Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1888-09-13
Villas GREAT SPEECH.
Brilliant Address by the Secretary
Of the Interior.

4 OF the interior.
| Measures and Policies of the Two Parties
Compared Iniquities of Protected
Taxation-The Trust" Atrocity
"A Tribute to the President.
Hon. William F. Villas, Secretary of the
Interior, addressed the Democrats of Wis
consin at Milwaukee few days ago. When
he appeared on the platform he was greet
ed enthusias tically by thousands of voters,
to whom he spoke as follows
! FELLOW CITIZENS: The Democratic party
of o-day, under the leadership and upon
the personal and official record in admins
| trait on Of Grover Cleveland, challenges
comparison with its decaying adver-
sary and confidently lnvokes the calm and
serious Judgment of the electors of the
Nation It asks for no hasty or passion
ate decision; it appeals to no prejudice, it
stands in no fear of the most searching
scrutiny. Its trust is in it's purposes, its
fidelity to the people and the unerrlng GER
tainty of just ce and wisdom in their judg-
ment, as the voice of God. 1t is the historic
party of American popular liberty; and,
from the earl est contests, the champion OF
eminent; the true exponent. advocate and
administrator of the principles of constitu-
tional liberty in America.
invite you TO contrast the conditions,
the princ'p pies and professions of the great
opposing parties in this contest, and the
promise for the future afforded by them
respectively
What is the Republican party of today,
and wherein is it better or more worthy OF
confidence than it was in 1884!
/ 1t was in the beginning more popular
uprising than a political party. 1t found
origin and quickening power in the high
appeal of justice and tenderness for human
brethren in oppression. and in the honest
zeal of deep conviction its following was
/ well nigh fanatical 1t was a crusade
against great National sin; and it fell
upon the time appointed OF Heaven for the
publication of the Republic by fire. So it
rose to rapid power like the whirlwind,
and like the whirlwind it swept its course
| of destructive though wholesome violence.
| Within decade the evil which had en-
gendered it's being was more than de-
| stroyed; it was deraclnated as by dyna-
| mite, and the land was strown with
| the mighty wreck, where, in fantastic
! chaos, lay States, constitutions and PEG
pies amid the wide flung havoc of war.
That was the logical period of the l:arty S
| existence. 1t stood upon or possessed 10
doctrines of government, no principles for
| the guidance of the institutions of free
dom in the repose of peace 1t was not
| National, but sectional; party for C vii
war, not for National fraternity. But the
heart OF victorious people was in its
| grasp, and the rage Of war was long I'M
spent. The party retained unslackened con
troll of all legislation and taxation,
| with all their possibilities of fraudu-
lent gain. 1t was the opportunity of OPP
portunities for the political freebooter.
There lay the carcass, and there the keen
scented birds of prey were soon gathered
together The Republican party was not
| in origin the party of the rich or the arts
tocratical. Its vanguard was the perse-
cuted Abolitionists, it's mission was to re-
deem the lowly slave, and its appeal was
| to the poor and humble rather than to the
rich ana high. But the eye and nose of
F., greed never fail, nor ever its insat.ate
promptly recognized. Even in the darkest
days of the mighty life-struggle of the
! Nation, when every thought was agoniz-
| ingiy bent and every muscle tense in the
/ fearful strain of war, ever while the
drench of our brothers blood was yet I'M
drunk by the stated eartn, the agents of
personal and confederated avarice, darkly
moving behind the scenes gave constantly
| the skilltul turn to private gain of meas
ures Ia ken for the prosecution of war.
And never, for one moment, dill the,
suspend their efforts nor even spare the
exhausted people Upon one pretext and
another, from almost the earliest grasp OF
Republican dominion. corruption began its
work and schemes for dishonest enrich
ment of the few to prevail.
1t was IN 1862 that, pursuing the senii-
ment that National defense required a
transcontinental highway, the Pacific rail
road legislation began; and in 1854 that,
| with unrelenting ingenuity, it was so
amended to diabollcal perfection that the
Government really built the roads. and
gave them, with land enough for an en-
pire, to the successful conspirators. Then,
| also. the earliest act for laying taxes, ami
afterward, with greed that heightened
with each new gluttony, every revenue
measure was perverte and distorted by
ingenious touches imperceptible to any
but the practisei eye, by which a private
tribute was extorted from the people five
times greater than the tax that went to the
Treasury. Then it was that the monstr. us
vampire hidden in the tariff, wl.ca Sc
ductively fans with the wings of protec-
| lection the laborer whose hearts blood it
sucks was begotten in sin to rob the toll
| ing producers in the fields and forests of
the wealth they create. And when war
had ceased and great people wit
| its Golfers unlocked and its resources
exposed lay before the spoiicr. while
! in the exhaustion Of struggle and
the heat of rage National guard
| ianship was gone, there followed such IA
seizure of the National wealth by various
devices, so rapacious, so gigantic, so n
genious in the methods by which the grasp
| was laid as has never been exhibited in
| history. Nothing is comparable to it but
India under Warren Hastings. Other la
| tions have been despoiled by conquerors
in the open force of unlicensed conquest;
this people was robbed by the devilish
manipulation of its own legislation and
| agencies of administration in the hands of
its supposed friends.
You know this story; at least so much
as has been brought to open light-part
only Of the shameful whole. Sixty-five
million dollars stand in your stated public
debt to-day to the account OF the Pacific
railroad loan as the open share of plumber
reaching rascality levied on a coming
generation. The broad expanse of the
pubic domain, gained under Democratic
administrations and designed for the nu
merous homesteais of independent pio-
neers. you have seen granted to corpora
tions by principalitles in area, or delivered
to the pets of partisan power to become
the estate of landed lords, where some Ell
kins may revel in sudden wealth
The scandals of the custom houses, the
| undervaluations Of imports to favorites OF
the party; the millions squandered on pre-
tense Of repairing the rvtten hulks of the
5ox; off hor oil yifsS