San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1888-10-11

trion, and the maleyolent and malig.
nant power that was to overthrow
our institutions and blast the nations
life has had the amplest opportunity
to enter in upon its baleful work and
display its Internal genius. But the
republic still lives. 1t has always
seemed to me probable that il the
heavens should fall, tho devil would
be to pay; but the direful catastrophe
has not happened as foretold by the
prophets. The same sky over arches
the land which looked down upon: il
under the republican administrations
and the same solid earth Is under oul
feet. The nation was never more
prosperous than since the 4th day oi
March, 1856. Our manufactures have
not been prostrated, nor has the cur
rency been debased nor tho public
credit destroyed. Democratic states
have not been carved out of Utah,
Texas and the Indian Territory. The
supreme court of the United States
hae not been reconstructed in the in
terest of secession, nor have <the acts
of reconstruction and constitutional
amendments been pronounced un-
constitutional and void; but on the
contrary, that great tribunal, although
Overwhelmingly republican, has re-
Gently pronunced o series of opinions
touching the matter of Capitalization
and the proper autonomy OF the states
which have been received with great
satisfaction by the states-right demo.
Gratis of Virginia and the entire South.
The nation has not been saddled with
the Confederate debt and pensions,
nor have the bountios and pensions OF
our Union soldiers and sailors been
repudiated. The doctrine of seces-
sion has not been reasserted, nor
have the freedmen of the South been
put back into bondage, while no
compensation has been made or de-
manded for the slaves made free by
the rebellion. Let me add that the
prosperity of the South within the
past three or four years was altogeth-
or unprecedented, and that, in the
words of MIR. Curtis in his late ad-
dress at Gettysburg, tho free labor
of that section 'pays taxes on prop
erty of it's own valued at nearly a
hundred million of dollars, while for
the children of former slaves there
are nearly twenty thousand schools,
of every degree, with an enrolment
of more than a million pupils" 1 am
not induIging in sentiment or any
phase of emotional politics, but deal
ing in the impregnable logic of facts.
Time, it has boen well said, makes
more converts than reason; and all /
ask of any reasonable man is that he
shall look at the South to-day, as it
appears under democratic admins
tration, and contrast it's condition
with the spectacle of shell broke
loose" which for q series OF years
scourged it's territory under success
sive republican administrations, which
had at their command the whole pow
er of the national government. Gen
tlemen, cannot every thinking man
see that what the South needs is not
sectional strife and prolonged an
tagonism of races, but cultivated pa
thence and good will in dealing with
the inevitable conditions of progress?
No other policy, unless aided by mir
aculous intervention, can work out
the regen Grafton of that section of
the Union, and at the same time in
sure the development of it's wonder
full natural resources. Strife and dis.
order still prevail in some localities,
and for some time to come may dis
turb the peace of society; but these
evils cannot be cured by federal &C
ton. The panacea of politics has
been thoroughly tried, and has only
hindered that process Of healthy
growth without which no cure is pos
sible.
Mr., Chairman, 1 think l have thus
made clear one of the reasons, and q
very strong one, for my faith in dem
ocratic success in this campaign.
The false prophets of republicanism
have been brought to shame, and
the democratic party completely vim
dicated by living down the calumnies,
This is now so palpably true that one
of the recognized leaders of the re-
publican purity, Mr.. Henry Cabot
Lodge, has recently declared that
"any man who says that the institu-
tions of this country are in danger
from the election of any candidate,
or the success of any party, is talking
pernicious nonsense" Every intelli.
gent republican knows that this "per-
Licious nonsense" has done its work,
and that every one of its evil proph.
esies have been belied. Cleveland
and Thurman not only enter the race
unshackeled, but on the inside track,
while the republican candidates are
saddled with the huge grist of false
hoods 50 long and 30 potently EN-
ployed in the service Of their party in
the past.
TIE TARIFF ISSUE
/ pass to my second reason for be.
lieying in a democratic victory. The
democrats are making their fght oL
a perfectly defined and strong issue.
alluie TO the tariff / am sorry 10
say that both political parties have
trifed with this question for twenty
years. II vac eyaded as party issue
in the campaign in 1868 In 1872
the democratic platform remanded il
- A. H--s..-a. q