Middletown transcript., 1888-10-25
COMMENTS ON MIR. TREATS
SPEECH.

Last Friday evening we had the plea
sure of listening to Chas. a. Treat,
ESQ.,. of Georgetown, candidate for
Congress on the Republican ticket.
The speech as whole was well deliY-
ered as all Mr.. Treat speeches are, and
the gentleman's political friends SEEM
ed wonderously well pleased as each
point was raised and dwelt upon for
fewsmoments, and then satisfactorily
settled from the speakers outlook.
Time nor space do not permit either Of
a publication of the entire speech, or a
complete answer to all the reasons
given by the gentleman, why weshould
all vote the Republican ticket, but the
interest of the. Democratic party of
Delaware demands that we correct him
where we believeh he erred, and that we
turn the light~-0f truth on what we
know to be false. Mr.. Treat first at
tempted to laud the administration of
the Republican Party, pointing to their
clean and pure conduct of the govern
ment for twenty-four years. This being
foreign to the issue of the present cam
paign we pass it by. He next took up
Mr.. Grover Cleveland, and tried to
prove that so far from being states
man he was politician Of about the
fourth or fifth class. Ah-Mr. Treat,
there your first weak point was ex-
posed. Were President Cleveland the
weakling you would have him, why
should you present him so prominently
as the great obstacle in the pathway of
that Republican success you prize SO
highly. Mr.. Treat knows full well
that Grover Cleveland, by his message
on the state of the country, containing
a recommendation for reduction
of our dangerously large revenue, at
once placed himself in the front rank
-
of living statesmen, and raised the
issue plainly and fearlessly, which the
Republicans had long-feared and ever
shirked.
Could the imbecile portrayed by
Mr.. Treat, so mold and shape the policy
of that enormous body Of citizens,
politically known as the Democratic
party, as to commend universal and
unanimous obedience as leader !? Or
does Mr.. Treat mean US to believe that
the Democratic party are also idiots;-
that we are the blind led by the blind.
The surplus was also taken up. Mr..
Treat asked if man had a note in
Bank for two hundred millions and
cash for one hundred and thirty
millions, would he call the cash sur
plus. Answering his own cleverly put
query,-he said, No. Taking it for
granted you are correct, in what.
better shape, do you and your
party of high moral ideas consider
yourselves in, with Republican Tariff
Bill now before the Senate reducing
the said surplus SIS. 900, 900; and how
will your party meet the $4,000, 900
debt due on the Alabama claims, and
the 20,000,00O of the French Spoliation
claims, if you propose to hold all our
surplus to meet the bonds due in '9I
not to- speak of the money due the
states, on the return of the direct tax.
Eloquent, Mr.. Treat, but scarcely logi-
cal, we think
Coming to Delaware a plea was made
for the dissolution Of the Solid South,
first because everything we had went
North; and the.assertion was made that
therefore we should sever our old as
sociations and join the Republican
party. 1t is true all our wheat, all
our corn, all our cotton goes north,
but does it stay there No, but is
shipped in steamers carrying the flag,
not of America, not of the North, but
of England, largely owing to the fact
that this beautiful protective policy,
we are asked to embrace SO affection
ately, so protects us that our products
must be taken to be made up by foreign
laborers, while we stand idle by the
thousands; nor can we with all our for
ests, build ships cheaply enough to
carry our stuffs away. Surely a party
has come to an evil pass, when the
geographical position of New York or
Boston is an ar gument for Democrats
to become Republicans. The issue is
dead, Mr.. Treat, and the South will rise
from its ashes in time to witness not
only the dissolution of the Solid North
but the birth of a new Republican
party, when the false protection of the
present one has done its final work.
The color line was also sharply
drawn by Mr.. Treat, and the assess
ment laws of Delaware severely
criticized. One thing however,
was noticeable while telling US
that the Republican party was
the equal rights party, no single
colored man was named as Vice-Presi-
dent of the meeting, nor did we
see any of this contingent of
the party about.
Mr.. Treat weare sorry to
say lost his head so far as to
contrast the character of Cleve-
land with that of Harrison in way
new to this campaign, and we are also
sorry to confess that such uncalled for
comparisons, we're first resorted to by
a Delaware citizen on Delaware soil.
Grover Cleveland has been the Presi-
dent of the Unltnd States for nearly
four years. He is the candidate to-day
of the great Democratic party for re-
election, and we have only this to say
that if the store order canard on Mr..
Treat gained his party twenty-five votes
in Georgetown, his uncalled for remarks
about the President in his social rela-
tions, will lose it much more than it
gained.
T.. L. III