Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-08-04

Of commerC6 tributary 10 YOU Wueke
fwould yopr eye rest With grestest pg5 ~
land saHsfhct3onf The souehS Mr.:
Chairman, the great cotton states OF
the south. toiling up with heroic ener-
~ against tremendous odds, but I'M
| dssmayed, with. victory. almost in
couch. reaching down her white ha nd
I from the summitc-there Is the land
4 where your banner waves triumphant
4 1t Il in the south your conquering ener-
4 ries win find their widest field TO play,
and there your greatest triumphs must
1 be won.
/ Mr.. Chairman, there hangs this day
! impending above that fair land an om-
| inous and menacing shadow. The peo-
ple there stand in the forbidding pres
ence Of dread apprehension. During
the Fiftv-first congress, presided over by
Mr. Speaker Reed, a legislative measure
! known now as the force bill. was in
troduced in the house OF representa-
tives. That measure was prepared by
John s. Davenport, ono of the most
adroit and INSCRIPTIONS republican
thimble-riggers in the city of New
| York. It was introduced in the house
by Henry Cabot Lodge, OF Massachu-
sets, an aesthetic statesman with dim
pied fingers, who parts MS
| hair in the middle. wears an orange
| colored surcingle in the summer time,
and prides himself chiefly on being de-
seconded from old John Cabot, who pre-
sided over the Hartford convention and
plotted treason behind drawn blinds
with candles lit in daylight, seeking
| to undermine and subvert the govern
| ment at Washington while. it was
straining every nerve to uphold the
American flag and vindicate the home
of the republic in the war of 1912.
measure of this character, proposing a
IN,
and springing from such a source, could
not mean anything of good to the coun-
try, and could bode only evil to the
south. The effect of. this proposed
measure, if enacted into law,
would be to- apply to the
whole country substantially the meth
DDS and processes practiced in this
state under the proscriptive laws in
force here twenty years ago. Instead
of the state the federal government
would appoint supervisors and regis
trars, who would take charge of the
polls and registration Lists, challenge
voters and pass upon their qualifica.
tions, determine who was elected and
issue the certificates. Many of these
officials-indeed all the more important
ones-were to hold Office for life. They
were to have the power to appoint an
innumera BILE horde of deputy marshals
and, If need be, to invoke the military
arm to aid them in the execution OF
their purposes under the law. These
officials might be imported from distant
states or communities, and would owe
no responsibility to the people over
whom they would exercise authority.
can not 60 into all the long details
of this monstrous and revolutionary
proposition, designed to take the ballot
from the people, to subvert and over
ride the popular will and to throttle
liberty. It was intended not for the
south alone, but for the whole country,
though it would have been first and
most harshly enforced in the southern
states. Not in twenty years had the
southern states been so disturbed and
alarmed as they were while that meas
IRE was pending before the congress.
It's passage meant a reign of dis
order, Of profiigacy and possible
bloodshed in many of the southern
regime OF the carpet Dagger and ne
gro domination. The defeat of the bill
was the occasion of universal rejoicing
throughout that section of the Union,
and, for that matter, among patriotic
people everywhere. But it came woe
fully near becoming law. It passed
the house of representatives, and would
have passed the senate, except for the
courageous manhood of three or four
republican members of that body who
voted against il. President Harrison
Endorsed the measure, and in a message
to congress advised and urged its pass
age. He has since repeatedly given 1t
his sanction. He stands to-day renomf
mated to the presidency on a platform
can party to that measure as cardi-
nal dogma of it's political creed.
of st. Louis, do you de-
sire the enactment of such a statute as
that? Do you wish to incur the danger
even of it's enactment? Do you wish to
turn havoc loose rioting in the south2
If SO, then vote for Mr.. Harrison and
elect republican house of representa-
tives. They passed this bill two. years
ago, and are publicly pledged to pass it
again. Do you believe they would hest
tate to pass it if the opportunity comes
to them? Destroy the south, inaugu-
rate reign of disorder and put blight
upon her industries, and what will be-
come of st. Louis? If you are opposed
then vote for Grover Cleve-
land, that great typical American, who
dares always to do right according to
his best judgment of what it is, without
regard to consequences
ST Louis and Missouri have a special
reason to dread legislation Of that char
acter, even though no effort should
experience with force bills should
cause us to turn from them with loath-
ing and apprehension. We have no as
surance that the provisions Of the law,
il enacted, would not be invoked in this
stats if Maj. Warner should be elected
to the governorship. He says he voted
to repeal the proscriptive features of
the state constitution in 1870. OF that
know nothing, and can not. do
know he profited by those laws in 1868.
do know he was a member of the re-
publican national convention recently
at Minneapolis, and in that
supported Benjamin Harri-
son for denomination and voted to
adopt the platform containing an in
lorsement of the force bill. If he were
governor Of this state, and IL he be-
ieved the enforcement Of that law
would advance his own or his party's
would he invoke its applica-
lion here +? And if not here, why would
ne impose it upon any other state? II
ne is opposed to the measure, why did
ne not lift his voice against il at Min
IT WILL NOT DOWN.
Mr.. Chairman, this great question
will not be obscured. It must stand
supreme in public thought as long as it
8 agitated and insisted upon by one of
he great political parties of the coun-
'ry. ask the people of st. Louis ito
peak upon this great issue in Novem-
Der as 1t becomes free men to speak.
Let us give assurance to the merchants
md planters of the south that Missouri
will hold her shield above them as best
he can. Let us give warning to In
riQuiuQ marplOtS and reClless pOl{ti-