Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1892-08-26
Staunton vindicator.
FRIDAY MORNING. AUGUST 26, 1892
LOCAL.
A Lively Democratic
Day.
T,EJE 1TTGTJCTA COTTNTY DEMOCtR ATS
THE AUGUSTA COUNTY DEMOCRATS
IN FINE SPIRITS.

The Democrats OIL Augusta were III 1ne
spirits Monday and had the regular old time
Democratic campaign fire in them. They
heard the eloquent address of James Lindsay
Gordon Of Albemarle, with applause
throughout, and after the meeting adj
iourned they found Hon. John T.
Harris of Rockingham, on the court
house steps and rushed him into
The court room and had another speech. 1t
5he Augusta Democrats are this warm in
5he opening of the campaign what may we
not expect by the close? The attendance
Of the county people on court was very
large, and after the court adjourned at 1890
the court room was filled with large crowd
until within few minutes Of three O'Clock.
A notable feature in the audience was one
side of the gallery well filled by Negroes.
Capt. Jno. N. Opie, County Chairman,
called the meeting to order. In introduce
ing MI. Gordon he said that whatever
might have been the differences of the DEM
ocrats as to the man, it had been decided
that the greatest man in this country is
Grover Cleveland igreat cheering) and we
are all for him. A third party had started
out calling itself the ''People7s partY,'' but
he would like to know if the Democratic
party wasn't the people s party, wherea real
peoples party could be found? 1t had
stood by the farmer in the past, and it the
p eople gave it power. which it had not had
since 1850, would stand by them in the
future The Republican party had stood
by the manufacturers, and had protected
lem so highly that at last they had to call
in the military to protect their persons. In
Augusta we are pretty much all one way,
but he wanted the Democrats of the coin
~ to roll up 500 majority this time and
thus make up for any OBJECTIONS that may
occur elsewhere. 1t is of deadly Importance
that we should not fail. Failure brings the
Force Bill, and behind that is the shadow
of the imam Of horseback That means
revolution, for the world may as well know
it, that the anglo-Saxon men who settled
and built up the South don It intend it shallbe
dominated by the African race. The farm
ers were in the majority in the Democratic
party of Virginia and could elect who they
chose, why then should they want a new
party. Capt. Opie introduced MI. Gordon
as great orator, author and statesman.
SKETCH OF MIR. GoRDON's REMARKS.
MI. Gordon said he was no great orator,
nor author, nor statesman as the Kindness
of Capt. Opie had induced him to say. He
was plain citizen, one of you and like you
anxious to do his duty to his State and
country. 1 am glad to speak to you far
mers. / seek to arouse no class pre-
judice, but if ever there were any men in
America justified in banding together it is
the farmers. What is the Farmers ALI
ance but banding together of men who
saw that there was something wrong in the
outcome of their avocation, they could not
tell what.
THE VIRGINIA FARMER
knew that in 1865 when all were without
money and without credit, his work and the
product Of his farm brought money to his
section. He knew too that notwithstand-
ing he was the man who had started the
wheels Of industries he had no inter-
est in the millions that had been made by
them. There were millionaires, but they
were not farmers. A mortgage debt of
So, 500, 00O, 900 on the farms of the country
was the farmers reward for building up
the country. And in this country, the out
come Of his labor, the national flag waved
over manufacturers with millions, but the
workmen gaunt with hunger: a ballot box
that had been debauched with the gold of a
Wanamaker and which is now threatened by
the bayonet of the force bill. This is what
thirty years Of Republican rule has done
for the farmer. Every dollar spent by the
Federal government IS of as much interest
to the farmer as the dollar spent by his
Board of Supervisors OF his legislature.
He pays his share of it, just as much as if
it were collected by the County Treasurer.
Look at what he has to pay! Last year the
expense of running this government was
$3.50, OO0, 600, and for the next two years the
Of this, the immense sum of $3.50, 100000 is
for pensions alone. The wheat crop of this
country is $685., 100000 and the oats crop
is $222, 000, 600, and it ust takes the whole
of the wheat and oats crop of the country
to pay the expense of running the govern
ment. Isn't it time for Nation that has
reached this extravaganza in expenditure
to stop and think ? Where does this great
expense come from? The United States
doesn't keep any great standing army. We
have no royal court at Washington to sup
port in costly luxury. Our government
doesn't own and run railroads. And yetsit
costs us more to run our government year
than it coss to run the governments of both
Austria and Germany; of England, Ireland
and Scotland, more than Russia with it's
millions of armed men. This immense ex-
pense is paid from two sources, one high
tariff and the other the internal revenue.
In that word tariff lie all the woes of
to-day, (applause). 1t is in this tariff that
the Federal tax reaches the farmer, being
levied on his clothing, his farm imple-
ments, and on everything he uses. The
farmer is in a hard place; he is compelled by
the tariff to buy at home no matter how
high thegoods are, and he is barred off
from buying abroad where they might be
gotten cheap. Here Mr.. Gordon read an
amusing and yet accurate description of
the farmer getting ready to go to church
with his wife on Sunday putting on taxed
clothing, taxed harness on the horses, &c.
A Voice-But they are cheaper than they
were thirty years ago under Democratic
rule.
MI. Gordon-Thirty years ago under
Democratic rule you were getting more
t an rs cents bushel for your wheat (great
pplause) and you could afford to pay more.
Thirty years ago under Democratic rule
you didn' have mortgages to the extent of
Two Thousand Millions of Dollars on vonr