Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 32, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1884 — INDEPENDENT REPUBLICANS: [ARTICLE]

INDEPENDENT REPUBLICANS:

THEY ISSUE AN ADDRESS TO THE REPUBLICAN VOTERS. Giving Their Reasons for the Course They Pursue in the Present Campaign. As the Independent Repub? lican Committee of Indiana, we offer our reasons for the course we are taking. The day is comparatively late, but we have the advantage of the fullest knowledge of the candidate and of the things which go to make up their fitness or unfitness for the office of President. After this lapse of time, and after all that has been had, we see no reason for supporting Mr. Blaine. The Republican party is still in the grip of the Keifers, the Elkinses, the Dorseys and the Claytons, who will bring it to ruin unless their hold is loosed, and the election of Mr. Blaine gives no hope of such release, rhe closest investigation proves that after many years of public life James G. Blaine has no important service to his country to point to, and has no tangible- result to show, except a large accumulation of wealth at the end of a line of concealed speculations in property directly or indirectly connected with Congressional legislation. 'J he Mulligan letters are the Mulligan letters still. On their face tti-- y indicate shameless corruption in public office on the part of Mr. Blaine. No other interpretation has been offered. No Republican paper has made a manly attempt to meet these letters. On the other hand, we have the cowardly spectacle of the leading Republican journals of Indiana standing mute in their presence, refusing to print them and dishonestly deceiving their readers

by keeping the truth from them. We are left but the conclusion that the Mulligan letters on their face tell the truth about Mr. Blaine, and leave a stain upon his official life so deep and disgraceful that no honest man can, under any circumstances, vote for him without unwarrantably violating his duty as a citizen. here letters were wellknown when he was nominated, and that he wa* nevertheless nominated in conclusive proof that the present management of the Republican party is deaf to the call of common integrity. vV e therefore recommend all who have the interest of the party at heart to abstain from voting for Mr. Blaine.

With equal confidence we recommend all Republicans who regard good government as a thing to be desired, to vote for Grover Cleveland. We say this after the fullest examination of his official life. He is chief officer of a State whose cities, prisons, asylums, public works and all other public departments are on a great scale, and have been for years nests of jobbery , and corruption; to perform prop : erly the duties of Governor of such a State requires a sound knowledge of civil government and unlimited uprightness and firmness of character. In the exercise of this office Governor Cleveland has shown that he has qualfications of the highest order as an executive officer. His papers relate to his work, and are confined to the subject in hand; they are explicit and full, and unmistakable in meaning: they are free from deceptive discussion of extraiieaqs matters. His public acts slow him to be a genuine, efficient and thorough civil servwfeand municiua 1 reformer, and lie has been this relentlessly, at vast expense to his own party in the way ot destruction of official patronage in the State of New York. We cite the numerous reform acts which have had his earnest co-operation during passage and his signature afterward; also his appointment of the civil service commission and his other appointments to office. He believes that public office connects him with the people inta business capacity before it binds him to his party in a partisan capacity. He has repeatedly shown that no amount of party pressure can turn him from what he believes to be the right course. He has yielded to no popular clamor, but he has been just to all interests, and has been mindful to the true welfare of all conditions of people. He is such a man as this country now needs for President. Lucius B. Swift, Chairman. Geo. *. Evans, Secretary. Louis Howland, i reasurer. James G. Blythe, Chas. E. Brooks, Chas. E. Ferguson, Lucius B. Swift, Lindley Vinton, Executive Committee. Indianapolis, Aug. 27,1884. The work of the independent Republican Committee is to show to the Republicans of Indiana the unfitness of Mr. Blaine and the fitness of Mr. Cleveland for President.

1 his will be done by means of -suitable documents and public speeches. For funds the committee rely entirely upon voluntary contributions. Any one desiring to help the above object can do so by remitting any sum to the reasurer, Mr. Louis Howland, Indianapolis. ihere is no expense whatever for clerk hire or office rent; all money received will go directly to the end in view. The LaPorte Argus replies to Mr. Calkins’ explanation of the school fund swindle as follows: ‘‘The security is a mortgage on- 160 acres of swamp or

slough land on the Kankakee river. In connection with the proceedings he (Calkins) made affidavit that the land is unincumbered, but the records show it was then delinquent for taxes. The land was entered by E. Burch, January 2, 1857, and designated in the patent as swamp land. The records show that the land was transferred ten times, when it passed into Calkins hands. The land is notoriously fancy trading property, like much of the lands of the Kankakee marsh, and the considerations mentioned in the. various deeds signify nothing. Since the land stood in Calkins’ name it has changed hands five times. The lowest consideration mentioned i n the deeds is -800, and the highest is $3,000, the latter at the last time the records show it was transferred. In the face of these figures we have the sublime fact that three reputable land owners and residents of the neighborhood under oath say it is not worth more than two hundred dollars, and the overwhelming proof that they placed too high an estimate on it is found in the tact that, for eight years the land has been openly for sale for two hundred dollars, and no purchaser can be found. Any man can buy it to-day for that price, and the county authorities will be glad to make the necessary transfer free of all charges. The transfer of the land “subject to a mortgage given to the School fund by Wm. H. Calkins and wife dated October 28th, 1874 for three hundred dollars, due five years from date.” as is mentioned in all of the deeds since Calkins held the property, has no legal bearing on the case, and Mr. Calkins knows it In no case did the purchaser assume or agree in any manner of record to pay the obligation to the School fund. To claim otherwise is an absurdity on its face, tor no purchaser in his right mind would agree to pay from $l,lOO to $3,300, with accrued interest, for land that cannot now be sold for two hundred dollars. It appears still more ridiculous when we say the land has undoubtedly increased in value, if it ever had any value, since 1874. which was sooix after the great panic and the price of land was universally low. We further assert that Major Calkins has at various times recognized his liability for the debt. The reason it has not been collected from him bj law is because the land must first be sold at the appraised value of S2OO, and no purchaser can be tound for it at that price. Every voter who will examine the law and the records will find that we state the simple facts connected with the case, and all men at all familiar with such transactions will bear witness that Calkins is the only man responsible to the School fund for the payment of the note and interest. Why does he not pay it? Why does he seek to shift the responsibility to other shoulders th a n hi s own?”