Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-11-07

come in with great chorus, crying
dead; deadr' After Horace, after Virgil
after Tacitus, after Cicero, dead. Aftel
Horatius on the bridge, and Cincinnatus
the farmer oligarch, after Pompey. aftel
Scipio, after Cassius, after Constantine
after Caesar, dead. The war eagle o
Rome flew so high it was blinded by th'
sun and came whirling down through
the heavens, and the owl of dcsolatioi
and darkness built its nest in the for
salSen eyrie. Mexican empire. dead
| French empire, dead.
WHY NATIONS DIE.
You see, my friends, it is no unusua
| ug for government to perish, and il
/ The same neurology of dead nations ant
in the same graveyard of expired gov
ernments will go the United States o
America unless there be some poten
voice to call halt, and unless God il
| his mercy interferes, and through puri
fed ballot box and widespread public
Christian sentiment the catastrophe b,
averted. This nation is about to go t.
the ballot box to exercise the right ol
suffrage, and propose to set before yor
the evils that threaten to destroy the
American government, and to annihilatt
American institutions, and If God will
help me will show you before gel
through the mode in which each and
every one may do something to arrest
that appalling calamity. And / shall
plow ,-p the whole field.
The first evil that threatens the ami
hilation Of our American institutions is
the fact that political bribery, which
once was considered crime, has by
many come to be considered tolerable
virtue. There is a legitimate use OF
money in elections, in the printing of po-
litical tracts, and In the hiring of public
halls, and in the obtaining of campaign
oratory, but is there any homunculus
who supposes that this vast amount of
money now being raised by the political
parties is going in legitimate directioni
The vast majority of IL will go to buy
votes.
Hundreds and thousands of men will
have set before them so much money
for Republican vote, and 80 much
money for Democratic vote, and the
superior financial inducement will de-
eide the action. You want to know
which party will carry the doubtful
states day after tomorrow. will tell
you. The party that spends the most
money. This moment while / speak
the peddlers carrying gold from Wall
street, gold from Third street, gold from
State street and gold from the Brewers
association, arein all the political head
quarters of the doubtful states, dealing
out the infamous inducement.
There used to be bribery; but it held
its head in shame. 1t was under the
utmost secrecy that many years ago a
railroad company bought up the Wis
consin legislature and many other pub
lie officials in that state. The governor
of that state at that time received $780,
600 for his signature. His private sec
retary received $4,000. Thirteen mem
bers of the senate received $175,OO0
among them in bonds. Sixty members
of the other house received from $4,000
to SIC, 900 each. The lieutenant govern
or received $4,000. The clerks of the
house received from $1,000 to $4,000
each. The bank comptroller received
$4,000. Two hundred and fifty thou
sand dollars were divided among the
lobbyists. You see the railroad compa-
ny was very generous. But all that
was hidden, and only through the Sc
verest scrutiny on the part of legisla-
tive committee was this iniquity dis
played. Now political bribery defies
you, dares you, is arrogant, and will
probably decide the election next Tues
day.
Unless this diabolism ceases in this
country Bartholdi's statue on Bedloo's
island, with uplifted torch to light other
nations into the harbor, had better be
changed and the torch dropped as a
symbol of universal incendiarism.
REFORM OR PERISH!
Unless this purchase and sale of suf-
frage shall cease the American govern.
ment will expire, and you might as well
be getting ready the monument for an
other dead nation and let my text in
scribe upon it these words, "Alas, alas,
for Babylon, that great city, that mighty
city, for in one hour is thy Judgment
comew My friends, IL You have not no
ticed that political bribery is one of the
CHASTITY crimes of this day, you have not
kept your eyes open.
Another evil threatening the destruc-
tion of American institutions is the solid.
flying of the sections against each other.
A solid north. A solid south. If this
goes ON we shall, after awhile, have
solid east against solid west; we shall
have solid middle states against solid
northern states; we shall have solid
New York against solid Pennsylvania,
and a solid Ohio against a solid Ken
lucky. II is twenty-seven years since
the warcloud, and yet at every presi-
Dental election the old antagonism is
aroused. When Garfield died, and all
the states gathered around his casket in
sympathy and in tears, and as hearty
kilograms of coincidence came from New
Orleans and from Charleston as from
Boston and Chicago, said to myself, II
think sectionalism Is dead" But, alas,
mol The difficulty win never be ended
until each state OF the nation is split up
into two or three great political parties.
This country cannot exist unless il ex-
lists as one body, the national capital the
heart, sending out through all the arte-
ries Of fcommunication warmth and life TO
the very extremities. This nation cannot
exist unless 1t exists as one family, and
you might as well have solid brothers
against solid sisters, and solid bread
tray against solid cradle, and solid
nursery against solid dining room. and