Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1894-10-04
GoLDsBoRo. n. G., OCT. I, 1894.
THE RESPONSIBILITY PLACED.

In his great speech at Terre
Haute, Ind, on the 22nd inst,
Senator Voorhees, fixed upon the
Republican ~ he response
bility for 4.-4 tns IS, pubic
and private, that have crowded
upon the people within the last
two'years, in the following elo-
quent and burning words:
And, now, fellow-citizens, let
us take a survey of the political
situation, and, by the solemn
light Of recorded and undisputed
facts, fix the responsibility of
both parties and yindicate the
truth.
What a vision rises to our
view as we look backward for
the causes which have led to the
present condition of the country.
A solid mass of Republican leg
islation from 1861 to 1898 con-
fronts us. In all that space Of
American history embracing the
average period of al lifetime,
every enactment of whate yer
kind or description, every law,
whether by bill on joint resolu-
ton, is Of unquestioned Republi-
can origin, pedigree and adop-
ton.
From the first inauguration
of Abraham Lincoln, on the 18th
of March, 1861, to the Inaugural
ton of Grover Cleveland, on the
4th of March, 1898, the Demo
cratic party has never, for a
single day or hour, had the power
to put a law on the statute books
of the nation. During all that
period the Democratic party
never at any one and the same
time had possession of both
Houses of Congress and the Pres
idency, and was, therefore, in
capable of perfecting any pro
posed measure of legislation. If
evil influences have been abroad
in the land, arising from pernic-
ious legislation the response
bility and the odium can alone
rest where the power to legislate
has rested.
"There is a brutal and sense
less spirit of accusation in certain
quarters, at this time against the
Democratic party, because it has
not, in the first eighteen months
of its legislative ascendency, been
able to uproot, tear down and
demolish the entire system Of
vicious legislation whereby the
Republican party for the more
than a generation, has practically
revolutionized this Government,
made it a p~lutocracy instead of a
government of plain people, es-
tablished privileges and cast i'll
all public affairs, made the rich
richer, and the poor poorer, ag
grandized the power Of capital,
and ground down and oppressed
every organization of labor and
every branch of industry under
the American flag.
Il defy the ingenuity of man
to show where, and in what in
stance, the leaders of the Repub-
lican party ever devised, framed
or enacted a financial measure of
any kind into a law which was
not originated and dictated by
organized capital and against
labor, whether organized or I'M
organized. Every concession ever
made by statute to the greed and
lawless avarice Of the money
power, since the spring of 1861,
is the work of the party so long
in control of legislation.
During the past twelve
months hard times and financial
distress amongst the people have
been felt everywhere, and the re
sponsibility for such a condition
of the country has been the
theme of constant and at times
of violent and acrimonious dis
cussion. I challenge history on
this subject. The Republican
party, by virture of it's general
financial policy, and the great
body of its one-sided and unfair
financial legislation, has been the
author of every period of hard
times, scarcity of money in cir
culation, bankruptcy, business
prostration, and unemployed
labor since the first ascendency
of that party to the control of the
Government. In the nature Of
things, and tried by the newt
able logic of events; this fac
could not be otherwise"
What a mastery arriagnmen1
of the Republican party! and the
moral is:
Vote for the Democratic nomi
: nee for Congress. Vote for Hon
F. A. Woodland.