Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 39, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 October 1884 — BLAINE’S CROOKED RECORD. [ARTICLE]

BLAINE’S CROOKED RECORD.

As* Pictured by the “Original Blaine Organ,” Eight Years Ago. Choice Extracts from the Chicago Tribune—To Be Continued. BLAINE’S DEAL WITH TOM SCOTT. Blaine felt himself under special obligation to protect these people from loss, because he had persuaded them as friends of his to purchase these bonds in order that he might secure as a gratuity for himself $32,500 of first-mortgage bonds and $130,000 of land-grant bonds. As they had enabled him to do this, he naturally felt that he should i rotect these friends from loss it he could. But he says in the letter from which we quote above: “You have little idea of the labors, the losses, the efforts and sacrifices I have made within the past year to save these innocent persons,, who invested at my request, from personal loss.” This seems to indicate pretty certainly that, though Blaine felt the responsibility of the whole transaction, he did not actually relieve his friends of the bonds he had sold them until he had madj his arrangements for reselling them to somebody else. Now, where were these bonds sold that he took back, if nqt to Caldwell or Tom Scott, or the Union Pacific? Will some of Mr Blaine’s friends please explain it? — Chicago Tribune, June 10, 1876. _ BLAINE’S DEFENSIVE CAMPAIGN. ’ It is now proposed that Mr. Blaine, who has so ably vindicated his career as a railroad stockbroker, and, by his matchless eloquence, magnetic attraction, and irresistible intellectual force, annihilated the Democratic leaders in Congress, shall be nominated by the Cincinnati convention with a display of pyrotechnics and enthusiasm that will carry dismay to the whole Democratic party.

It is proposed that the Republican party shall adopt Mr. Blaine’s personal tactics, and, as he repelled assault by himself reading the proofs of the charges against him, so the Republican party shall repel the accusation of jobbery and speculation by nominating the speculator and manipulator of legislation in the interest of wildcat corporations. We invite the attention of Republicans to the results of such a. policy. We will assume that the friends and partisans of Mr. Blaine shall capture the Cincinnati convention, shall nominate Mr. Blaine, shall “vindicate” him by ignoring the charges established against him, shall take the responsibility for the integrity of the operations in the Spencer rifle contracts, in the Little Rock and Arkansas Railroad stocks and bonds, in Jay Cooke’s Northern Pacific wildcat operations, and for all other things which have been or may be presented from his record, and require Republicans of the country on their allegiance to the party to vote for him. What then? There will be “immense cheering,” “wild applause,” “indescribable scenes.” The delegates, imagining themselves the country, will shout themselves hoarse, and consider Blaine already elected. There will be cannon fired in many towns. There will be noisy ratification meetings. Eminent Republicans who have instigated all the proceedings to break Mr. Blaine down will write letters cordially approving his nom nation, and newspapers which have opposed his nomination will open their columns to his support.

After some weeks’ display of fireworks there will be a rest and a f lienee. At that time the Democratic party will name their candidate, and, in the light of the Republican action, it is fair to presume, they 'will put up not only an able man, but the best man they have, and the one against whose personal record the least can be said, and the one who most fully embodies the administration reform idea. The campaign will then open in earnest, and on what issue? The issue will be the reform of, the civil administration of the Government, the purification of the public service, and such a separation of the officers of the Government from lobbying subsidies, frdm connection with railroad corporations, from jobs, contracts, and speculations as will prevent the possibility of the recurrence of the corruptions, bribery, and dishonesty which have disgraced the public service during the last ten years. At once Mr. Blaine’s personal and official record will be in issue. How did he stand on these matters, and how does he stand now? His letters,'speculations, and book of sales become the Republican platform; his sales of bogus railroad securities become evidences of the absence of any connection with jobbery; his own boasted decisions as Speaker, whereby he "saved" the legislation which was necessary to’ give a sufficient seeming value to the bond's to. put them on the market, become the Republican evidence of the reform labors of their candidate, and. when bankrupt and overwhelmed by the demands for the return of their money by those who purchased the worthless scrip from him, the intervention of the Pacific Railroad Company, by paying him enough to pay all his debts, will become the "proof” that there is no bond of sympathy or interest between their candidate and the vast corporations who are now asking from the Government several hundreds of millions of dollars of subsidy. It will be useless to try to evade that issue. The Belknap bribery and the host of other corrupt tr nsactions will be supplemented by the direst of acts in Blaine’s own record. Oakes Ames’ famous declaration,.that he had put his corruption money “where it will do the most good,” will give place to Blaine’s hardly less significant message, “Tell him that when I was Speaker I ruled out an amendment that would have killed the company’s bill.” In every joint discussion the Republican speakers will have to defend Blaine’s railroad votes, Blaine’s reports of sales, Blaine’s lettcrs.Blaine’s appeals for money, relief, and Tom Scott s or somebody’s payment of $64,000 to enable him to pay his debts. They will not have a word, or a line, or a vote of his which they can produce to show that he ever was in favor of reform, or retrenchment, or breaking up abuses The Democrats on the stump will hive all the facts produced by Conkling and Morton.besides the store they have in their own keeling, to parade against Blaine, and the Republican speakers and press will lie kept with their lose on the grind-stone, and forever on the defense, maintaining the propriety of electing a man to reform the abuses of government whose whole record is mixed-up with an active partieipa-’ tion in the abuses which are to be reformed In such a campaign the Presidential defendant will be forced to take the stump in his own behalf, and he will be obliged to go from State to State and from city to city explaining protesting,and asseverating that in his own ncord, made by himself, there is nothing inconsistent with the character of a reformer.— Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1876.