Democratic Sentinel, Volume 2, Number 23, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 July 1878 — Page 1

ghe fltmocratiq A DEMOCRATIC NEWSPAPER PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY, BT JAMES W. McEWEN, i • . [ TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION. "One copy one year . $1.50 Ono copy aix months 1.00 One copy three months.. ......... . . ,M tVAdvertlsing rates on application

NEWS OF THE WEEK.

FOREIGN NEWS. Late advices from China report that rain has at last fallen in the famine-stricken provinces, and faint hopes are entertained that the prolonged drought, with its miseries, may soon end. A friendly conference between Disraeli and Gortscbakoff is reported in Berlin dispatches. The Russian Chancellor assured the English Minister that he saw nothing objectionable in the Anglo-Turkish convention. Russia entertained no projects for aggrandizement on the coasts of Asiatic Turkey, and h» could see no difference between England’s occupation of Cyprus and her occupation of Malta. Hoedel, who some weeks ago attempted the life of the Emperor of Germany, has bam sontenced to be beheaded.

An Englishman who has recently returned to Constantinople from Lagos, reports that the most unheard-of cruelties are being inflicted by Bulgarians and Cossacks on the Mussulmans south of the Rhodope mountains. Whole villages have been burned and the inhabitants subjected to the most unparalleled barbarities. A report of these horrors is to be laid before the English, Austrian, and French Ambassadors, with a view to sending out a commission of inquiry to the s pot, and endeavoring to put an end to tbesr excesses which disgrace humanity. Late advices from Sydney, New South 'Wales, report that two tribes of natives have risen against the Government on the island of New Caledonia, and massacred 125 whites, including wbr on and children. They have also captured two military stations.

A report just made by the physicians ' ?ws that the Emperor of Germany is in anything out ° satisfactory condition. He has not regained his natural strength, has but little power of locomotion, and is unable to eat without assistance. The doctors, however, are sanguiilC of his ultimate recovery. Port au Prince, in Hayti, has been visited by a big fire, which destroyed half a million dollars’ worth of property. A Constantinople dispatch says that Mr. Baring, of the British Legation, took possession of Cyprus on the 11th of July in the name of Great Britain.

The work of the Berlin congress was completed on Saturday, July 13, by the signing of the treaty which for the present restores peace to Southeastern Europe. A banquet at the palace of the Crown Prince closed the memorable day, all tiie plenipotentiaries being present except Goi tschakoff and Beaconsfield, who were too ill to attend. Under the provisions of tho treaty Bulgaria is to be a self-governing principality, paying tribute to the Sultan. The Prince is to be elected by an assembly of notables. Roumelia will remain subject to the Porte, but will have some of tho conditions of autonomous administration, with a Christian Governor to be appointed by the Sultan, subject to the approval of the powers. All the stipulations of the treaties of Paris and London are recognized as still in force, except those which are altered or repealed in the present treaty. The proposed supplementary meeting was defeated, Lord Salisbury refusing to accede to any proposal that should interfere with the immediate submission of the treaty to the English Parliament.

DOMESTIC INTELLIGENCE. Tlust. Ira B. Wright, the defaulting Treasurer of South Hadley, Mass., has been found guilty of embezzling $29,000, and sentenced to five years in the State prison. A heavy robbery is reported from Newport, R. I. The residence of Gov. Van Zandt was entered at night by burglars, and robbed of jewelry of the estimated value of $35,000. The death of Mr. George Swett Appleton, of the great New York book-publishing firm of D. Appleton A Co., is announced. A broom-factory in Amsterdam, N. Y., was demolished by a tornado, the other day, and nine persons buried in the ruins, three of whom were killed and the rest severely injured. Alexander B. Sayres, convicted of the murder of his wife in the Church of the Ascension, in Philadelphia, in November last, has been sentenced to be hanged. John W. Bawker, cashier of the freight department of the Eastern railroad of Massachusetts, abandoned his office recently, and already the investigation shows that hs is a defaulter to the amount of $20,000. West. A dispatch from roruand, Ore., reports a sanguinary engagement between a party of white volunteers and a band of hostile Indians at Willow Springs, Ore., resulting in a disastrous defeat to the volunteers. It was a second Custer massacre. The Indians completely surrounded the whites, fifty strong, and shot and scalped them without mercy. Only seven of the ill-fated little army escaped to tell the story of the horrible massacre. A battle is also reported between the friendly Umatilla Indians and 40 hostile Snakes, the latter being defeat with the loss of thirty braves.

B. Leidersdorf & Co.’s tobacco manufactory, in Milwaukee, was destroyed by fire last w< k. Loss estimated at SIOO,OOO. Dispatches from San Francisco give brief particulars of a severe engagement fought between Gen. Howard’s forces, about 800 strong, and a band of Bannock Indians, strongly posted in tho hills near the head of Beetle creek, in Oregon. The Indians were di iven from their position, abandoned horses, provisions, ammunition and camp. They took up a second position in the heavy timber covering the Blue Ridge, but were again dislodged and pushed into the mountains, where the pursuit was alandoned. Gen. Howard’s loss is given as five enlisted men wounded and twenty horses killed. The loss of the Indians could not be ascertained. The troops behaved with distinguished gallantry. A PoitJand (Ore.) dispatch reports that the Indians are killing settlers in the Tygh valley, about forty miles from Dalles. A Portland (Ore.) telegram reports that the hostiles, whipped back into tho mountains by Gen. Howard, have now started eastward for Snake river, along the ridge of the Blue mountains. It is believed that the worst of the Indian war is over. Dispatches from Portland, Ore., report that the hostiles are scattering, and endeavoring to sneak back to their jeservations. The Governor of Oregon considers a general Indian war in that region inevitable, and has issued a proclamation calling for volunteers to put down the unruly savages. Intelligence comes by way of Bismarck that the hostile Nez Perces, at present on ladian territory, are moving across the Ro. ky mountains to join those who did not break out in open hostilities last summer.

The Democratic

JAS W. McEWEN, Editor.

VOLUME 11.

The Commissioners sent to the Red Cloud Indians, for the purpose of trying to persuade them to settle at some point near the Missouri river, have utterly failed. Red Cloud insists on establishing himself at White Clay creek, 250 miles from the Missouri, and utterly refuses to remain at the present agency, or to listen to any terms of compromise. Spotted Tail is willing to make his camp much nearer the Missouri, but he, like Red Cloud, proposes to have his own way. South. Mike Shaw was hanged for wife-mur-der at Milledgeville, Ga., on the 12th inst. Hiram Fooks (colored) was executed the same day at Princess Anne, Md.

POLITICAL POINTS. Official returns of the California election give the following as the composition of the Constitutional Convention : Non-Partisans, 81 ; Workingmen, 52; Republicans, 11 : Democrats, C ; Independents, 2. The Non-Partisans elect all the delegates at large. The Missouri Democratic Convention was held at Jefferson City July 10. The following ticket was nominated : Judge of the Supreme Court, Elijah Norton ; Register of Lands, J. E. McHenry*; State Superintendent of Public Schools, R. D. Shannon; Railway Commissioner, A. M. Sevier. The three first named are present incumbents. The platform denounces the national banking system as oppressive and burdensome, deprecates the contraction of the currency, and demands the unconditional repeal of the Resumption act. The Democrats of Michigan met in State Convention at Lansing on Wednesday, July 10, and nominated the following ticket: For Governor, Hon. O. M. Barnes, of Lansing ; for Lieutenant Governor, A. P. Swineford, of. Marquette; Secretary of State, George H. Murdock, of Berrien Springs; for State Treasurer, Alexander McFarlin, of Flint; for Commissioner of the State Land Office, George Lord, of Bay City; for Auditor General, W. T. B. Schemerhorn, of Hudson; for Superintendent of Public Instruction, Prof. Truesdel, of Pontiac; for Attorney General, Maj. Allen B. Morse, of lonia; Member of the Board of Education, Edwin F. Uhl, of Grand Rapids. The platform arraigns the Republican party for corruption in office, indorses the investigation of the electoral frauds, declares that gold and silver is the money of tho constitution, that all paper money should be convertible into coin at the will of the holder, and opposes any further forcible reduction of the currency. Gen. Ferdinand Latrobe has been elected Mayor of Baltimore. Something of a sensation has been produced in political circles in New York and Washington by the announcement of the removal of Gen. Arthur, Collector of the Port of New York, and Hen. A. B. Cornell, Naval Officer at that port. Gen. E. A. Merritt and Col. W. 8. Burt have been designated as their successors. Secretary Sherman, while in New York a few days ago, was interviewed regarding the next Presidential campaign. He is reported to have said, unreservedly, that Grant would be the next Republican candidate, and that if the convention were to be held immediately he would be nominated without any opposition.

WASHINGTON NOTES. John A. McDowell, a brother of Gen. McDowell, has been appointed Superintendent of Construction of the Chicago Custom House. The President has appointed John L. Frisbie, of Michigan, United States Consul at Rio Grande, Brazil. A Washington telegram to the Cincinnati Times says : “It has leaked out here, from sources entitled to the highest consideration, that an arrangement has been completed whereby Justice Swayne will be given, in March next, a foreign appointment, and Mr. Stanley Matthews, whose Senatorship expires at the same time, will be appointed to the Su-preme-bench vacancy thus caused.”

Ex-Gov. Kellogg, of Louisiana, appeared before the Potter investigating commit tee on the 11th inst., and was examined by Gen. Butler. He testified that the election in Louisiana in 1876 was entirely legal. The witness gave a detailed statement as to the composition of the respective houses of the Legislature, and, after reciting the law of Louisiana at considerable length, he stated that Gov. Packard was legally inaugurated on the Bth of January, 1877, at which time there was a Republican quorum in both houses. Gen. Butler produced tables compiled from the Returning Board’s figures, which showed that, after the board had thrown out sufficient Democratic parishes to elect the General Assembly, it was found there were still two Hayes electors defeated, whereupon the Returning Board threw out parishes and precincts until they had succeeded in securing a majority of the Hayes electors. The witness stated that, assuming that the figures be the correct finding of the Returning Board, it left the General Assembly Republican in both branches, and still left two Hayes electors in the minority. Mr. Butler —Whereupon the Board proceeded to give the screw another twist ? Witness—That is not my testimony. Q. —How much on the returns, as returned by the Returning Board, did the lowest Hayes elector run behind Packard ? A —These tables show a majority for Governor of 401, while two Republican electors (Leviseee and Joseph) were in the minority. The Tilden electors had a majority, I believe, on the face of the returns cast in the different parishes originally, and so did Nicholls....E. L. Weber was recalled and questioned by Mr. Cox in regard to the Sherman letter. Witness said he found it in a box sent from his brother at Bayou Sara to his father-in-law’s warehouse in Donaldsonville. He found the letter after Mrs. Jenks’ visit: tore it up at once because it exposed my brother’s wrong-doing. My brother told me there were no grounds for protesting the parish. Witness admitted he had been indicted, forfeited bis bond, and afterwards, at the suggestion of the District Attorney, made a false affidavit in order to have the bond restored. In answer to the question relating to his indictment, witness, turning to Mr. Cox, said excitedly : “ You Republicans could use my brother who is dead; to-day you could use us on the stand to swear to any kind of a lie that you wanted in order to support and sustain you; today, that you can’t use me as your tool, you propose to ruin me.” Gov. Cox disclaimed any such notion as that imputed to him by witness, and said he wanted to give witness an opportunity to vindicate himself. The President has appointed Alexander Reed, of Ohio, Receiver of Public Moneys at Walla Walla, Washington Territory; Eliot C. Jewett, of Missouri, Commissioner to the Paris International Exposition; Caspar H. Stibolt, of lowa, Consul at Campeachy, Mexico; Eugene Schuyler, Consul at Birmingham, England. Ex-Gov. Kellogg was again before the Potter committee on the J 2th inst. Referring to the MacVeagh Commission, the witness heard, last fall, that the Sherman letter had

RENSSELAER, JASPER COUNTY, INDIANA, FRIDAY, JULY 19,1878.

been found among D. A. Weber’s papers, and that Mrs. Jenks had procured possession of it through her intimacy with the Weber family. Mrs. Jenks had called upon him in New Orleans and spoken of the Sherman letter. While explaining the contents of the document, Mrs. Jenks sat on a sofa and pretended to be reading him the substance of the letter from a paper which she held in her hand. The witness contradicted many of the statements of James E. Anderson, whom he regarded as utterly unreliable. He denied that false protests and affidavits relating to intimidation were used before the Returning Board as a pretext for throwing out Democratic majorities. He produced letters from the Weber brothers certifying to the intimidation that prevailed in the Feliciana parishes. Kellogg explained that the $20,000 borrowed in Chicago was for his private use, and was not employed in connection with the electoral count.

The Potter committee occupied itself on the 13th with ex-Senator Kellogg, and completed his examination. Nothing of material importance was elicited. Gen. Butler endeavored to elicit from the witness a statement as to whether or not all the visiting statesmen, commissioners, and others connected with the election in Louisiana had been rewarded with offices. Mr. Hiscock objected to such testimony upon the ground that its only object was to throw ridicule upon President Hayes. Gen. Butler disclaimed any intention to cast ridicule. He said it was hard to gild the lily or paint the rose. Some persons were so ridiculous that nothing he could do could add to it. A long list of names was shown of persons connected with the Presidential con test in Louisiana who had been appointed to office by President Hayes. The committee adjourned till the 23d of July, to meet at Atlantic City, N. J. -

MISCELLANEOUS GLEANINGS. Dun, Barlow & Co. report that the “failures in the United States, for the first six months of the present year, are 5,825, as against 4,749 in 1877, an increase of over 1,000 in number, equal to nearly 25 per cent. The liabilities for the first half of 1878 are $130,000,000, as against $99,000,000 for the same period of last year, a percentage of increase still greater. These figures are of grave import as an indication of the state of trade. Never before in an equal period in the history of the country have business misfortunes been no numerous or aggregated an amount of loss by bad debts so great.” Contrary to general expectation, the anniversary of the Battle of the Boyne was unproductive of bloodshed in the city of Montreal. The Orangemen went to their hall and the Catholics gathered outside, the latter in vast numbers, backed by the Mayor’s 500 special police. When the appointed hour came for the procession the Orangemen did not like the appearance of things on the street, and remained inside. Six of the leading Orangemen were arrested upon special warrants, the trial of whom will test whether the Orange body is a legal society.

UNCLE SAM’S CASH ACCOUNT.

Receipts and Expenses of the Government tor Two Tears. The figures given below are compiled from the books of the Treasury Department, says a Washington correspondent, and show in detail the receipts and expenditures of the Government for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1878, compared with the receipts and expenditures for the preceding fiscal year. The figures given for the quarter ending June 30 last are those reported to the Treasury Department to July 1. Until final statements can be received from financial agents and disbursing officers located at remote sections of the country, the exact balances for the‘quarter cannot be stated. The final reports will not materially affect the general results given in the accompanying tables : RECEIPTS. First quarter. 1877. 1878. Customs $ 37,554.728 $ 36,983,532 Internal revenue 24 813 337 28,393.382 Miscellaneous 6,742,460 Total $ 73.110,524 $ 71,537,570 Second quarter. Customs $ 27,793,120 $ 30.101,915 Internal revenue 20.242 882 28,292,128 Miscellaneous $ 1 966 885 2,069.271 Total $ 59,002,896 $ 60,463,314 Third quarter. Customs $ 34,000,920 $ 32.924,170 Internal revenue 27.446,265 23.603,274 Miscellaneous 7,721,510 5,586,525 Total $ 69,168,695 $ 62,113,969 Fourth quarter. Customs $ 31,6'i7.715 $ 29,887,727 Internal revenue 33,127,925 30,012,172 Miscellaneous 2,982,830 4,087,066 Total $67 718,470 $ 63,986,965 The following tables will show the aggregate receipts for the last two fiscal years: 1877. 1878. Customs $130,9 6 493 $129,897 344 Internal revenue 118.630,408 110,300.956 Miscellaneous 19,413,686 17,893,518 Total $269,0'0 587 $258,091,818 EXPENDITURES. The expenditures for the past two years by quarterly periods were as follows : 1877. 1878. First quarter $ 41,644,342 $ 30.264,315 Second quarter 35 828,546 37,267,779 Third quarter 35.288.253 31,508 117 Fourth quarter 28,774,356 36,580,406 Total $141,535,497 $135,620,617 Interest public debt 97,124,511 100,000,000

Aggregate $238,660,008 $235,620,617 A comparison of results for the last two years shows a net loss in revenue, for the year ending June 80, 1878, of $7,869,379, and the net loss for the last two fiscal years, as compared with the year ending June 30, 1876, is $13,164,868. The large falling off in receipts and the reductions made in expenditures during the last two fiscal years are shown in the following table : Receipts. Expenses. 1876 $294,095,865 $258,459,797 1877 269,000,587 238.660,008 1878 258,091,818 235,620,617 Interest on the public debt is included in the above table. It will be noticed that the expenditures for the vear ending June 30, 1876, were nearly equal to the aggregate receipts for the last fiscal year. If the $10,000,000 received from the Geneva award, and which were covered into the treasmy in 1877, be deducted from the receipts for that year, the receipts for the twelve months ending June 30, 1878, will be very little short of those received from regular sources during 1877.

Dingbat.

Anderson, in his slangy letter to Mrs. Jenks, told her that she could “ whistle for her dingbats,” and a correspondent asks us to define “dingbats.” The word is not in the dictionary. At the Methodist school at Wilbraham, Mass., the name “dingbat ” has always been applied to a large raised biscuit that is brought to the table hot and eaten with butter or molasses in the morning. It is palatable to the hungry, but is about as indigestible as a brickbat. "Whv the lovely Jenks should whistle for them must remain a mystery.—< Graphic,

“A Firm Adherence to Correct Principles.”

THE RIGHT OF REVOLUTION.

When Solomon, the rich and proud monasch of the Hebrew commonwealth, was dead, his son Rehoboam came to the throne. The people at that time, and for years previous, had grown weary under the load of a burdensome and un j ust taxation. Immediately succee ding Solomon’s death the leading men of the nation, realizing the situation, sent to Egypt and rec died Jeroboam to administer the affairs of the Government. But, if possible, to avoid a revolution, the representatives of the people and Jeroboam came to Rehoboam, and petitioned for an abatement of taxes, because they had borne a heavy yoke, but the King haughtily sent them away, saying if they received hard usage from his father, they might expect rougher treatment from him. Then tentwelfths of the people revolted, founding a new nation, and the once-powerful Hebrew nation dwindled to two small tribes. Excessive and burdensome taxation under the Roman empire, while it did not result in immediate revolution, nevertheless, weakened the nation; reduced to abject poverty a large class of her enterprising citizens; ruined the agriculture of the Roman provinces, and the rulers were obliged to forgive debts, and remit 1 axes which the people were utterly incapable of paying. Every branch of commercial industry was affected by the severity of the law. The merchant, the banker, the manufacturer, the mechanic, and even the most obscure retailer of a sequestered village, were obliged to admit the officers of the revenue into the partnership of their gain, in order to avoid a confiscation of their property by the levy of exorbitant taxes, and the historian Zasimus laments that the approach of the tax levy was announced by the tears and terrors of the citizens, who were often compelled to embrace the most abhorred and unnatural methods of procuring the sum at which their property had been assessed. As a result of this system of excessive taxation, an exemption of taxes was granted in favor of 330,000 acres of uncultivated and unproductive land in the once fertile and happy province of Campagna, the sßene of the early victories, and delicious retirements of the citizens of Rome, now rendered a barren waste, and its once-happy owners utterly impoverished by excessive and overburdensome taxation.

W ho is not sufficiently acquainted with early American history to realize the fact that American free government and institutions were born of excessive taxation ; and, in the judgment of the fathers of our republic, the end sought justified the means, and, when British teas were thrown into Boston harbor all England was aroused, and English troops were sent, with all possible haste, to Boston to crush the mob. Gen. Washington became the leader of that mob, and when, under his leadership, the yeomanry of America vindicated the righteousness of their cause, who dares decry against that revolution.

Every individual possesses the inherent right to revolt against an oppressive government. Communities are but an aggregation of individuals, hence this inherent right to revolution on the part of communities ; and, in the eyes of the nations and according to and in harmony with international law, success on the part of those who i evolt against their government—ho we ver small their beginning may have been—entitles them to the recognition of the great powers of earth. The fundamental principles upon which our fathers founded this government were: Justice and equity toward all the people—no classes nor casts. Principle, rather than personal ambition, war the mainspring and prompting motive witn them, and all thought of private advancement or renown was merged in a spirit of community and social union; but how widely our Government has departed from this original idea of protection to her citizens, tho freedom and greatest degree of happiness toward all, we will now consider. The events of our sanguinary civil war are yet too fresh upon our memories to need a recital, but, as terrible and bloody as it was, its evils were in no measure to be compared with the events which followed. During the war numberless hosts of hitherto-impecunious men, bummer politicians, and parasites upon the community obtained license to barter and trade within the army lines, and not infrequently were the officers of our armies made partners in their nefarious schemes, and army raids made into the enemy’s country to capture cotton and other valuable property, and hundreds and thousands of our noble soldiers sacrificed in these abominable schemes of speculation. The result was, the war was needlessly prolonged, to enable this vast horde of parasites to fill their pockets with their ill-gotten gains. Immediately upon the close of the war, this shoddy aristocracy developed a style and extravagance in living hitherto unknown in this country, and, like epidemics in disease, it infected, to a large extent, the entire body politic. During the canvass for elections which immediately followed the closing of the war, these same persons in large numbers stood for office, and were returned to our State Legislatures and to Congress, and many came into the possession of offices of boih the National and State Governments, and the legislation which followed has only been in the interest of capital and against labor and the general industries of the country. While a large portion of the people have contended and maintained it to be the duty of Government to issue an increased amount of Government currency (greenbacks), and proclaim it the “money of the realm,” making it legal tender for all dues public and private, and with it to redeem all the outstanding indebtedness of the country, the Shylocks of London, Amsterdam and Wall street have thrown up their hands in holy horror, at the same time filling the palms of our Congressmen and officers high in the Government with glistening gold ; and, in consequence, the halls of Congress have reSjiinded with the eloquence of the representatives of the money power, which met a hearty response from the Presidents and their Cabinet officers, that such an act would be deemed a virtual repudiation, and was clearly unconstitutional. They have told us from tne stump and from the forum, yes, and their hired lackeys clad in clergymen’s‘vestments have proclaimed from the pulpit and in the lecture room, that the issuance of greenbacks—the nation’s money—was simply a war measure, a necessity at the time for carrying on the war, and, that being past, they shou.d now be retired and we should return to an exclusive hard-money currency. Right here let me propound one or two interrogatories and call upon the representatives of the Shylocks for answers :

1. If the issuing of greenbacks was simply a war measure, and not intended to remain as the permanent financial policy of the Government, was not the creating of our bonded indebtedness also a war measure and a necessity absolute to the carrying on of the war ? 2. If—the war being over—the occasion no longer exists for allowing the further issuance and circulation of the greenback currency, why does not the same argument equally apply to the bonded indebtedness of the country ? 3. If the Government has the right, and can, in justice to its own subjects, repudiate its currency obligations, upon which basis the real values throughout the country were established, and thus render bankrupt nineteen-twentieths of the enterprising business men of our country—as it has dope—has it not the right, and could it not with equal justice repudiate at least the interest on its bonded indebtedness? And can there be any justice in longer permitting such a vast amount of wealth to be held in this country entirely exempt from taxation ? No one will deny that the motive which prompted the Government to declare its bonds nontaxable was to induce capitalists to invest in them freely to aid the Government in carrying on the war. The war is long since over, and that emergency has passed—and, according to their own logic, this vast amount of wealth should now be compelled to pay its proportion of revenue the same as other money is taxed. A sewing woman or a day laborer who, by hard work and frugal living, have saved their few hundred dollars and deposited it for safe-keep-ing in a bank are compelled to pay exorbitant taxes to their respective governments, municipal, county, State, and national, while the rich nabobs, with millions of United States bonds in their safe-keeping, do not contribute 1 cent of revenue. Is this right? Is there any justice or equity in this? Surely none. We are told that the distressing hard times under which the country is groaning are the result of overproduction. There never was a greater fallacy; and we have too great faith in the average intelligence of Americans to believe that they will accept this theory. The only over-produc-tion there has ever been in this country has been the over-production of bankrupt debtors, and rendered so by the base and corrupt financial policy of the Government; and the capitalist looks quietly on, viewing the financial wrecks scattered all around him. and says: “My millions are invested in United States bonds. The Government

pays me a stated income, while I have no risks to run and am entirely exempt from taxation. Labor must pay the taxes, support the revenues. What care I for the people ? I will not exchange my bonds for money and run the risk of business ventures, and at the same time be compelled to contribute to the revenues of my country.” When we come to discuss this matter in all its detail and practical bearings and effects upon the middle and lower classes of our country, it fairly makes the blood curdle in our veins. And can the free American citizen longer submit to so gross injustice ? Is all this in harmony with the declaration of principles made by the founders of our Government ? Rather is it not the echoings of tyranny foreboding the establishment of our Government upon the basis of an aristocracy of wealth and the enslavement of the laboring classes? We now return to our first proposition—revolution. The end sought justifies the means necessarily employed. Having thus cursorily reviewed our national affairs, what is the duty of every free American voter ? It is not to immediately rise in auaed rebellion against the Government, and if possible overthrow it, for history teaches us that a majority of such revolutions bring to the surface men of great executive ability, but devoid of moral sense ; and frequently the remedy is worse than the disease. But it is the duty of every free American citizen to seize hold of and maintain all those rights guaranteed to him under the constitution of our common country, and before a resort to arms exhaust all constitutional means for correcting the existing evils which are resting so heavily upon us and crushing out the life blood of our nation. The self-interest of every retail merchant, manufacturer, mechanic, professional man, all middlemen and day laborers throughout this land, calls upon him and appeal to his better judgment in this behalf. And our duty to our fellow-men, which is a higher and holier motive, should prompt us to band together as the heart of one man, and under the constitution, and agreeably with its letter and spirit, immediately correct the errors we have considered. Failing in this attempt, then, rather than submit supinely to the enthrallment of a worse than African slavery, it would be the bounden duty of labor to array itself against capital and appeal to the arbitrament of the sword and the God of Justice for vindication. It is a mistake to assume that any specific form of government must necessarily last forever ; the institution is indicative of a certain stage of civilization, and for the time being is adapted to a particular phase of human development, and when the great mass of the people have developed to a plane beyond that recognized by the Government it is no longer essential to the well-being of the people. All tyranny springs out of a bad state of government ; thus, as civilization advances, governments as such decay. In a government desirous of keeping pace with the progress of civilization all legislation should be with the view of the greatest happiness to the greatest number; and any government which encourages legislation short of this is sure to lose its hold upon the people, and American legislators have got to learn that nothing but evil will result from unequal class-legislation. So soon as a republican or democratic government, through its legislative acts, passes laws which are inimical to the wants and absolute needs of the great majority of its citizens, so surely does it sound its own death-knell. Our legislators must be taught to obey the law of equal freedom. If a government forcibly takes the money of one of its citizens for its support and voluntarily releases another of its citizens from any obligation to contribute to the revenue, it becomes thereby class legislation, and is inimical to the welfare of its citizens, and is no longer entitled to the support of that large class who are compelled to support its revenues; and, on the other hand, that ciass who do not contribute to the revenues of the government in equity are not in the least entitled to its protection; and, by releasing one subject from the payment of taxes and compelling another subject to contribute, it is guilty of infringing on the rights it ought to maintain, and the government becomes an aggressor instead of a protector. And in the matter of currency laws all governments are at fault. Laws interfering with the currency regulations, either forbidding the issue, or to enforce the receipt of certain notes or coin in return for other commodities, infringe on the right to exchange. It prevents trades which would otherwise have been made, or compels exchanges which would not have been made, and therefore violates the law of equal freedom. The matter of currency, or monetary arrangements, of any community, is dependent upon the morality of the people. If the great m iss of the people are morally corrupt, dishonest, nothing’ but coin can circulate as currency, and all business transactions will be confined strictly to this basis, and an exchange of metal with each business transaction. And whenever a government, or its legislature, adheres persistently to an exclusive metallic currency, it is because the law-makers and government officers have become so thoroughly cor- ’ rupt at heart as to measure the moral sense of the entire people by their own standard. On the other hand, so long as the law-making and administrative powers of the government are conscious of being exercised and influenced by a high degree of moral sense, so long are notes and promises to pay the principal currency cf the country. In fact, “ a want of confidence,” as we often hear it expressed in hard times, simply means a corrupt government and coin money. On the other hand, good times are the result of a government whose laws are enacted and administered by representatives of the people who discard selfish ends and aims, and in all their acts only consult the principle of the greatest good to tne greatest number. At no period in the history of our Government have our free democratic institutions been in so great peril as at the present time. During these five long and wearisome years of distressingly hard times our Government has persistently pursued a course terribly fatal to all the business industries of the country—the effect of which has been to render bankrupt almost the entire business population, rendering them unable to give employment to our mechanics and laborers, and, to-day, millions of so-called tramps are perambulating the codntry in search of labor to procure food. And yet the Government totally ignores this lamentable condition of our affairs, and the money kings say: not until confidence is restored will we invest in business enterprises that will give the people employment, and those high in government are still harping upon the evidences of better times. Is it any indication of prosperity, either present or prospective, when we see a jnan and his family of eight or ten sons all out of employment and lounging about their home ? Precisely is this the condition of our country, with almost the entire business portion of its population financially ruined, and nine-tenths of our laboring population without visible means of support for themselves and families. It is high time that the American people;of all classes should look these facts square in; the face. And I warn the moneyed aristocracy of America that, if they do not heed the admonitions in time, and lend their influence to correct the legislation of the country, and make it conform more to the interests of the masses, the threatening storm will burst upon them with all its fury, in which event they can blame none but themselves ; let them remember that the law of compensation holds good throughout all the realms of nature, for, as a man soweth, so shall he also reap. Let our legislators and men in high authority and the moneyed power which at present controls them all remember that by trespassing upon the claims of others men hurt themselves also ; the reaction comes sooner or later, it is sure to follow. It is a trite remark that revolutions never go backward ; with each revolution the law of development has something to do. The result of our civil war was the evolving of a higher degree of civilization in America, for, whatever others may think to the contrary, the great underlying motive which prompted the immense sacrifice of treasure and life of the people of the Northern States during “the war” was the emancipation of the African slave and his elevation to citizenship, and the result was in favor of the greatest happiness to the greatest number. The proud republic of Rome suffered on account of class legislation and its oppression of the poor, and, in the years 253, 294 and 336 of the Christian era, partial insurrections announced the condition of a class bound up with all the wants of ordinary life, but disinherited of all the advantages of citizens of the republic. The result was finally that the Senate was obliged to support them by sending as far as Sicily for wheat, to deliver to them either gratis or at a mere nominal price. From the year 387 to the year 412, during a period of twenty-five years, the republic of Rome passed through the same troubles we are experiencing to-day, which culminated with the entire abolition of debts, and the prohibition to exact any interest. All governments, whatever be their form, contain within themselves germs of life which make their strength, and germs of dissolution which must some day lead to their

rum; and, so long as the law-miking power preserves its virtues and its patriotism, the elements of prosperity predominate, but so soon a s it begins to degenerate, *hen the causes of disturbance get the upper hand and shake the edifice. In view of these facts, and to avert existing evils, and those still worse that are prospective, it is the bounden duty of Americans—regardless of old party lines—to make common cause in effecting at the polls—armed with the free ballot—an immediate, thorough and effective revolution of our Government; and let us do it, before it be for ever too late ; elect men to our State Legislatures and to Congress who will represent the people, and, as servants of the people, enact laws for the equal protection of all; elect men who will restore to the country that species of money that was once good enough .to pay our soldiers for fighting to preserve the nation intact elect men who will obey the behests of the people, and at once repeal all acts of class legislation, and compel the rich as well as the poor to contribute to the revenues of our Government; then we shall find- “confidence restored,” all the industries of our country will revive, willing hands will find plenty of labor and at remunerative wages, and the wants of those millions who are«now anxiously inquiring what shall we do for bread will be mi t; avenues of trade will be opened to the enterprising business men of the country whose efforts at present are paralyzed, and our country once more will start out upon the high-

way of prosperity.

Paper Money.

All that is practical in the proposition to make and use legal-tender paper money exclusively is contained in a nutshell, and the great advantages to accrue from the system are too apparent to admit of a moment’s doubt. Look at a few facts: 1. The people must use paper currency. Everybody knows that. 2. Specie-basis bank notes are expensive to the people and unsafe. History does not show a single instance of such a system in any country or age but it failed and brought misery and distress upon the people. Every intelligent person knows that. 3. Bank notes have no legal quality of money. They cannot be used to pay debts except at the option of the creditor. For that reason they can be shaved and discounted by the money changers when they combine to do so. Their credit rests wholly upon the promise of redemption in coin, which is an impossible thing to do, as all history testifies. Every person will recognize these facts. 4. Legal-tender Government paper money will pay debts at face. It will pay taxes at face. Its credit is sustained by the Government that makes it a legal tender by the fiat of law. It is good as long as the Government endures, and no paper, whether bank note, bond, mortgage, deed or any other contract or credit, can last longer than that. None other has ever lasted half so long. Men can sleep on their Government money with no fear that it will fail or will vary in its debt-paying power. Banks may g& up or down; railroads may prosper or go into bankruptcy ; individuals or corporations may flourish or flounder—it makes no difference whatever with the Government paper money. It will last as long as the flag floats, and when that is lost all is lost. 5. It is the best, and what can be better than the best ? It is the cheapest, and what can be cheaper than the cheapest? 6. It can be issued and got into circulation without being borrowed and consequently without paying interest. Bank notes cannot be issued except some man will borrow them from the bank and pay interest upon his note left with the bank in place of them. Government money can be issued in the payment of Government debts and expenses to any amount required, and may float from hand to hand exchanging commodities and paying debts indefinitely and no man be taxed a cent of interest to get them afloat. 7. Clothed with all the legal qualities of coin for the payment of all debts and receivable by the Government alikewith coin for all purposes, it will be par with coin and answer all the practical purposes of money. What more can any money do? — Indianapolis Sun.

Why Ben Wade Was No Longer Required in Public Life by His Party.

Vice President’s Chamber,! Washington, Dec. 13, 1867, J My Dear Sir : Yours of the Bth instant is received, and I most cordially agree with, every word and sentence of it. lam for the laboring portion of our people. The rich can take care of themselves. While I must scrupulously live up to all the contracts of the Government and fight the bondholder as resolutely when he undertakes to get more than the pound of flesh. We never agreed to pay the five-twenties in gold, no man can find it in the bond, and I never will consent to have one payment for the bondholder and another for the people. It would sink any party, and it ought to. To talk of specie payments or a return to specie under present circumstances is to talk like a fool. It would destroy the country as effectually as a fire, and any contraction of the cnrrency at this time is about as bad. But I have not time to give my

ideas in fall. Yours truly,

Capt. A. Denny, Eaton, Ohio.

My Sarvent Dorr.

Many years ago, when there was but one church in the old town of Lyme, Conn., the people were without a pastor. They had been for a long time destitute, and now were on the point of making a unanimous call for a very acceptable preacher, when a cross-grained man, by the name of Dorr, began a violent opposition to the candidate, rallied a party, and threatened to defeat the settlement. At a parish meeting, while the matter was under discussion, a sharp-witted fellow rose in the house, and said he wanted to tell a dream he had last night. He thought he died and went away where the wicked people go, and, as soon as Satan saw him he asked him where he •ame from ? ‘“From Lyme, Connecticut,’ I told him right out. “‘Ah! and what are they doing in Lyme ?’ he asked. “ ‘ They are trying to settle a minister,’ I answered. “ ‘ Settle a minister !’ he cried out. ‘ I must put a stop to that. Bring me my boots ! I must go to Lyme this very night.’ “ I then told him, as he was drawing on his boots, that Mr. Dorr was opposing the settlement, and very likely he would prevent it altogether, “ ‘ My sarvent Dorr !’ exclaimed his Majesty. ‘My sarvent Dorr ! Here, take my boots; if my sarvent Dorr is at work, there is no need of my going at all.’” This speech did the business—Mr, Dorr made no further opposition. The minister was settled, but his opponent carried the title, “ My sarvent Dorr,” with him to the grave. A clergyman says : “A young woman died in my neighborhood yesterday, while I was preaching in a beastly state of intoxication.” *

LETTER FROM HON. T. F. BAYARD.

The Delaware Senator on Free Elections, Electoral Frauds, John Sherman, Etc. * * * The political occurrences of the last two years, as they are being daily brought to light from their recesses of dishonest concealment, should teach the people of the United States the ever-recurring need of stamping with the severest condemnation everything that tends to weaken and impair the great principle of free and fair elections. The distinguishing feature—the very safe-ty-valve in our plan of Government —is the means provided, in the process of free elections, for the people to correct their errors and retrieve their political mistakes, whether by revoking misplaced trusts and punishing those who have deceived them, or changing the drift of political measures that have proved hurtful, so that, taught by experience, they may prevent the repetition of the disaster. The great issue of the immediate future is, in my judgment, the reassert ion of this idea, and the solemn and resolute determination by our countrymen that elections shall be free, shall be the actual expression of the opinions and wishes of the citizens, and that they shall be honestly and fully acquiesced in by the defeated party. See to what consequences a different course and theory have led the party called Republican at the last Presidential election, how close upon the rocks the ship of state was driven, until, thanks to the patriotic and masterly self-control which animated the Democratic party, she was rescued and rendered capable of cariying her precious freight of human happiness and hopes upon new and, let us trust, successful voyages. The underlying idea of our institutions—free choice by the people, and honest and honorable acceptance of the popular verdict as final by all parties—has been wholly disregarded and contemned by the Republican leaders ; and, to use the language of one of the most conspicuous and influential among them—Hon. John Sherman, the present Secretary of the Treasury—in a late letter to the Ohio Republican conference, “ The only threat that endangers the public weal and safety is the restoration of the Democratic party to power. ... I cannot but regard its restoration to power as the only danger that really threatens our public peace and safety.” Mr. Sherman is called a Republican, and has often held, and now holds, an office which is coupled with an oath to support the written charter of his country’s Government; yet he does not hesitate, in his partisan zeal, to make this open, defiant proclamation that everything is to be subordinated to the one idea of preventing a political organization embracing in its membership a large majority of his fel low-citizens, from again obtaining tuider law the control of the administration of the constitutional powers of their Government, which for seventy years of unbroken honor and prosperity it had exercised.

C. HOLLAND.

The light already thrown by Congressional investigation upon the action of Mr. Sherman and his visiting associates in Louisiana in the fall of 1876—the means and methods then resorted to, and of which they so freely availed themselves to accomplish the one great end of depriving their political opponents and the American people of the just fruits of a laborious and earnest effort by the lawful methods of popular election to obtain reform in administration and relief from local misrule so vile that it was spreading 1 ke poison from the unhappy communities, where he and his party had established and kept it throughout all the arteries of our federal system—may now be better comprehended, as they clearly appear in he characters and careers of the Andersons, the Wellses, the Kelloggs, and the Jenkses, that motley and ribald group of political miscreants, male and female, in whose hands Mr. Sherman and his party had placed the wires of low and profligate political management which has converted popular elections into what would seem a horrible farce, were it not so filled with tragical consequences. The American people have a sure remedy for every political evil in the periodical recourse to a free ballot. Leave that right unimpaired and they will retrieve their errors and correct their mistakes and folhes; but, if deprived of it, they will be reduced to the single alternative of perpetual and degrading submission to admitted wrong, or a resort to forcible resistance to rid themselves of oppression. Mr. Sherman and his allies would close the door of relief through the orderly and lawful change of rules and policies by the honest and honorable acceptance of the results of popular elections, and his brother, the General of the armies, is reported lately to have made the gratuitous but pregnant avowal, at the National Military Academy, that the army of the United States, under his command, would unhesitatingly be employed to sustain the tenure of a President, without regard to the right or justice under law of his title to the office.

The Fourth of July, 1878, and every day between that and the election day in 1880, are the fit and proper days for the American people to consider what answer should be given at the polls to such propositions—for the calm and deliberate contemplation of such ideas, so as to shape their issues in the simple integrity and manly spirit of 1776. Let them proclaim as their resolves:

1- That they will have free elections in a 1! the States, undisturbed and unawed by Federal interference, civil or military. 2. The verdict of the people rendered at the polls shall be faithfully recorded, and shall be accepted and obeyed. 3. That the men or the party who shall stand in the way of these resolves shall be withered by the wrath of an earnest and honest people, who love civil liberty asinsnrined in Republican institutions, and intend to preserve it for themselves and their posterity. The issue is not less vital than this, and until it vhall have been settled dtfiuitely in accordance with those resolves, and so unmistakably that no man sha 1 venture to question or gainsay them, all other questions, however interesting, may wisely be postponed. It is now the great essential in support of which not only every Democrat but all justminded and conservative citizens of every party must rally; and when it has been secured then we may afford to differ and array ourselves at will upon questions of political economy, whose importance I fully recognize, but which pale into insignificance before the pressing and primary questions, Shall our elections be free, and shall their results be acquiesced in and obeyed by all ? Respectfully yours,

BENJ. F. WADE.

“I thank thee for teaching me that word,” said Shakspeare’s Gratiano to the Hebrew. The Republican cry of “Mexicanization” is ended, but the Republican disposition toward Mexicanization is not; The Republican party stands to-day committed to a policy of Mexicanization, as it has been the party of Mexicanization for more than a decade of peace. What is Mexicanization? Is it not the placing the army above the law ? Is it not the rule of the sword, even in time of peace ? Is it not the control of force and not the sway of law ? Is it not placing the musket over the ballot? Is it not making Government bayonets, superior bayonets, the title to office ? Is it not making the authority of the legislative power dependent upon the number of uniformed men behind it? All these things we have seen in that sunny but unhappy land of revolutions called the Mexican republic. All these things we have also seen in the sunny half of our own republic under the Republican regime. Men who had been elected Governors have been bayoneted out of offi je to make room for men who hadn’t. Legislatures the people had chosen have been forced by Federal muskets to abandon the legislative halls to which the people chose them, to permit Government guns to make laws for free States. All this in time of peace. This is Mexicanization. On assuming the Presidency Mr. Hayes withdrew the rule of the Federal army from the States where it held sway. Each Republican convention that has met since that time has confronted tne question, whether or not it approved such withdrawal. .Not a Republican convention has indorsed that conduct, least year it may have been too soon to

$1.50 uer Annum

NUMBER 23.

T. F. BAYARD.

“ Mexicanization.”

fflemocnttic JOB PRINTING OFFICE Dm better facilities than any office in Northwester* Indiana for the execution of all branches of JOB FRIKrTIUG. PROMPTNESS A SPECIALTY. Anything, from a Dodger to a Price-List, or from t Pamphlet to a Poster, black or colored, plain or fancy, SATISFACTION GUARANTEED.

expect a party to approve a policy it had so pertinaciously fought, but time should have so far soothed the hatreds that in 1878 a Republican State convention might be found to approve a course so eminently just, constitutional and peaceful; but not one is found. Some States, like Pennsylvania and Michigan, condemn that policy, known as the Southern policy, most severely by silence touching it. That is emphatically indorsing Mexicanization. The Republican party is bitterly opposed to a policy that “ brought peace and harmony” to the South, a policy “constitutional and pacific.” Let the voters choose between such a policy and Mexicanization. — Cincinnati Enquirer.

Slippery Sherman.

We print below the concluding portion of Congressman Potter’s last letter to John Sherman: Ab to the testimony of intimidation in the parishes of East and West Feliciana propo-ed, in neither of these parishes did the election officers make any protests with the returns, and, as received by the Returning Board, the returns of the election of 1876 in those parishes stood absolutely without objection. Afterward Anderson, as Supervisor of East, and Weber as Supervisor of West Feliciana, undertook to furnish protests upon which the Returning Board might reject the vote of these parishes. It is claimed they did this without cause, solely for political purposes, and because of political promises, and it is in evidence that they have themselves confessed this. It is also claimed that the fact that there was not a Republican vote cast in certain sections which had theretofore been largely Republican was the result of a conspiracy to withhold the Republican vote there in order to afford a pretense for claiming that result as obtained by intimidation, and thereby furnish ground for the rejection of those parishes. Tire committee have not considered that the evidence you propose (and which has been taken by former committees) of certain alleged murders, whippings, and raidings net known to Weber or Andei son, not connected with the alleged conspiracy, and upon which neither they nor the parties engaged in the conspiracy acted, could have a bearing upon these questions, nor upon the action of the Returning Board on their protests, and they therefore decided not to take the same. Where, in the course of the examination, the witnesses (T. H. Jenks, Pitkin, and Weber) have referred to , intimidation in these parishes, it has been incidentally, or as bearing upon the conspiracy. Should it later appear that the specific acts to which you refer have any bearing upon the conspiracy, or upon the good faith of Weber or Anderson, or of the Returning Board in respect of their protests, the cornu ttee will then consider the practicability of taking testimony, and that in contradiction of it, or of permitting you to use instead the reports of such testimony taken before the former committees. Respectfully, your obedient servant, Clabkson N. Potter, Chairman. To the Hon. John Sherman.

Michigan Democratic Platform.

The Democratic party of the State of Michigan, in convention assembled, renewing its fidelity to time-honored principles, standing for the sacred preservation of the nation’s credit and the nation’s faith, for the constitution and laws, and for the great truth that this is a Government of the people, who will the people should rule, do hereby declare: 1. That we arraign the Republican party for corruption in office, and its unwise legislation and its wicked perversion of the people’s will, as expressed at the polls. It has squandered the public lands, squandered the public funds, and corrupted the whole body politic. It has pliced men in office dishonest and incapable, who have used their positions as private perquisites. It has legislated for the rich, oppressed the poor, and created gigantic monopolies. It has burdened each town and city with debt and taxation, and driven them to the verge of bankruptcy. It has driven our commerce from the seas, and destroyed our oncepowerful navy. It has completed its career of crime and dishonor by stealing the Presidency from the people, and placing fraud in the Presidential chair. 2. We indorse the investigation of the electoral frauds, to the end that the truth of history be vindicated, and a repetition of such crimes prevented. 3. We declare that gold and silver coin is the money of the constitution, and all paper money should be convertible into coin at the will of the holder. We are opposed to a further forcible reduction of the volume of the currency, and we approve of the act of Congress prohibiting such reduction. We declare that the prostrate condition of the business interests of the country imperatively demands that taxation, both State and national, shall be reduced to the lowest point consistent with the attainment of the objects for which such taxes shall be levied, and that economy shall be practiced in every department of the Government. We congratulate the country upon the reduction of over $50,000,100 in the national expenditures during the last four years, and which result was secured by a Democratic House of Representatives.

Sherman on the Griddle.

Secretary Sherman, says a Washington dispatch, is very much disturbed at the way the Louisiana end of the investigation is going. The testimony doesn’t appear to suit him. He expresses dissatisfaction with the way his case is being managed, and has requested Shellabarger to go down to New Orleans and take charge of his defense. Chairman Potter has forwarded to Sherman a reply to the latter’s request that several hundred witnesses, whom he names, may be summoned to prove that there was intimidation and fraud in Louisiana. Potter remin is Sherman that the principal witne i3es whom he asks for have already been summoned, including Weber, woose testimony has beea taken, and that every other request of the Secretary has been granted, but the committee have not yet decided to go into the question of intimidation, and he (Potter) does not think it germane or necessary. The allusion to Weber’s testimony is a little rough in view of the facts. .Weber wi s summoned at Sherman’s instance as his witness. On his arrival Sherman and Shellabarger interviewed him, and undertook to “ coach” him. Finding that Weber didn’t “ coach” worth a cent, and wasn’t likely to give the kind of testimony wanted, they dropped him and told him he might go home, but some of the committee thought he might as well testify as long as he was here; so he stayed. It is|a singular fact that every witness so far lyis been a Republican.

Two Snakes Killing a Raccoon.

A fishing party on the baiiks of Shoal creek, Jasper county, Mo., heard a noise in the underbrush, and, going in the direction of the sounds, saw a large coon and two large black snakes in deadly combat, the former getting the worst of the fight. One of the reptiles was coiled around the coon’s body, and, whenever it attempted to use its teeth, the other snake struck at its eyes. It attempted to retreat, but the snake which encircled it dropped a coil, and, as quick as thought, to:k a “half hitch” around a small sapling. It tried hard to pull loose, and, while its energies were bent in that direction, the other snake t ?ok a coil around the coon’s neck, and in a few moments choked the life out of it. The spectators, who had been dumb witnesses of the struggle, advanced and killed the victors. One measured nine feet, and the other seven feet six inches, —St. Louis Republican,