Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 33, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1885 — JOHN SHERMAN ANSWERED. [ARTICLE]

JOHN SHERMAN ANSWERED.

Before Governor Hoadly made his opening speech at Hamilton, the Democratic State Central Committee of Ohio designated Hon. W. D. Hill, of the Sixth Congressional District to answer John Sherman’s bloody shirt harangue, which is regarded by the Republican organs as the key note of the present campaign in Ohio, and the embodiment of whatever principles are left to the late Republican party. Right well did Mr. Hill perform the work assigned him. It is understood that he went to Washington several weeks ago and spent much time in the various departments thoroughly equipping himself for the work. A few days ago he answered Sherman at Montpelier, O. Referring to the change in the administration, he said: “The days of Cnited States Marshals, armed possees at polls and inteFMl ueVenue spies have, I trust, ended iji this country forever —certainly while we have a Democratic President. These reflections alone ar 3 subjects of congratulations. It is not six months since the administration of the Federal Government changed. Whatever changes followed have been wholesome and in the interest of the people. The calamities which our Republican friends predicted have not come. — All the dire calamities which a diseased imagination of the gonty Republican officeholder, aided by his long continued gorgejof power and debaucher could i vent, were spread through the country as official truths. But the people were tired of being deceived, and they voted for a change. The change has begun—slowly but gradually, cautiously, prudently, safely and fast enough.” We direct particular attention now to the stunning p ints made by Mr. Hill in answering the question. “What has the Interior Department done?” He said:

It issued more pensions to Union soldiers, and adjusted more, old pension claims during the last quarter of the fiscal year, than were ever issued under Republican rule in any one quarter. It has stopped the cutting of timber on the alternate sections of land belonging to the Government, by the great land grant corporations. It has stopped the system of making the claims of applicants for pensions “special” where the party has inflential friends (except in extreme and palpably meritorious cases), thus putting all applicants upon equal footing, and preventing favored men from being jumped ahead of equally deserving invalids. It has given applicants for patents equal opportunities for attention, and it is no longer necessary to employ certain high-priced lawyers in order to secure promptness. It opens its doors without form, ceremony, or >ed tape to all who have claims to urge, petitions to present, or questions to ask, and the humblest laborer is as certain of a patient and respectful hearing as (any Congressman, Senator, Governor, or foreign “grandee.” It regards the public domain as property held in trust by the Department for the people and not as a grazing ground to be fenced in

by the cattle kings or a lumbering bonanza to be invaded by the wealthy timber thieves or to be stolen bv the great railroad corporations. It has resisted all pressure for the appointment to responsible positions of men believed to represent great land or railroad corporations. It has saved many hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Government in the matter of contracts for the coming year. It hassaved more than sloo,ooo in the contract for Indian supplies for the present fl seal year, as compared with the last year’s expenditures. It has adopted the policy of strict adherence aud construction as regards Indian tr aties, and proposes io hold the Indians to their contract It has banished, or begun to banish, all interlopers from the Indian reservation, and in the execution of this policy will make no distinction between the vagrant frontier brawler and the hereeis of hundreds of thousands of cattle. It has restored, or millions of acres of public lands that are now covered fey fraudulent entries or. distorted maims. It haa saved over a hundred thousand dollars a year to tfee Government In the cost of beet and flour alone for the Cheyenne tad Arapahoe Indians, by haviig a new census taken of those tribes. It has prevented a terrible Indian war 6n the Kansas border by dealing fairly and firmly with the savages. It nas disregarded the claims of thirty millions of capitalthat claimed the right of r astnr.age upon the lands of thesa Indians, and ordered them to remove the herds at once, and the President has announced his firm determination to enforce the order. It has placed the Yellowstone Park and Hot Springs, Ark., reservation under such control as will protect them against the manipulation of rings, and make them what Congress designed they sho’d be, blessings to our people for all time. It has proclaimed the public lands the heritage of the people, and ordered the removal of the fences that inclose millions of acres of Government (fomain in the interest of vast monopolies, cutting the settlers off from the courses, ponds and best pasturage. This is but a beginning of the great work of the Interior Department alone, |and this of itself, if nothing else, is enough to justify the people of the United States in the defeat of Blaine and Logan and the election of Cleveland and Hendricks. Then Mr. Hill turned his attention to the Post Office Department, and said:

But, my fellow-citizens, the good work does not end with the Interior Department. Postmaster General Vilas has made a good beginning also. Let us see what he has been doing and is doing. First in the postal service the savings effected from April 1, 1885, to Ju l y 3, 1885, are: Decrease in Star service, $ 93,188 Steamboat service. 72,816 Mail messenger service, 23,523 Total and net decrease in above named sei vice. 189,70 j And this, too, without the slightest detriment to the public or the efficiency of the service. Again: The number of ordinary postage stamps contracted for by the departmen t for the year ending March 31, 1884, under Republican rule and serving as a basis of award, were 1,452,315,150; cost, $134,567.76. Newspaper and periodical stamps, 2,463,270; cost. 226.39. Postage-due stamps, 12,949,270; cost $1,990.03. Under the vigilance of General Vilas the same stamps were contracted for as follows: Ordinary postage stamps, 1,452,315,120, for $101,516.88; newspaper and periodical stamps, 2,463,270, for $446.41; postage-due stamps, 12,949,270, for $1,099.39, making a total of $103,059.63, against $135,.

884.18 expended the year before for the same items, or a saving of $32,041.57. For postal cards, 333,629,500; cost last year, $181,504.50. Twoeent cards, 68,775; $34.47. Total, $181,627.87. This year the same items and number of cards cost $159,229.13, making a net saving of $22,426.77. Postoffice envelopes, from No. 1 to 8 inclusive, total number, 32,836,200; cost last year, $ c 8,105 05; this year, $55,667.80; net reduction,s42,437.25. During Arthur’s administration the cost of all the foregoing was $414,618.13; first year of Cleveland, $317,929.56, a saving in one year of $95,905.59, or nearly $400,000 in four years. Besides this, the sa ( - aries of Postmasters have been cut down many thousands of dollars m. re, and there is no lack of applicants for these same postoffices nt reduced salaries. The firmness and ceaseless vigilance of Secretary Whitney, he said, in discharging needless employes in the naval service, and in exacting compliance from John Roach in naval contracts bag alread / saved the people millions more. The action of the Secretary of the Navy in the recent difficulties at Panama won for him the admiration of every true American; for while it was insignificant in itself, it served notice jo the world that under this administration no insult to our flag would go unrebuked. He is a typical Democrat, and there is not a young man in this whole country who is not proud of him. In the Treasury Department 135 useless clerks have been discharged, and th a ir places have not been filled, and never will be under this administration, thus affecting an additional saving of $213,000 per annum, or in four years $852,000. Sen itor Sherman has thus been answered,[and answered in an overwhelming, masterly manner. The Stats Committee did well when it selected Mr. Hill to pulverize that prince of demagogy and Bourbon Republicanism, John Sherman, of Ohio. —Indianapolis Sentinel.