The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1888-10-04
POLITICAL CAPITAL
THE REPUBLICAN PARTY AND
THE SOUTH.
A Batch OF False Charges Hatched Out
by Mr.. Warner Miller.
Wilmington Messenger.

MI. w dIliSI NllilCI, the NSpuUIlCdIl
candidate for Governor of New York
State, in a recent speech at Cooper
Institute, exhibited an implacable
hatred of the South which, though a
characteristic of his party, is IN no
sense creditable to him as a man and
a gentleman. Mr.. Miller is generally
conceded to be brainy man and
something of a statesman, but in the
speech here alluded to he seems to
have prostituted both these laudable
traits to the sordidly selfish desire
and questionable ambition for obtain
ing office.
He has adopted the methods of the
least worthy of his political allies in
endeavoring to re-arouse sectionaliSm,
and causing to bleed afresh wounds
that all fair-minded and patriotic
men have fondly hoped healed for
ever. He denounces the Mills bill as
Southern measure, and tries to prove
it such by citing the fact of its having
originated with Texas Congressman.
And because of its originating in the
South he charges it with being framed
so as to hamper the North in favor of
the South. The positive falsity of
such an assumption is too obvious to
merit any serious refutatlon. Mr..
Miller himself knows better, and, to
be plain, lies in charging that enu-
inently conservative measure tavors
one section of the country to the in
jury or prejudice of any other.
The time for polite phrasing and
polite rejoinders is passed when a
man of Warner Miller's standing gets
up before all intelligent audience and
propounds and answers in the way he
did such queries as the following:
"Who are trying to oppose the
working men of the country, deprive
them of their slender wages and re-
duce them to a condition Of servitude
The South"
The scpe and mendacity of the first
query and reply above quoted are al
most beyond credence. Opposing
the workingmen, with the purpose OF
depriving them of their slender wages
and reduce them to 4 condition OF
servitude, is, as every honest man will
admit, peculiarly of the manutac-
turing monopolists of the North. But
Mr.. Miller saws it is the South. Where
is there upon the face of the globe, as
many absolutely free toilers as are to
be found in the South9 And where
else is the laborng man more highly
respected or better cared for than in
the South
And the second query and reply
| which we quote. If there be "malice
aforethought'' anywhere the wilfully
false statement of Mr.. Miller strikingly
exemplifes it. Where is there one
single instance of " discrimination in
favor of one section and against an
other" in any tariff reform measure
proposed by the Democrats? And il
there should be, wherein has the South
been guilty in such discrimination
Again, Mr.. Miller asks "who al
the present moment is interfering with
the progress Of this country? And
replying, says "the South" Now
what a malicious lie, made out o
whole cloth, that is. interfering
with the growth and progress of the
country? There is no. decent man
halfway informed, in the United
States who will not, if he be candid
and truthful, admit that the Soutf
has done more in the last fifteen year:
to promote progress and growth ii
material wealth than any other sectior
of the country. If this is not true
what means the vast influx of Northern
capital into Southern States Of lat
wears, seeking investments upon which
profits were to be realized, and hav'
realized, doubling similar ventures il
the North? The absurdity of MI
Miller's false charges must be plain t
every man who keeps himself half-wa
posted upon current history.
If such material as this is all tn
Republican party has got to wor
upon, it had better suspend operation:
put up the shutters On its now de
graded shop, and fee from the wrat
of the righteous people outraged jus
once too often.