SO Of several other Rebel
States. So far as the Electoral votes
are concerned, the returns might as well
be sent in to-day as q month hence.
Elections in the South are roaring far
ces when they are not bloody tragedies,
and are undermining the foundations OF
popular government. These abomin-
able outrages cannot continue forever.
The South is sowing to the wind, and
| must sooner or later reap the Whirlwind.
God is in history, and His hand will be
seen in the future Of this nation as it has
been in the past. There was q time
when the calamities of a long and dread
| full war might have been averted by do
| ing justice to the colored race. But the
opportunity was lost, and for every
| drop of blood drawn by the lash another
was shed by the sword" and we were
comp lied TO acknowledge that God is
| just and His judgments true and right.
| eous altogether. Heaven forbid that IT,
| South should in the future witness a
repetition of the scenes of St. Domingo,
| but this or something worse awaits hel
unless her present policy in the treat.
ment of her colored citizens is abandon
| ed Millions of men cannot always be
| kept quietwith their necks under the heels
| of their tyrant oppressors. The Rebel
| Brigadiers command the Democratic
| party of to-day, and the President IL
ready to concede to the South about
| everything it desires. Union soldiers
are crowded to the wall to make room
| for men who fought to destroy the Ma.
| ton and who are still traitors at heart
| An applicant for Office finds the fact that
he was a pestilent Copperhead during
the war no impeachment to his success.
| He is on the whole little more likely
| to secure Presidential favor than if he
had been a stanch defender of the
| Union. Nothing seems to crafty
| Grover Cleveland more than an oppor
| tunity to veto bill granting a pension
to battle-scarred and needy veteran.
| He fairly revels in these vetoes. We
shall see in few weeks how they are re-
garded by the old soldiers and their
| friends. A corn crib would probably
hold all of these who will vote for hi
reelection.
| The largest dam in the world is to
4 L L. IL IF he