Year: 1874

sept. 24th, 1S74.-.-The Duplicity Of


the Anti-MOnOpOly PlatfOrm--.A thor.


Ough discussion of the Transportation


Question.


FELLOW CITIZENS: A political party
should be judged by what it has done in
the past; by what it promises to do in
the future; by the character of the men
who compose it, and of those who are put
forward as its candidates and representa-
tives. Judged by any or all of those tests,
| maintain that the Republican party has
vastly stronger claims upon the people
than can bejustly claimed by the opposition.


WHAT IT HAS DONE IN THE PAST.


L shall enter into no detailed statement
of the past achievements of the Republi-
can party, because the record is familiar
to you all. You are well aware of the
great service which that organization has
rendered to liberty and progress, to loyal
ty and the integrity of the Union its de-
votion to human rights, its great work in
the reconstruction of the Southern States,
its wise management of our national
finances, its successful efforts to relieve
the people from taxation and to cut down
expenditures / do not claim that it has
had no bad men in its ranks. No party
ever existed, and while human ma
ture remains as at present, no party ever
will exist without numbering among its
adherents bad and dishonest men. 1t is
not, however too much to say that the
Republican party as mass is composed
OF good and true men whose purpose is to
advance the common veal While it is
not responsible for the few who betray
their trusts after receiving office at its
hands, it holds itself bound to expose and
punish corruption and wrong-doing wheth-
er on the part of Republicans or Demo-
Gratis, with prOmptness and without fear
or favor The record of the Republican
party in this regard is worthy of praise
as the many investigations lately institu-
ted and carried on in Congress at the in
stance of the Republican majority abun-
dainty prove. The action of the present
Congress at its last session in the abolish
ing the whole system Of moieties, in abol-
lshlng the corrupt government of the
District Of Columbia, and in reducing the
public expenditures to the amount of
nearly twenty-seven millions of dollars
per annum, as well as by the prompt and
absolute repeal of the act increasing salar-
les, furnishes at once clear proof and
ample Illustration of the earnest purpose
OF the party to secure as speedily as pos
sible such reforms as the best interests of
the people demand.


PROMISES OF THE FUTURE.


A platform may and ought to be a clear,
direct, and unequivocal statement of a
policy. 1t should have but one
If there is any practice among
politicians which deserves severe rebuke
from the people, it is the practice of the
making platforms to conceal rather than
to express their true sentiments. | un-
dertake to say that the Republican plat
form in this State is an example of hon
esty and explicitness in statement, while
that Of our opponents is chiefly remarka-
BILE for its duplicity. Let me give you an
or two: Take, for example.
the important and most vital question of
the finance: How shall our five-twenty
bonds be paid? What does the law re-
quire? These are the questions which
have agitated and divided the people for
years. The Republican party has always
been, and is to-day, the party of specie
payment; it declares its faith upon this
point in words that ring out so clear and
strong that he who runs may read and
cannot fail to understand In our plat
form we declare that ''in the absence of
any express provision to the contrary. the
of the government when issu-
ed and placed upon the markets of the
world. are payable in the worlds currency,
to-wit: specie This is an honest and
specific statement of our great doctrine,
that we must deal honestly with all ma
tons so as to preserve our good faith and
our nations credit And what is a ma
ton without credit? At time of peace at
the mercy of the tax gatherer, and at time
war at the mercy of her enemies. Now
what is the declaration of the Anti-Mo-
nopoly party upon this great and over
shadOwing question? Look at this plat
form; which side does it take? 1t says
"The public debt, of whatever kind,
should be paid IN strict accordance ooith
the la,o under aohich 1t vas contracted. y
OF course; but the question is, what kind
OF payment is ''in strict accordance with
the law?" and that question is lodged.
This platform means one thing to one
man and another thing to another. Ask
Governor Stone what it means and he will
tell you it means specie payment ask
John +. Irish what it means and he will
say it means greenback payment. To
the ninety-nine original Democrats of the
Anti-MonOpoly party it means greenback
payment, while to the one original Repub-
lican it means specie payment. Such a
platform is fraud and cheat. | use
strong language and [ mean it. Upon
another very important question the CON
trast between the two platforms is equally
| mean


THE TRANSPORTATION QUESTION.


Every well informed person knows that
the two parties are, and have been for
some time, at issue upon the question
whether Congress has power under the
Constitution to regulate Interstate rail
road commerce in such manner as to re-
lieve the people from unjust and oppres-
sive charges and burthens. This ques-
ton of Constitutional power is the vital
question, as | shall presently show. Must
we look alone to the States for relief. or
may we look to Congress for the regula-
ton of such lines as extend through sew
eral States. Here again the Republican
party has declared its position in plain
and unmistakable language. While as
serting the right and duty of the State to
control and regulate railway transportation
within its own limits, it further declares:


That under the Constitution of the United
States, Congress has power to regulate all ''com-
merce among the several states" whether car
RED on by railroads or by other means, and in
I he exercise of that power Congress may and
should, so egislate as to prohibit Ulnder suitable
penalties) extOrtion, unjust discrimination, and
other wrong and unjust conduct on the part of
persons or corporations engaged in such COM
merce.


Now what does the Anti-monoply par
ty have to say upon this subject? Only
this:


We demand such Constitutional and necessary
legislation upon this subject, both State and
as will effectually secure the industrial
all forms of corporate monopoly and extortion


That sounds very well, but what does
it mean 1t is well known that nine-tenths
of the Anti-monopolists, THAT is to say
the original Democrats) hold that Con-