Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1889-12-13
Jefferson Davis Bore No Malice Toward
EX-PreSident Grant.
BOSTON MERCHANTS BANQUET.
Speeches by Ex-President Cleveland
and III, W. Grady, of Atlanta
Flynn and Coleman.
lssEoAL DISPATCHES TO THE RRcoRDUN1oa.I ]
NEW ENGLAND MERCHANTS.
Speeches by Grover Cleveland and H..
w. Grady


BosToN. December I2th-Over four hundred
of the prominent business men of Boston aud
New England crowded the apartments of the
Hotel Vendome this evening on the occasion o
the annual banquet of the Boston Merchants
Association.
At the round table in the center sat Hon
Jonathan A. Lane President of the Association
At his right were ex-President Cleveland and
H. w. Grady, w. l.. PuInaman. P. A. Collins
John Lowell, William K. Russell and Leopold
Morse, while on his left were seated Governor
Oliver Ames. Andrew Carnegie, General Clin-
ton B. Fiske and Coils etor Saltenstall all guests
of the Association.
After reading letter of regret from James
Russell Lowell, President Laine proceeded in a
brief speech to introduce Governor Ames, who
welcomed the guests of the Association.
President Lane then introduced eX-PreSident
Cleveland, who was greeted with long con-
tinuous applause and cheers. Cleveland
dwelt on the injustice OF fostering certain
braLches OF trade at the expense or others by
means of protective tariff with the accom-
panying evils of the intimidation of labor by
aggregated capital.
From this he turned to the question of the
dangers which threaten the nation from the in
timidation and corruption of votes. On this
subject he said: I'VE need not stile our scorn
and contempt for the wretch who basely sells
his vote, and who, for bribe, betrays the trust
of citizenship, ana yet the thought will intrude
itselt that he but follows in the low and vulgar
fashion of the example of those who proceed
upon the theory that political action may be
tuGueu 10 private gain. blb we KNOW LnQL
when political selfishness is destroyed, our dan
gers will disappear, and though the way to its
stronghold may be long and weary. we will fol-
low it fighting as we go. There will be no sur
render nor will there be desertions from our
ranks. This hope has risen like star in the
east has fixed the gaze of our patriotic fellow
countrymen, and everywhere in our busy maIts
of trade and on our farms, in our cities and in
the homes of the poor, in our universities, and
in our workshops, in our banking houses and
in the ranks of inexorable toll, they greet us
with an enthusiastic acclaim of the advent of
ballot reform.
II remember the Inauguration OF another re-
form, and have seen it grow and extend until
it has become firmly established in our laws
and practice. 1t is to-day our greatest safe
guard against the complete and dsgraceful
degradation of our public service. 1t had its
enemies, and all of them are not yet silenced
but its victory came, wrought by the force of
enlightened public sentiment, and upon its
trial every objection which had been urged
against it was completely diseredited. AS it
has been with civil service reform. so will it be
with ballot reform, except that the coming vic
tory will be more speedily achieved and more
complete
Following Cleveland was Henry W. Grady of
Georgia, who was warmly received Mr.. Grady
said he was invited to discuss the race prob
lem. He said that the South the fairest and
richest domain on earth, is so scantily peopled
that but fifteen per cent. of its lands culti-
waited. Sons of New England seek with troubled
eye some new Eldorado yet from 1860 the emf
decreasing because of the race problem and the
suspicious it breeds.
Southerners are so beset with this problem
that their very existence depends upon its right
solution.
Replying to the imputation that the South
treated negroes uDjustly, the speaker said
"Ihis year the South raised 1900 900 bales of
cotton, which enormous crop could not come
from the hands of discontented labor. The ne
Proes ofGeorgia, who ty-five years ago were
slaves, now possess S200 0,000 worth of prop
eTty; for every Instance of the Afra American
agitation stirring up strife, he could show a
thousand negroes happy in their cabin homes
and with their children in school. 1t is ad-
mitted that there is disorder and violence but
1t is RlisIudged lawlessness. In Iowa 1t is ac-
cepted as an accident, while that in the South
is ascribed to race causes. The black viii cast
a free ballot when ignorance anywhere is not
dominated by the will of intelligent whites.
They are banded, not in prejudice, but in neces-
sity. The negro vote remains an ignorant and
credulous faction, the prey of the INSCRIPTIONS
of both parties, and plays part in the cam
paign in which every interest of society is
jeopardiz5 and every approach to the ballot
box debauched.
against such campaigns as this, the Southern
whites are banded as the Massachusetts whiles
would be, in similar circumstances"
In reply to the challenge as to the alleged
smallness of the Southern vote, Mr.. Grady said
the sixteen Southern States i'll 1858 cast sixty
seven per cent. of their total vote; the New Eng
land States, but siXty-three per cent. of theirs
The negro has learned that the ballot box
which promised him most has yielded him
least and at last he realized that his best friends
are his neighbors, with whose prosperity his
own is bound up.
1t would be well if Northern partisans would
understand that the negro vote can never again
control the South. If there be any human force
which cannot be withstood it is that of the
banded intelligence and responsibility of free
community. Upon that the South relies, and
not upon the cowardly menace of mask or shot
gun. Force bills will not avail. The North may
surrender its liberties to the Federal election
law, but never again will a single State North
or South, be delivered to the control of an igno.
rant and inferior race Time alone can tell
how the problem presented will be solved.
The speaker believed it would be solved by
the people most bound in honor to its solution.
He asked: First, patience. Out of this alone
can come the perfect work. Second, confidence.
In this alone can you judge fairly. Third, sym
pathy. In this you can help us. Fourth give
us your sons as hostages, that they may help to
swell the Anglo-SaX0n current until it can
carry without danger this black infusion. Fifth,
loyalty 10 the Republic for there is as much sec
tlonallsm in loyalty as III estrangement. Give
us broad ana perfect loyalty, that loves and
trusts Georgia alike with Massachusetts That
knows go South, no North, no East, no West,
but endears with eqnal and patriotic love every
foot of our soil, and every State of our Union"
Andrew Carnegie was then introduced Prior
to entering upon the discussion of his toIic he
referred to Cleveland as one whom history
would declare had tried to do his duty, and who
possesse d the respect of the entire country, re-
gardless of party. Carnegie then proceeded to
a brief exposition of the wonderful progress
made by this country during the past thirty
years, in commerce, manufacturing and mining,
that in two industries she now leads
the world, while her credit is first among ma
tiOns.
Carnegie was followed by Hon W. L. Putnam,
late Democratic candidate for Governor of
Maine, who spoke briefly.