Year: 1874




chase for the few Offices connected


with our penitentiary and asvlums


to do any act Of usefulness. The


highest compliment that / can pay


to it is that it was SO shattered into


factions that it could not do several
/ evil things it attempted. Upon this
question Of local taxation We ought
to have no party. or soon all incomes
viii be absorbed By taxes


SPECIE RESUMPTION.


The next object We ought 10 have
in view is to return to q speeie stan-
dard as rapidly as practicable. Nov
! l know upon this point there IS
wide difference Of opinion and must
not be intoleralt with each other
when We differ. Still I believe the
intelligent voice Of the people is that
we cannot attain real prosperity,
when no man can be cheated With
false values, until our labor anu
/ duetions are measured by the gold
standard. We had months Of weary
talk on this subject in Congress, and
although we took no positive direct
step toward a specie standard, Jet
we did prevent, and I trust forever,
any retrOgrade step in. the opposite
direction. The general result Is
that no measure can ~be adopted
that viii lead rs to form q specie
standard, while We VIII in due .time
agree upon some decided though
moderate measure to- hasten the
time when the dollar Of our paper
money will pay as mueh as 6 dollar
Of real money. Nor VIII this result
when produced deprive US Of the
useful agency Ct paper nioneY,Wheth
er in the form of bank notes OF Uni
ted States notes, or Of bOth-but on
ly that it viii make this paper money
what it promises it is-an equiTa-
lent to coin--and when the only test
OF the quality Of the paper money
viii De the amount Of it that can be
obtained at par with coin. On this
question though, I am sorry to say,
we as Republicans are not entirely
agreed, but we are far better of II
that respect than our adversaEies.
The law of the last session Of Con-
gress, though not what any one hop
ed for, has and viii result benef
cially and in the right direction. The
long standing sectional complaint
about the distribution Of National
bank circulation has been honorably
settled. Now banks may be organ
lied in any Of the Southern and
Western States, and this not b7 Che
increase Of deprecated notes, bat
by the transfer OF circulation from
the East where they had more than
their share, to the West, where they
had less. Our grievance was nos
that we needed less circulation, but
that We we're unjustly deprived Of
our right to it. This law also set
tied the dangerous power claimed by
the Secretary of the Treasury to in
crease the volume Of paper meney
to the extent Of forty four millions
Of dollars at bis viii. 1t also pro-
vides a system Of actual redemption
of bank notes by which the people
will get clean, neF bank notes FOR
the mutilated dirty and defaoed
notes we had. Oh, for one step fur
ther to make these notes as good as
gold-and it needs only courage to
make it. Hope and trust that the
Republican party viii take this step.
It will complete the cycle of great
financial measures which it has had
the honor to propose and edopt.


INTEGRITY IN PUBLIC SERVICE


There is another ordeal to which
the Republican party has submit
ted itself to q degree never hereto
fore adopted by any party, namely,
the duty Of self-examinaton It has
freely and proudly courted, invited
and conducted investigations into
the conduct of its most trusted
agents. It has never eYaded or re-
fused such an investigation. No
Anchorite ever carried his selfex-
animation further than the Republic
can party has. And what has been
the result No doubt here and
there misconduct, neglect and viola
ton of law or of official delieacy
and propriety have been discovered.
When was it otherwise ? When viii
it be otherwise ? While govern
ments must be conducted by human
agents such faults have existed and
Will exist. When were they ever
more severly punished than BY the
Repu iean party2 Or perhaps I
ought to say by a healthy public
opinion, that will now excuse less
and demands more ofpublic agents
than ever before. I have been
member of ten Congresses, and I can
truly say that neither of them have
been as exact and careful in per
forming public duty-as free from
all lust suspicion or taint of corrup-
tion-as laborious and pains5akiDg
nor as able in the general average
of ability, as the present Congress.
And 1 can also say from history and
from my observation, so far as it
goes that there never assembled in
this country a Congress more free
from the vice of fintemperanee. ] be-
lieve, gentlemen, that while the is
sues we are to present and discuss
are changing, that the moral tone
the educational standard-the gen
eral intelligence Of our peoples
higher, better and more advanced
than ever before, and that they are
prepared to demand from their pol
itical leaders and organizations more
considerate measures and more
thoughtful discussion, without pre-
tense on the one hand or demagogue-
ism on the other.


TEMPERANCE IN POLITICS.


And now, gentlemen, in conclusion
allow me to say 8 few words upon
the subject that has never in this
country been q political one, that
ought not to be made 50 now, but
which will, whether we wish it OF
no, greatly affect political results not
only in Ohio, bat in many States Of
the Union. mean the temperance
question. That intemperance is the
monster evil of society, especially in
English speaking countries, is 3 fact
which no man can dispute. 1t is
presented daily by the blear-eyed
whisky seller dealing out his slow
poison to q depraved appetite-by
~ =. 1,,,,,I~or1 bIooEoE ,,-l ~o-f-..-.