Democratic Sentinel, Volume 3, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 November 1879 — POLITICAL DISCUSSION. [ARTICLE]

POLITICAL DISCUSSION.

Some Recent Public UDenaiioes of Prominent Democrats. Gov. Seymoub on IJasmony in the Party. —ln the course of my long political experience I have seen and felt so much of the evils which men bring upon themselves by discord, that I cannot refrain from warning you, to whom I am under so many and great obligations, against dissensions iu your own ranks. Men are apt to think that the results of an election chiefly affect candidates for high offices. This is a great error. They fall upon the mass of voters in a tenfold grea'er degree than upon those who are called leading men. As a rule, these are advanced in life. In a little while they will pass away. Personal controversies among the young and active may live for many years, to harm and embarrass them. It may be in the power of men to gratify some pacing prejudice or iuterest by defeating those of their own political faith, but it never fails, in the course of time, that such things como back to barm aud plague those who indulge personal prejudices. New York is by right, by tradition, by interest, a Democratic State. This county, in its better days, upheld the principles of Jefferßon and Jackson. A majority of the citizens of Utica hold to the same faith. If the young and active members of our party will be true t > themselves they will recover that power which jußtiy belongs to thorn. If they allow themselves tft fall into dissensions they will destroy their own heritage, and when it is too late will regret their folly. lam now an old man, and so far withdrawn from ao’ive life that I don’t think I am governed in my views by mere partisan prejudice. I feel deeply mv obligations to my political friends, aud 1 hold my principles as sacred because I believe thorn best fitted to promote the welfare of my country. Yet I respect the earnestness and sincerity of those to whom I am politically opposed. It is uncertain if I shall ever again stand before an audience in Urica to speak about public affairs. I wish, therefore, in the light of a life-long experience, to say that I believe parties are necessary for tho prese vation of our form of government, for the education of our people in political truths, and for liberalizing and enlarging their minds. We hear a great deal of cant about the corruption in polities. There are no corruptions in public affairs which are not generated and nouushed by other influences at work among the people as a people. All efforts, all zeal for a cause, if it is a worthy one, to;d to lift men above mere personal objects, and by exertions for others and by dwelling upon considerations outside of themselves, tend to make men better and more generous. We havo selfish men in our public life, but they were not made selfish in their positions, for these, dealing with general interests, tend to liberalize men’s purposes. There are corrupt men and bad men in parties, but they have been made corrupt aud self-minded in other relationships of life than those which grow out of their association with others in the promotion 'of a common cause. There arc many ignorant men to be found in all political organizations, hut they are not so iguorant as they would have been if there wero no public discussion of matters which concern the public we’fare. As a rule, those who clamor against selfishness of parries are those too selfish to perform tho duties of citizenship. Those who shake their heads at corruption are noted for their greed of gold, gained by speculative schemes, and who mourn over the cost of carrying out their own corrupt measures. I have been an actor in public affairs during a pel i id of great bitterness and excitement in the minds of tho American people. I have felt more than most men tho warmth and kindness of party support, and I have felt, too, the sharp aud angry criticisms of opponents excit .d by passions and prejudice. I must in fairness say that those opponents most active and earnest in their zeal for their parries have been in tho end more ready to do justice than men who satisfy themselves that they are right, and that all who differ from them are wantonly wrong, and who aro too selfish to learn in the sharp conflict of parties that there aro two sides to all questions, and that honest differen e of opinion should always be respected by honest men. I am a believer in zeal, even in those who hold views in conflict with my owd, for I never yet knew an active, honest man, whatever his errors may be a< the outset, who did not in the end become a useful, just and liberal member of society.

Speaker Randall on National and Local Debts. —Now let me show you what is expected from taxing the people iu this country. The Federal debt exceeds $2,000,000,000, the State debts amount to $400,000,000, and the city and county debts are beyond $1,000,000,000. Of this enormous city and county debt Philadelphia has a very large part. Here is $3,500,000,000 upon which the people must pay interest. You thus see the importance of compelling public servants to pay not a dollar unit es there is absolute necessity for doiDg so. The tendency of the Republican party has been toward extravagance ever since I last had the honor to represent you in a public capacity. Figures prove this beyond all controversy. We are led by history to believe that there are two great dangers to a republic—taxation and a tendency to grasp pmve unduly. The Republi an party has moved in the d rect way of centralizing the Government—that is its tendency to-day—in opposition to the rights of tho people. We have seen how the power of the army has boon us<d. The Republican party, by sending soldiers to intimidate voters, has given expression to its policy o; keeping in force in time of peace tho laws that authorized tho sending of an army into certain States in time of war. Not only in distant and adjoining States has this policy been enforced, but in this very district the use of the marines has been witnessed. Yc s, and at one of my elections I was sorrow-stricken to see that the votes of freemen bad to be given under the point of tho bayonet. We triumphed, but we should bear iu mind that there are not many districts like this. The Republicans have claimed the right to use Marsh.-. Is at elections—Marshals all for one side, a horde of unnecessary electioneers paid out of the common treasury. There were 750 of these Marshals in the Eastern district of Pennsylvania, not because any Republican vote was in danger, but because it was the aim to influence this Congressional district, and, thank God! they got a rebuke that they won’t forget in an increased Democratic majority. Republican extravagance was extended further than the public treasury. Between the close of the war and the advent of a Democratic House of Representatives the Republicans gave away not less than 130,000,000 acres of the public domain. Why, ihe thirt en colci;i j s had only 218,000,000 acres. Think of it! Territory equal in extent to four States of the size of New York presented to six corporations! The result is that any of you who may be disposed to take Horace Greeley’s advice and go West will have to buy your land from corporations, paying them $lO an acre for ground that rrrght Wliad for $1.50 an acre but for the extravagance and injustice of the Republican party.

Senator Wallace on Sectional Hate.— Ought pasßion aDd prejudice to control us in our judgment? Are we to be blinded by hate and sectional antagonism to our own wrongs and true interests? Is this the form of mind in which we ought to approach consideration of the grand issues of 1880? What of the republic as a whole? Has not your dejt increased? Are not your expenses lessened l ? Are not economy and thrift ihe rule? Has not crime decreased ? Are officials as corrupt as they were ten years ago? Do you long for that era of corrupt rule aud vicious administration that the country saw from 1869 to 1873? Ha 9 not civil power replace! military in the whole land, and 'he mild and strong government of law supplanted that of tbe bayonet ? Ten years ago three of the great States of the South— Virginia, Texas, and MississipDi—were yet under military rule. Is not their condition better now than "then? Then Virginia had twentyseven military districts, aud elections were held'by military order. Texas had ihirty counties without civil organization. Fifty-nine cases were tried before military commissions in one year: there were 884 murders between Jauuary and September, 1869 While Mississippi was • under m litary control military commissions were found unable to cope with crime that courts and juries now successfully meet. Local government in the South has given us the measure of peace and order they now have. Without it all would be still disorder. Individual control and oversight in every department of your Government are as necessary as they ate ia our own affairs. It is this that brings order out of chacs, and gives society > ni governments their force and puii'y. Pts man for c tizensl.ip, unites him to society by h s personal interest*, compels, him to govern nimself. Ninety thousand officials with their power and money are part of the machinery that is wielded now tr perpetuate the rule of agents. Troops at the po h and F rieral Itc'ion laws are further; proofs of added power to the agents at tbe expense qf the principal. Troops

are few, but they wield the p jwer of the who'e people. One blue coat represents the majority of the law, to which we bU bow. Tho excuse for Federal laws is fraud in the large dies. If in three wards dishonesty runs riot, all people are stigmatized and their right of free election supervised and controlled Dy Federal powor. The erv of fraud is the cry of a thief when pursued No man smirched with fraud can have the leadership in a contest for popular rights. The Democracy will strip for the contest and discard every weight. Fraud in Oregon or fraud ill Philadelphia, frauds in Louisiana or frauds in Now York are equally to be eliminated from tho race. Real issues must bo made luminous and wolj-deflned They must staud out bold, clear aud sharp. We can not and we will not t>e handicapped to suit the ambition of any man. The manipulations of primaries, o f presses, of bureaus, of conventions, are not methods of organization. Wo are about to join in a death-grapple for the rights of the people. Direct methods, clean hands, a spotless record, are the marks of the man who is to lead us in tho coming race. Whether it. he Bayard, fearless a d pure, over the ohampion of home-rule against corrupt government, a third term and consol deteA-power; or Hancock, the soldier advocate of civil rule, Pennsylvanian by birth and clean of hand; or Thurman, or MoOiellan, or Hendricks, issues of principle will be sharply defined and personal issues relegated to private life. Are our business interests advanced by the policy of division and distraction, or do wo gain by advocating peace and unity? Why docs each recurring Presidential election harass the businass man? We want business and a market. Can we insure these best by widening our commercial field and encouraging production, or by 11 stinting the bloody shirt and crying, “Down with tho Confederate Brigadiers?” Our national markets {ire in the South; their prosperity is our gain. It cannot be true that bloodshed and murder are the normal condition of the people Sou’h, for they send us this year over 5,000,000 bales of cottou—a larger crop than over before. Our interest consists in continued* prosperity, in increased production, in a contented people, in unity and peaco. To encourage and stimulate production in every section is purely the teaching of selfish economy. Every manufacturer and distributor of merchandise is directly interested in stability and increased production in the South. Changes felt and changes feared are the bane of industry everywdiero. Especially is this so am mg people wiio recognize that they have erred and been punished. They are sensitive to our opinion. Every change of political sentiment North is a terror to t em, unsettles confidence, and dostroys their belief in future prosperity It is our interest to make them feel that they have passed their probation, and that we want the larges 1 possible production of rice, cotton, sugar and tobacco to be exchanged for ottr manufactured goods. Have we not paid their proportion of public expenses, aud tho public debt out of our surplus earnings long enough? It is time that we should 800 that, their prosperity is our gain from every point of view. If you would divide a solid South politically, cease to falsify aud vilify them. Persecuted men cling to'ether. Appeal to their selfish interests upon administrative questions, drive out sectionalism and recognize the truth that this country is ono, that tho States are united, and that as such iti s tho interest of every section to restore peace, unity aud good government everywhere.