Decatur Democrat, Volume 24, Number 18, Decatur, Adams County, 5 August 1880 — Page 1

THE DECATUR DEMOCRAT.

VOL. 24.

O’ ' HERE THEY ARE. I I General Hancock’s Letter of Apptance. Followed by That ot* Bion. Wm. Isl. English. iTwo Outspoken and Able Documents, Recalling y»e Words of Washington. The Statesman Soldier Places Himself . Squarely on the Platform. Ab Also Does His Lieutenant, Who Arraigns the Republican Party in a Forcible JI aantr. Governor’s Island, X rfr; - an '' l •• 50. -The following « letter accepting the Cinci nation, made public to-day: you € Governor s Island. >'ahasf h I;, I July To the Hon. John W. Stevenson, President of the Convention; Hon. John P. Stockton, Chairman, and others of the Committee of the National Democratic Convention; Gentlemen: I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of July 13, 1880, apprising me formally of my nomination to the office of President of the United States by the National Democratic Convention latelyassembled in Cincinnati. I accept the nomination with grateful appreciation of the confidence reposed in me. The principles enunciated by the Convention are those I have cherished in the past, and shall endeavor to maintain in the future. The Thirteenth, Fourteenth and fifteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States, embodying the I the results of the war for the Union, are inviolable. If called to the Presidency, I should deem it my duty to resist with all my power any attempt to impare or evade the full force and effect of the Constitution, which, in every article, section and amendment, is the supreme law of the land. The Constitution forms the basis of the Government of the United States. The powers granted by it to the Legislative, Executive and Judicial departments define and limit the authority of the General Government. Powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, belong to the States respectively, or to the people. The General and State Governments, each acting ir its own sphere, without trenching upon the lawful jurisdiction of the other, constitute the Union. This Union, comprising a Government with general powers, and State Governments with State powers for purposes local to the States, is a polity, the foundations of which were laid in the profoundcst wisdom. This is the Union our fathers made, and which has been so respected abroad and so beneficient at home. Tried by Sood and fire, it stand? to-day a model form of free, popular Government: a political system which, rightly administered, has been, and will continue to be, the admiration of the world. May we not say, nearly in the words of Washington, the unity df Government, which constitutes uslone people, is justly dost to us; it is tip main pillar in the edifice of onr real independence, the support of our pedee, safety and prosperity, and of that liberty we so highly prize, and intend attvery hazard to preserve. But no form Government, however carefully devfised; no principles, however sound, wpli protect the* rights of the people Unless the Administration is faithful jand efficient. It is i vital principle in our system that neither fraud nor force must be allowed th subvert the rights of the people. Wien fraud, violence or incompetence controls, the noblest Constitutution find wisest laws are useles. The bayonet is not a fit instrument for collecting the votes of freemen. R on *

ly by a full vote, free ballot and fair count that the people can rule in fact as required by the theory of our Government. Take this foundation away, and the whole structure falls. Public office is trust, not a bounty, bestowed upon the holder. No incompetent or dishonest persons should ever ! be intrusted with it, or if appointed l they should be promptly ejected. The ! basis of a substantial, practical Civil Service reform must first be established by the people in filling the elective offices. If they fix a high standard of qualifications for office and sternly reject the corrupt and incompetent, the result will be decisive in governing the action of the servants whom they intrust with appointing power. The war for the Union was successfully closed more than fifteen years ago. All classes of our people shall share alike in the blessings of the Union, and are equally concerned in its perpetuity and in the proper administration of public affairs. We are in a state of profound peace. Henceforth let it be our purpose to cultivate sentiments of friendship, and not of animosity, among our fellow citizens. Our material Interests, variedjand progressive, demand our constant and united efforts. A sedulous and scrupulous care of the public credit, together with a wise and economical management of our Governmental expenditures, should be maintained in order that labor may be lightly burdened, and that all persons may be protected in their rights to the fruits of their own industry. The time has come to enjoy the substantial benefits of recohciliations. As one people we have common interests. Let us encourage the harmony and generous rivalry among our own industries which will revive our languishing merchant marine, extend our commerce ( with foreign Nations, assist our merchants, manufacturers and producers to develop our vast natural resources, and increase the prosperity and happiness of our people. If elected 1 shall, with the Divine favor, labor with what ability I possess to discharge my duties with fidelity, according to my convictions, and shall take care to protect and defend the Union, and to see that the laws be faithfully and equally executed in all parts of the country alike. I will assume the responsibility, fully sensible of the fact that to administer rightlv the functions of the Government is to discharge the most sacred duty that can devolve upon an American citizen. I am, very respectfully, yours, Winfield S. Hancock. Hun. Wm. H. English’s Letter. Indianapolis, Ind., July 30. —Hon. Wm. H. English transmitted the following letter of acceptance of the nomination of candidate for Vice-President to the Committee of Notification to-day: Indianapolis, Ind, July 30. 1880. To Hon. John W. Stevenson. President of the Convention; Hon. John P. Stockton, Chairman, and other members of the Committee of Notification: Gentlemen —I have now the honor to reply to your letter of the 13th inst., informing me that I was unanimously nominated for the office of A ice-Presi-dent of the United States by the late Democratic National Convention which assembled at Cincinnati. As foreshadowed in the verbal remarks made by me at the time of the delivery of your letter, I have now to say that I accept the high trust with a realizing sense of its responsibility, and am profoundly grateful for the honor conferred. I accept the nomination upon the platform of principles adopted by the Convention which I cordially approve, and I accept it quite as much because of my faith in the wisdom and patriotism of the great statesman and soldier nominated on the same ticket for President of the United States. His emi- • nent services to his country; his fidelity to the constitution, the Union and • laws; his clear perception of the correct > principles of Government, as taught by ■ Jefferson; his scrupulous care to keep • ’ the military in strict subordination to

DECATUR, ADAMS COUNTY, INDIANA, AUG. 5, 1880.

the civil authority; his high regard for civil liberty, personal rights and the rights of property; his acknowledged ability in civil as well as in military affairs, and his pure and blameless life, all point to him as a man worthy of the confidence of the people. Not onllyabrave soldier, a great commander, I a wise statesman and a pure patriot, 1 but a prudent, painstaking, practical man of unquestioned honesty; trusted often with important public duties, faithful to every trust, and in the full meridian of ripe and vigorous manhood, he is in myjudgement eminently fitted for the highest honor on earth, the Presidency of the United States. Not only is he the right man for the place, but the time has come when the best interests of the country require that the party which has monopolized the Executive Department of the General Government for the last twenty years should be retired.—The continuance of that party in power four years longer would not be beneficial to the public or in accordance with the spirit of our Republican institutions. Laws of entail have not been favored in our system of Government. The perpetuation of property or place in one family or set of men has never been encouraged in this country, and the great and good men who formed our Republican Government and its traditions wisely limited the tenure of office, and in many ways showed their disapproval of long leases of power. Twenty years of continual power is long enough, and has already led to irregularities and corruptions, which are not likely to be properly exposed under the same party that perpetrated them. Besides, it should not be forgotten thatthe last four years of power held by that party were procured by discreditable means, and held in defiance of the wishes of a majority of the people. It was a grevious wrong to every voter, and to our system of seif-government, which should never be forgotten or forgiven. Many of the men now in office were put there because of corrupt partisan services in thus defeating the fairly and legally expressed will of the majority, and the hypocrisy of the professions of that party in favor of Civil Seri vice Reform was shown by placing such men in office, and turning the whole brood of Federal office-holders loose to influence the elections. The money of the people taken out of the public Treasury by these men for services often poorly performed, or not performed at all, is being used in vast sums with the knowledge and presumed sanction of the Administration to control the elections, and even the members of the Cabinet are strolling about the country making partisan speeches instead of being in their Departments at Washington discharging' the public duties for which they are paid by the people. But with all their cleverness and ability a discriminating public will no doubt read between the lines of their speeches that their paramount hope and aim is to keep themselves or their satellites four years longer in office. That perpetuating the power of chronic Federal office-holders four years longer will not benefit the millions of men and women who hold no office, but earn their daily bread by honest industry, is what the same dis- . i cerning public will no doubt fully understand, as they will also that it is because of their own industry and economy and God’s bountiful harvests that the country is comparatively prosperous, and not because of anything done by these Federal office-holders. The country is comparatively prosperous, not because of them, but in spite of them. This contest is in fact between the people endeavoring to regain the political power which rightfully be--1 longs to them, and to’restore the pure, simple, economical Constitutional Government of our fathers on the one side, > and a hundred thousand Federal office- » holders and their backers, pampered

with place and power, and determined to retain them at all hazards, on the other. Hence the constant assump- : tion of new and dangerous powers by the General Government under the rule of the Republican party. The effort to build up what they call a strong Government, the interference with home rule and with the administration of justice in the Courts of the several States, the interference with the elections through the medium of paid partisan office-holders interested in keeping their party in power and caring more for that than fairness in the elections; in fact, the constant encroachments which have been made by that party upon the dearly reserved rights of the people and the States will, if not checked, subvert the liberties of the people and the Government of limited powers created by the fathers, and end in a great consolidated central Government, strong, indeed for evil and the overthrow of republican institutions. The wise men who formed our Constitution knew the evils'of strong Government and the long continuance of political power in the same hands. They knew there was a tendency in this direction in all Governments, and consequent danger to republican institutions from that cause, and took pains to guard against it. The machinery of a strong centralized General Government can be used to perpetuate the same set of men in power from term to term until it ceases to be a Republic, or is such only in name, and the tendency of the party now in power in that direction, as shown in various ways, besides the willingness recently manifested by a large number of that party to elect a President an unlimited number of times is quite apparent, and must satisfx thinking people that the time has come when it will be safest and best for that party to be retired. But in resisting the encroachments of the General Government upon the reserved rights of the people and the States, I wish to be distinctly understood as favoring the proper exercise by the General Government of the powers rightfully belonging to it under the Constitution. Encroachments upon the constitutional rights of the General j Government or interference with the i proper exercise of its powers must be I carefully avoided. The I nion of the States under the Constitution must be maintained, and it is well known that 1 this has always been the position of both the candidates on the Democratic Presidential ticket. It is acquiesced in every-where now, and finally and forever settled as one of the results of the ' war. It is certain beyond all question that the legitimate results of the war for the Union will not be overthrown or impaired should the Democratic ticket be elected. In that event proper protection will be given in every legitimate way to every citizen, native or ! adopted, in every section of the Republic in the enjoyment of all the rights guaranteed by the Constitution and its amendments. . A sound currency of honest money of a yalue and purchasing power corresponding substantially with the standard recognized by the commercial world, and consisting of gold and silver and convertible into coin, will be maintained; tho labor and manufacturing commercial and business interests of the country will be favored and encouraged in every legitimate way. The toiling millions of our own peo- ' pie will be protected from the destructive competition of the Chinese, and to ! that end their immigration to our ! shores will be properly restricted, the public credit will be scrupulously main--1 tained and strengthened by rigid economy in public expenditures, and the liberties of the people and the proper- ’ tv of the people will be protected by a Government of law and order, adminis- ’ tered strictly in the interests of all the • people and not of corporations and 1 privileged classes.

I do not doubt the discriminating justice of the people and their capacity for intelligent self-government, and therefore do not doubt the success of the Democratic ticket. Its would bury beyond resurrection tl®g sectional jealousies and hatreds have so long been the chief stock in trade of pestiferous demagogues, and in no other way can this be so effectually accomplished. It would restore harmony and good feeling between all the sections, and make us in fact, as well as in name, one people. The only rivalry, then, would be in the race for the developement of national prosperity, the elevation of labor, the enlargement of human rights, the promotion of education, morality, religion, liberty, order, and all that would tend to make us the foremost nation of the earth in the grand march of human progress. I am. with great respect, ycry truly yours, William H. English. ißtonisliment in Onto. Bellefontaine, Ohio. July 30.—The peculiar manifestations of a ghostly character that have occurred of late in the Zahler homestead, near Belle Centre, still continue, and are causing considerable excitement and speculation. The Zahler family consists of father, mother, and seven chileren—five boys and two girls—the oldest son being 21 years of age and the oldest daughter 18. The parents are intelligent Pennsylvania Germans, about 45 years of age; the children are bright and active. That corn cobs, sticks, and other missiles fly through the air, sit up on end, and dance about, there cannot be the slightest doubt, or you will have to discredit the testimony of many respectable and veracious witnesses. One of the most reliable gentlemen residing in Belle Centre, and who carries and exhibits a corn cob which he will swear flew off the ground and struck him on the shoulder, without any human agency, tested the matter in various ways. He took a number of the cobs and marked them by cutting crosses, notches, &c., upon them, and laid them near the barn alone. He then walked to the house and back, when those cobs began to rise up and fly through the air. One peculiar thing about these manifestations is the fact that they are more distinct and better defined when I one of the smaller children, a boy about 7 years old. is present. The boy has become so frightened at his ghostly powers that it is almost impossible to get him to accompany any one to the j yard. All who have seen these occurrences positively assert that there is no fraud in the matter, and honestly believe that they are without human agency. They cannot and do not attempt to explain the matter, simply believing it to be one of those mysterious affairs that no man understands. ATTfiSTIOX, FARMERS! And Everybody Else! The attention of the trading public of Adams auu surrounding counties is called to special announcements made by John King, jr., the carriage manufucturer of Decatur. Never has he offered work so low as at the present time. He is selling covered carriages at from $50.00 to $200.00. Indeed, you can get a carriage at almost your own price. The work manufactured* by him is warranted. He employs none but the best workmen. Quick sales and small profits are what enable him to lead. Those wanting work will lose a bar- | gain if they fail to call at Hie shop of John King, jr. Think of it ! a very good top buggy for SSO or S6O. Never in the history of the town were such inducements offered to the people. Give me a call. John King, jr. Decatur, Aug. 5, ’BO. ts. Subscribe for The Decatl’r Democrat. One Dollar and fifty cents per year.

NO. 18.