The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-09-26


The Land Question.
Henry George has said that the land
question is the bottom question" How
stands the democratic party on the land
question?
Before the republican party was born
the democratic party had secured for the
great republic more land than 1t possessed
when the colonies were wrested from
British rule. More land than when the
constitution Of the government was rati-
fed
The land department OF the govern
ment gives the total amount of land and
water of the republic at 100000 square
miles One-half Of this area Is 1000 900
square miles. The democratic parry Sc
cured for the republic 2,0S4. 479 square
miles Of territory. or S4,479 square miles.
more than one-half of the entire area of
the republic or 1,334076560 acres. nearly
enough 10 supply 8 900 900 families with
farm OF $50 acres each.
It requires an effort Of the imagination
to grasp the sum total of the immense
domain secured to the republic by the
democratic party.
Ny esteemed competitor, Mr.. Owen,
were he to contemplate for one moment
the vastness of the legacy secured to the
republic by the democratic party. woul1
experience a sense Of dizziness. He
would have unrOlled before him a
panorama of empire states, of such
stupendOus grandeur as would, were he
not a republican, extort from him ex-
CARNATIONS of patriotic pride and graft
tude.
What would he behold in the splendid
procession of states secured to the re-
public by the democratic party?
Louisiana, Arkansas, Iowa and Mime
sofa west of the Mississippi
Nebraska. Colorado. Oregon, Dakota,
Montana, Idaho. Washington, Wyoming,
TIE Indian territories. Florida, California,
Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah and
Texas.
do not suppose that my distinguished
competitor ever for one moment devoted
a thought to the subject. 1t is to be
questioned If he knew how all the land
west OF the Mississippi was acquired.
Republicans do not print. such small
matters in their campaign books.
But ii must not be understood that the
republican party il without a land record.
1t has that sort of a record, and L refer
to it for the satisfaction of my audience
and for the information OF my competitor,
Mr.. Owen.
think the republican party claims hav-
ing added Alaska TO the national domain,
supposed to contain 573390 square miles
of ice and land, besides several square
miles of Bering sea, costing $7,200.0)0.
1t is to be questioned, however, If even
Alaska is to be credited TO the republican
party, as il vas acquired under the ad-
ministration Of Andrew Johnson. But to
deprive the republican party of the
acquisition Of Alaska would make tie re-
publican party destitute Of land rs a
Coxeyite, without so much as a cabbage
patch to stand upon in all the wide
domain of this repub,ic-not an inch of
sacred grass upon which to repose.
Land Record to BE Ashamed Of
But the republican party has a land
record beyond the acquisition Of Alaska,
for. OF the land acquired by the demo-
cratic party. as soon as 1t secured control
of the government, 1t proceeded to give
away the national domain. and d!1 not
stop until about 155,0000 900 acres had been
given away, an area equal TO 96S, 100
farm of 160 acres each.
Such is the land record of the repub
lican party
And yet my friend, Mr.. Owen, refers
to the democratic party out Of power
at a theory; in power, as a condition"
have not the slightest objection to
Mr.. owens hypothesis.
Thomas jefferson had, theory OF
government. He was p1tr excellence the
founder of the democratic party.
Politics is said to be the science Of
government
Theory Is science as distinguished from
art. Ii precedes conditions. the avant
courier Of conditions"
The theory of Thomas Jefferson was
that there should be no established church
in America HIS theory was that men
should worship God according TO the dc
3tsS Of their own c0nsclences. His the
DRY was that all men ara created equal;
that there should be no titled nobility;
that men, by virtue Of their manhood,
should have the ballot; that there should
be no class legislation. And these prin-
clplss have been interviewer into the poll
icy Of the democratic party. and when
in power they have been enacted into
constitutions and statutes and are today
the sheet anchors of American liberty.
They are the opposite of republican the
cries and practices.
An Irritating Pimple or n PestiIence.
The republican party out Of power IS
an Irritating pimpla. In power. it is a
pestilence that walketh in darkness, d
destruction that wasteth at monday.
The republican party came into power
as minority party. but it swept along.
until in 1872. when it was crowned with
a popular verdict of 727,975 votes over all
opposition
Four years more sped by. and the cam
palgn Of 1876 came. when the American
people by their votes decided that the
republican party in power was a pesti-
lence. II had everything In government
The legislative, executive and the judicial
branches Of the government were all at
its command. The country was PROSTATE
beneath its hoof. The enemies OF the
party. more numerous than the lizards
in the B3albec temple of the Sun, Were
still clamJrng for blood and Doodle.
The republican party had demonstrated
to the American people that il was a pes
thence. At this junction the democratic
party. sixteen years out of power. but
still maintaining its theory of govern
ment. offered to the American people its
champions Of democracy, Samuel J. Til
den and Thomas A. Hendricks, illustrious
names. whose renown Is as fadeless as
the stars, and when the votes were count
ed these champions of democratic theo-
ries Of governme nt had swept away the
republican majority Of 727,975, secured in
1872, and were elected by popular ma
jority of 25O,935 votes.
The voice Of the American people in
dorsed the democratic theory Of govern
ment and decided that the republican
pestIlence should be aba ted.
The Hayes Fraud.
Then came the colossal, continental
centennial fraud. by which r. B. Hayes
took the Office belonging TO Samuel ]. IT,
den, which Mortified the world. demon
strating that the republican party in
power is a pestilence.
Time speeds on, and in 1880 James A.
Garfield. the victim of Conklin and
Blains's madness. a minority president,
takes the helm of state. Poor Garfield
Only kindly words should be spoken Of
him, victim Of republican psstilence.