Danville intelligencer. [volume] (Danville, Pa.) 1859-1907, 1906-08-31
Ar. Chairman. Fellow Citizens, Ladie,

Nr. Chairman, Fellow Citizens, Ladies
and Gentlemen:
l shall not today discuss the plank
in the platform upon which the Lin,
coin party stands; will leave that fol
later occasions; will today confine my.
self to explaining the causes which
have led to the adoption of that plat.
form. causes which have induced Re.
bublicans and Democrats to wipe Out
divisional party lines and unite upon
the high plane Of civic duty.
I speak today not as a Republican
nor as a Democrat but as one citizen
speaks to others who have Joined with
him in behalf Of cause that is fai
above partisanism. Our cause has
nothing to do with federal policies
Right is in arms against wrong. Thu
fundamental principles OF morality are
at stake. The people have ariseI
against the combined forces OF politi.
cal corruption and lawlsss power Ht
who hesitates in such crisis is less
than a man and more than a partisan;
he is either a moral coward or q fo1
to good government
When a system Of political misrule
continued for half a century, debauchea
an entire state. robs and Expresses thu
public. wrecks banks and drives bank.
ers to suicide. and causes public OH
cials to seek In self-infiicted death re.
lief from the pangs OF remorse conse-
quent upon having yielded to Gang per-
suasion, the honest citizen body is con.
fronted by duty which 1t cannot shirh
without being morally guilty OF com.
plicity in the crime.
This is not time for partisanism,
but for patriotism. The state machine
has for 40 years made your nomina.
tions, controlled your affairs. usurped
your rights, inflicted injuries upon you,
abused your confidence, robbed the
people, sneered at their protests and
deliberately eonspired against public
welfare.
The political history OF Pennsylva.
mia has been for 30 years q record OF
infamy, because 1t has been the history
of crime
Simon Cameron founded the criminal
organization known as the state Ma
chine. The system he originated has
made the state field of organized cor.
ruption and vicious legislation. The
Machine was conceived in sin and
brought forth in iniQuity, and its
career down to the present day has
been consistent with the character OF
its parentage.
Cameron got his start in public life,
wards of the nation. He broke into
politics by means of ill-gotten wealth.
Although protectionist, he professed
to be a Democrat because the Demo.
cratic party was In the ascendant; and
false pretense for selfish ends has char
acterized the Gang through all Its
changes and under its various leaders.
Cameron is charged with introducing
the practice of the corrupt use OF
money in politics as main reliance fol-
success. When cajolery, sharp prac-
tice and discrimination failed him, he
did not hesitate to resort to bribery,
and for 40 years the Gang has been true
to what Mr.. Wesley r. Andrews calls
Its glorious traditions"
When the Republican party arose
Cameron found 1t convenient to change
his polltics-but not his methods. He
was elected to the United States sem
ate, 1t was charged and never denied.
by buying the votes OF Lebo, Manear
and Wagonseller; and l call your at
tention to the fact that he who brought
forward Cameron's name in the Repub-
ltcan caucus was a state senator by the
name of Penrose. 1t would be fitting
close to half century of misrule II
the same name signed to the birth
certificate Of the Gang should. In this
year of grace be inscribed upon the
tomb wherein shall be buried the last
of the dynasty Of the usurpers.
BY an interruptions use Of power
Cameron succeeded in becoming SEQ.
retary Of war in Lincoln's first cabineti
but he prostituted his Office by giving
fat contracts to his followers, a system
which is still making Pennsylvania a
kissing and a by-word under the exist.
ing regime. Censured By vote OF
the house Of congress. dismissed from
Office by Lincoln, but saved from fur.
ther public disgrace only by the In
fluence of Thomas A. Scott. of the
Pennsylvania railroad, who was as
sistant secretary of war, and permit
ted to resign, Cameron again turned
his attention to building up the state
Machine.
Thad Stevens. the Great Common
err" Andrew G. Curtin. the grand old
War Governor" David Wilmot, the
author of the "Wilmot Proviso;" Ga
lusha A. Grow, the father of the
Homestead Act" were virtually driv-
en- from public life by the power OF the
Cameron Gang, just as every otheI
honest man of high ability and char
acter has been forced out of. or, II
possible, kept from entering. public
service up to the present time, because
character and ability are hated and
feared by the Gang as fervently as
holy water is hated and feared by the
devil
Cameron defrauded Curtin of the
senatorship by means of the perfidy OF
Matthew Stanley Quay, whose treach.
cry to the war governor (whose secre-
tary he was and to whom he owed his
start in life), and whose easy virtue
Commended him to the founder and
brought him sudden acquisition OF
funds and paved the way for his sue.
cession to the boss-ship.
Quay's advent upon the scene mark
ed the introduction of satanic cunning
into Machine methods and the elabora.
tion of system of political debauch.
cry without parallel in history. The
history of the past 40 years in Penn.
sylvania politics, down to the present
day is as black as the pit of hell and