Democratic Sentinel, Volume 1, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 November 1877 — THE SWINDLE. [ARTICLE]

THE SWINDLE.

Pennsylvrnia, New York and New Jersey gave substantial Democratic majorities Tuesday last. The appointment of Hon.. D. AV. Voorhees as U. S. Senator meets with general approval of the Democracy. Parker Pillsbury, one of the founders of the Republican party, says: “Republican rule is to cease, and Democracy, or its substitute under some other name, is to succeed. Nor need any regret it. * * * * Had th* Republican party given up the ghost at the end of the war of the re* bellion, it might have been better for its own honor and the national welfare. The history of its las 1 presid-m----tfal administration surely cannot be pleasant reading in the days come. ”

On Monday last, the House passed, under a suspension of the tules, Bland’s bill for the recoinage of silver. Ft provides that there shall be coined at the several mintsj of the United States, silver dollars of the weight of 412| grains troy, of standard silver, as provided in the act of January IS, 5637, on which there shall be the devices and superscriptions provided by the said act, which coins, together with all silver dollars heretofore coined by the United States of like weight and fineness, shall be a legal tender at their nominal value for all debts and dues, public and private, exc<q t where otherwise provided by contract; and any owner of silver oullior may deposit the same at any United States coinage mint or assay office to be coined to such dollars for his benefit upon the same terms .and conditions as gold bullion is deposited for coinage under existing laws.

Sec. 2. Provides that all acts and parts of acts inconsistent with this act are hereby repealed. Passed by yeas, 143; nays, 34. On the same day Mr. Ewing moved, In the house, to suspend the rules and adopt the resolution making the bill to repeal the third section of the resumption act the special order foi the following dav and from day to day until Tuesday 13th, at 3 o’cl.mk, when the previous question shall be order cd on it and on any amendments then pending, the special order not. io interfere with appropriation bills but to be extended if necessary so as to allow live days for the consideration of ihc bill, and all amendments meanwhile are to be in order. Adoptedyeas, 143; nays, 43. One of Mr. Miller’s letters to the Lafayette Leader on the cause and mire of hard times is as follows: As there seems to be a general congratulation going on between the shylocks, money-lenders and money-shavers, and th< ir doe-stick friends, at the appreciation of greenbacks to the value of gold, we wish to show ja.,t what P means, and who are benclitled by that appreciation, and then laborers, mechanics, business men and farmers can see where the laugh comes in. There are three millions of mortgagages on the farms and dwelling houses in Tippecanoe County, and three millions more to the banks and i ndividuals who do not hold mortgages making six millions of indebtedness

<>n the people of Tippecanoe County. The appreciation of greenbacks from eighty-seven cents on the dollar to ninety-seven cents, increases this indebtedness of the debtors of TippeCTinoe County ten percent, or six hunpred thousand dollars, which goes from tne debtor class directly to the pockets of the holders of s lid indebtedness. That is, as tin.- greenbacks are appreciated, the iabor and property of the debtor class are depreciu’. - ed the same per cent., and in this ratio from the point at which grcenbacKs were at the date of the contracting of the indebtedness. So that the cause of all this joy and congratulation is, that it takes from those that have but. little and gives to them that, have plenty. The per cent, of the appreciation; or, in other words, the price or value of money is increased, and the price of labor and property decreased. Hence doe-stick friends set up a cackle of congratulation and the shylocks are happy, and the laborer, mechanic and farmer are compelled to give more labor and property to discharge their taxes and legal liabilities This is the prosperity desired by a gold ba Sis, how to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. The prosperity desired by laborers, mechanics, farmers and business men, is that that causes •in increase in the price of labor and property, and a decrease in the price of money. I shall in my next take up the relation and effect of interest in producing hard times.

For a long while mock marriages have been a pleasant amusement for young people at church socials, “mite ocieties” and neighborhood gatherings. No harm was ever intended, and rarely ever was any done, excepting the lessening of the sacred ness of the rite. But a few days ago a ease came to light in Brooklyn, New York, which will probably deter any more girls and boys from making fools of themselves. A young lady of beauty and wealth wentthrough a mock marriage ceremony with a young farmer. She thought no more of the matter till he came and claimed her as his wife, producing the certificates of the witnesses. She would not consent to the relation, but he insisted, and attempted to force her to live with him. Her mother consulted a jii'fexe, who asked.- “Is the young r-.an respectable. able to take care of u er, and does he love her?” To all of ihese ques tions she was forced to answer “Yob.”

i “Then,” said the judge, “take your daughter to him, leave them alone, I stop your meddling and keep out of court.” Sensible udvice/but she did not accept it, and a divorce suit is now on the docket.

The Views of Governor Dornheimer I now turn from the affairs of the city to those of the state. There the work of retrenchment has been nearly perfected. Under the administiai tion of Governor Tilden and Governor i Robinson the jobbery upon the public 1 works has ceased and the taxes have been reduced to about one-half of , what they were two years ago. In this connection I may refer to the liberal commercial policy with which the canals have been managed. The results of that policy are how to be seen in the revival of trade and in the restoration to New York of her commercial supieinacy. But you must not forget that undei state laws you arc now subjected to a deprivation of rights by the denial to you of : the representation to whi h the constitution entitles you. To correct this evil and thus secure the power of removing other evils if is necessary that a democratic legislature should be chosen. In no other way can redress be. had. In city ami state, under democratic rule and in accordance with democratic tradition and practice, we have secured good government, with the prospect of making further advances in that direction. But how is it in the nation? There, if the will of the people had not been unlawfully defeated, we might also have the benefits of wise reform and economy. But their will has been defeated, and Iraud has been, for the first time,“triumphant in American history.” It is worthy or note th.it most, of those who now seei< to place a property qualification upon the suffrage in cit ies were parties to and either silently or open’y aoproved the frauds by wi ich all Americans were deprived of their votes I shall not here accuse any of those who were parties to the electoral frauds. I will not accuse Mr. Hayes nor Mr. Wheeler, who owe their places to those crimes; nor the gentlemen who appeared before the electoral commission and to sustain them, nor the members oKtjie electoral commission wiio refused to 1 examine into them, and gave away a people’s rights upon a technicality; nor those who have taken office under a president who was not chosen. All of th r -se are but men. and they i may be left to the suggestions of their own consciences and the judgment of history, for the influence of their wrong doing is limited by the limitai turns to mortal Itfeand example. The I accusation must be brought against . the republican party, which was the i real criminal, and whose influence is j wider and more enduring. I say the. 1 republican party was the real criminal. There was no time after the ) election,and up to the 4th of March. when the republicans could not, have put an end to the crafty and wicked I contrivances by which the presidency was stolen. But no word was said, no hand wasraised. The pulpits,once so feivcpt, were silent; the platforms, ’ once so eloquent, were deserted; most. ! of their journals urged the eonspira- | tors on. and, with a few honorable exI captions. all their public men became i accomplices. The Democrats, amaz;ed and bewildered, looked on They generously refused fur a time to believe that their foe was in earnest. Well was it for the peace of the country that they were incredulous, for I had the Democracy foreseen in Deci mber what was done in February 1 the republic would have been shaken to its foundations. This crime is a I novel thing in history. Rulers have i obtained powers wrongfully; cominu- > nities havo sunk into degradation; i masses of the people rising against their oppressors, have often been car- : ried into violent excesses, but in those in those instances there has always been some attractive quality—the usurper is necessarily a man of will 1 and courage, and often surrounds his wrong doings with glories like those with which C’sesar and Nrpoleon dazzled the men of their time; we can \ not but. admire the gorgeous splen- | dors with which Rome and Constantinople shrouded their decay, while the I rising of a people has always been . characterized by valor and manly self , sacrifice. But there was neither splen- ; dor, nor glory, nor manhood in the guilt of last winter. It was a mean offense. A public wrong. It was the stuffing of ballot boxes, the forging of returnsand t te subornation of wit* - nesses A theft! It was the act of a sneak thief. A murder! It was done by poison. To do it required no courage. It was the crime of a eoward. This stn[ e idons crime, involving a whole party, was not an accident; it was the result of what had gone before, the culmination of a long series of offenses, the consummation of the demoralization which the civil war produced. The th'-fts of Tweed, the Credit Mobilier frauds, the bribes which Belknap took, the plundering of the South, were all but the pre ; lude to that final and shameful cheat by which the seat of Washington was stealthily taken by one who b?ars . "upon his brow the stamp of fraud j first triumphant in American history.”