Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 34, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 September 1886 — Page 3

THE G. O. P.

Its Love and Sympathy for the Workingman—More of Blaine's Demagogy. [From the Detroit Free Press,] Mr. Blaine’s appeal for the workingman’s vote is so entirely characteristic and illustrates so accurately the manner in which his party is accustomed to prove its claims to support that it is worth considering for a moment. We do not refer now to the stale claim that protection has given the g. o. p. a claim upon the workingman by raising his wages. That proposition has been contradicted so completely and successfully that even Blaine himself must laugh in his sleeve when he undertakes to present it to an intelligent audience. What we refer to now is the appeal he makes on the ground of fatherly interest of the Republican party in the welfare of the workingman. In his Lewiston speech Mr. Blaine frankly admitted that the workingmen had discontents and grievances which the State or the nation, or both, could remove. The first that occurred to him was the lack, in the Maine law making ten hours a working day, of any provision to enforce the obligation of the law. That it was all wrong he assured his hearers. The workingman when told that ten hours was a day’s work was entitled to the protection of the State and the use of its strong right arm in help ng him to his pay for a day’s work when the time was up. And to show that the Republican party was in hearty sympathy with the workingman on this point he called their attention to the tact that the Republican candidate for Governor in his letter accepting the nomination had declared that the ten-hour law should be made obligatory and mandatory upon all the people in the State. Another grievance which caused his eyes to overflow with sympathy for the workingman was the “trustee process” law of Maine, what we call in Michigan the “garnishee” law. With faltering tongue and voice choked with emotion he painted a pathetic picture of the unfortunate workingman harassed and annoyed by the consciousness of a small debt he could not pay and compelled to witness the tying up of his wages by the flinty-hearted creditor. But his tongue ceased to falter and his voice came forth in full volume as he assured them that here again the Republican candidate for Governor was their friend — that he was fairly bursting with sympathy merely waiting the insertion of the workingman’s spigot to gush forth in a rich and overwhelming stream. And he further assured them that when the Governor should be elected trustee process would shrink cowering to its lair, or words to that effect, while a Republican Legislature would abolish it off the face of the earth, or that portion thereof over which a Maine Legislature has jurisdiction.

And at last he came to the most inhuman and indefensible law of all, the law which permits the iron-hearted creditor to send the workingman debtor to the dungeon cell, where, in Mr. Blaine’s own touching words, “he cannot do a stroke of work.” It was cruel, he said, a relic of the dark ages; but the same ministering angel who had consented to abandon his stone quarry and run for Governor had sworn him a mighty oath that imprisonment for debt should be wiped out and be known no more among the children of Maine. Wherefore, said the Plumed Knight, come all ye workingmen and vote for this grand old party whose candidate maketh those refulgent promises.

It was an old, old trick, a Republican trick that has been played in every campaign since there was any party of that name. If it deceives the workingmen of Maine, they must be far below the average of the intelligence which the workingmen of the country possess. Mr Blaine very cunningly omitted to tell—but we venture to say they knew very well without being to.l—that the Republican party in Maine is directly and criminally responsible for the existence of these wrongs, the cruelty whereof he pointed out so clearly. During the past quarter of a century, with the exception of scarcely a single year, the Republicans have had entire control of legislation in Maine. During all this time these grievances have existed, pressing heavily upon the workingmen. Had the g. o. p. cared anything for the workingman it could at any time have relieved him from these crushing burdens. Had Mr. Blaine cared anything for him he could have secured relief from the Republican State Government. But neither the g. o. p. nor Mr. Blaine cared a rap for the workingman. They do not care a rap now. All they want of him is his vote. But for that "they would not even take the trouble to promise him relief, as the candidate for Governor has done. If the Maine workingmen accept that naked promise as atonement for years of criminal neglect, they deserve to have it broken, as it will be whether they accept it or not.

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND SOLID.

An Opinion of His Strength Among the People of the Country. [Washington special to Chicago Daily News.] Gen. J. B. Clark, Clerk of the House, ■who has been circulating about the country a good deal since Congress adjourned, says there will not be a word of opposition to the administration from the Democratic politicians this fall. All the opposition and grumbling that was heard in the halls of Congress last winter has died out and the nominees are looking for tbe good feeling Mr. Cleveland’s administration has aroused among the people to help them in the canvass. “The streng h of Mr. Cleveland among the people,” continued Mr. Clark, “is something beyond the conception of an ordinary politician. Democrats and Republicans are alike for him,and his party critics are not saying a word. I have met a great many prominent men who heeded what was going on about them, and they all sny the same thing. I met a par.y of New York business men, bankers and merchants, men of wealth and prominence, several of whom told me that they had been Republicans all their lives, and had voted for Blaine, but that they were going to vote for Cleveland in 1888. They did not care, they said, who nominated him. He would get their votes, and the votes of thousands like them would go for him. They claimed that what they said was no more than was said by the majority of the men they met in business life. “But they were not the only ones I heard

express themselves with thio wild enthusiasm. I heard it everywhere I went. The politicians are taking it up. Representative Matson says Mr. Cleveland could carry Indiana to-day by 25,000 majority. Somehow the people seem to like him. There is something catching about his way of saying and doing things. When he is pigheaded and stubborn and makes mistakes they excuse him or laugh at it and like it. There is no getting away from the fact that he has got a mighty strong hold.” General Clark said, further, that the Democrats can not help renominating Mr. Cleveland, and that the Democratic politicians have nothing to say against it.

PROSPECTS IN MICHIGAN.

Democrats and Greenbackers Harmonious and Sure of Success. [New York special to Chicago Daily News.] I. M. Weston, Chairman of the Michigan Democratic State Convention, was at the Hoffman House recently. Mr. Weston spoke very encouragingly of the Democratic outlook in the Wolverine State this fall. “I think,” he said, “that we shall elect our ticket without fail. Democrats and Greenbackers are working together harmoniously and success is in the air. Michigan is no longer a safe Republican State. We earned it for Governor in 1882 and Mr. Blaine’s majority in 1884 was less than 4,000, and Alger, a popular soldier candidate for Governor, had even a smaller majority. We had a clear plurality, taking the vote by Congressional districts. ‘ Farmer ’ Luce, the Republican gubernatorial candidate this year, is not popular with the grangers, as supposed. He can only be called a farmer by courtesy. He hasn’t lived on his farm lor years, but has devoted his time to managing a couple of banks. He has made money and is rich. The Republican managers are more anxious to save the Legislature than to elect Luce, and have commenced to sell him out already. James McMillan, the Chairman of the Republican Committee, belongs to the millionaire Republican syndicate of Detroit. He is a candidate for Senator Conger’s shoes. He will play fast and Luce with the head of the ticket in order to capture the Legislature.” [From the Detroit Free Press.] The cordiality of the union between the anti-Republican forces throughout the State in support of the Yaple ticket is very gratifying. It shows that the promise of victory is not ai empty boast, and that the days of Republican rule in the State are really numbered. The Republican leaders feel this quite as strongly as members of the united opposition do; but it does not give them any comfort. On the contrary, it saddens them perceptibly. From the candidates at the head of their State ticket away down to (he sentinel on the watchtower at the other extreme of the party, they are whistling to keep up their courage. But they can not keep it up even by that windy exercise.

The Prolection Pretense.

The tariff, we are told by Republican leaders and orators, increases the wages of the workingman. It is imposed for that purpose. As they deny that the tariff increases the price of the home product, it is not very clear from their point of view how the wages can be increased. If the- prices are enhanced—as the opponents of a tariff claim—the manufacturers can well afford to pay higher wages. But if they are not enhanced, the m nufacturers can not afford the higher wages. To be consistent, therefore, the Republican protectionist orator must either abandon his theory that protection does not raise the prices, or his pretense that it does raise wages. As a matter of fact, without reference to consistency, he must abandon both theory and pretense. The theory is unsound, because protection does not raise prices by enabling the manufacturer to put a higher price on his product without risk of competition with the foreign maker. And the pretense is false, because, while the manufacturer can afford to raise wages, he does not raise them. If there were any donbt on this point the recent history of steel-rail making in this country would set it at rest. By reason of the tariff, with its duty of sl7 per ton on steel rails manufactured abroad, the steel-rail makers here were able to combine in raising the price of their product from $25 to $35 a ton. Assuming that the former was at the very least a living price—as to which there is no doubt whatever—they could well afford when they raised the price to raise the wages of their employes. Did they? There is no record of it. The fact, if it were a fact, of a voluntary ra se under such circumstances would be invaluable in its aid to the protection cause. It would be heralded from Maine to California, and dinned into the ear of every son of toil in the Union who has a vote. Has anybody heard of it? Not a soul. There has been no increase in wages. The manufacturers have added 40 per cent, to their profits. They have been enabled to do it by a device, the chief purpose of which is claimed to be the benefiting of the workingman. And the workingman has not benefited a penny. How much longer will he be humbugged and cheated by this protection pretense?— Detroit Free Press.

Downright Dishonest Demangogism.

It is downright dishonesty and demagogism for Republicans to be making a howl against Cleveland for his vetoes of private pension bills. Every veto was based on the belief that the proposed pensioner was unworthy. Mr. Cleveland has not yet ve - toed any general law for the benefit of pensioners. Every man having a claim for a pension should submit to the general tests of a general law that applies to all alike. A man who cannot establish a claim for a pension upon the same conditions that others can, has no right to a pension by special legislation. When President Cleveland vetoes a general law that soldiers desire, then, perhaps, he may be accused of oppos ng pensit nets; but no such accusa'ion can be male to stick with reasonai le and since’e men by parading the fact that the President has veto d private bill» giving pensions to frauds.— Grand Rapids Leader. Mr. Pillsbury, of Massachusetts, has delivered a reply to Blaine’s tariff arguments, and among other things l.e asks the magnetic tariff champion how he reconciles what he says on the stump about the difference between home and foreign wages with his report while Secretary of State, in which he says: “Undoubtedly the inequalities of English and American operatives are more than equalized by th? greater efficiency of the latter and their longer hours of work.” A great many other persons would like to hear from Mr. Blaine on this point.

ROUNDS’ SUCCESSOR.

Thomas E. Benedict, the New Public Printer. Thomas E. Benedict was born at Warwick, Orange County, N. Y., in 1839. His education was obtained at the common school and at the Warwick Institute. He engaged in teaching during his early years, and drifted thence into a railroad office, and finally into bookkeeping. He always had an affinity for printing offices, however, and, wherever he lived was sure to be an industrious correspondent of the local newspaper. He moved to Ulster County in 1863 as a bookkeeper of the Ulster Iron Rolling Mill, and in 1870 started the Ellenville Preus in partnership with

his brother, G. H. Benedict. The paper gained a reputation for its vigorous Democracy, and in 1873 the firm purchased The Banner of Liberty, which they conducted as a stanch Democratic weekly, gaining for it a circulation that extended to every State and Territory of the Union. In 1879 Mr. Benedict was elected to the New York Legislature, and was re-elected for four successive terms, each year by an increased majority. There he gained the confidence and friendship of Grover Cleveland. Daniel Manning, and other leading Democrats, and in 1884 was appointed Deputy Comptroller, which office he has since filled. He is known especially for his executive ability and unblemished integrity.

THE KNIGHTS’ GROWTH.

Extending Their Organization Into Europe—A Cosmopolitan Gathering of Delegates for the Richmond Convention. On the curious little five-sided brass buttons which designate the wearers as Knights of Labor, and which to-day decorate the lapels of thousands of coats, there is a peculiar device which at once attracts attention. More conspicuous than any of the geometric devices which are inter-woven to make up the emblem, is a diminutive representation of the globe, which is readily understood as emblematical of the widespread scope of the order. The United States, where the Knights first became known, do not by any means represent the boundaries of this dominant labor organization, for within the last two years many thousands of the mechanics, artisan 6 and laborers of the European countries have been enrolled as Knights of Labor. The organization of the windowglass workers in England and Continental Europe was the first move on the other side of the water, and it is now claimed that there is scarcely one of that craft in the entire world who is not a member of the order. Hence directions to local and district assemblies, constitutions and bylaws, and the various other pamphlets which are necessary to carry on the diversified business, have to be translated into a score or more of different languages, and more than one of the progressive members of the Executive Board are looking hopefully forward to the day when the ramifications of the order will include even the nations of the far East, and the linguistic catalogue of the General Secretary-Treasurer will include the teachest tongue of the Chinese. The management of all the foreign branches of the order is vested in the General Executive Board of this country, and that little body of five men—Bailey, Barry, Hayes, and Turner, with Powderly as their Chairman—wields a power which is felt by laboring men upon both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. The annual convention of the order, which meets this year in Richmond, Va., will be the largest ever held, and probably the largest that ever will be held, as in future delegates will be chosen upon a different basis of representation. As provided for under the present regulations each district assembly is entitled to one representative for each 1,000 or majority fraction of 1,000 of its membership. The rapid growth of the order, which is fast approacning a membership of 1,000,000, increases the number of delegates to such an extent as to render an annual convention a cumbersome and unwieldy body, and to obviate this difficulty the number of delegates will bo reduced by increasing the constituency of each representative to 2,000, or perhaps more. The convention will open on Monday, October 4, and will probably continue for at leust fifteen days. Delegates will be in attendance from all parts of the United States nhd Canada. Mexico, Central America, ittjd even South America will send their quota. European assemblies will also send representatives, and the convention will show a gathering of different races, colors, and nationality such as has never before been seen isifcttb*’ quiet city of Richmond. ' x V During the last year the Knights of Labor have made an invasion of the South, and the organization of white and colored laborers has progressed with remarkable rapidity. Thomas B. Barry, of the General Executive Board, has just returned from an extended tour in that section of the country, and expresses himself as very sanguine of the beneficial results which will follow the organization of the plantation and mill hands of the South.

BROTHER AGAINST BROTHER.

An Extraordinary Race for Governor in Progress in Tennessee. Playing the Fiddle Together After Public Speaking —"An Insult to One an Insult to Both." [Chattanooga special.] The campaign in Tennessee this fall is most remarkable. Nothing like it was ever seen before in the polities of any country. Two brothers, Robert and Alfred Taylor, are rival candidates for the Governorship. They are making the canvass together. “Bob,” as he is universally called, is the candidate of the Democracy, and Alf is the standard-bearer of the Republicans. Usually a political contest in Tennessee is a series of personal invective long drawn out, and often the issues of the campaign are lost sight of. The campaign this fall, however, has all the points of a very fine comedy. If it could be reproduced on the stage with one-quarter of the realism of th e original contest, it would be bound to have a long run. The brothers are on the best of terms, and are constantly chaffing and joking each other, to the amusement of the crowds that follow them wherever they go. They belong to one of the best families in Tennessee, and both have a natural gift of oratory. Alf Taylor has been playing a sly game on his brother. He has left two or three political meetings early on account of hie weak voice and furnished dance music for parties. Both of the brothers are fair musicians and know how to handle a violin. Bob got onto his brother’s dodge very soon, however, and retaliated by visiting half of the houses along their route, kissing the babies and promising them all birthday presents when they grew up. These side issues, so to speak, began to tell on the constitutions of the brothers, and a compromise has been arrang d. Bob is to stop kissing the babies unless Alf is present and can come in for his share of the glory, and also agrees not to speak quite so loud or long until his voice gets into better condition. In addition Bob says he will not mention Cleveland's civil-service policy again during the campaign. For these concessions Alt' has agreed to stop fiddling except in duets with his brother. But as the violin has been introduced into the canvass they find that they cannot put it out. Everywhere they go they are compelled to take their violins with them and play a shake-down after the regular meeting of the night is over. The brothers' duet played at the Read House here last evening was a very amusing sight. The parlors were crowded, and the two brothers sat close together, surrounded by their adherents. “Dixie,” “Star-Spangled Banner,” “Old Kentucky Home,” and selections from the “ Mikado” were rendered in fine style. It was impossible, amid the shouts of laughter and applause, to say which was the better man with the bow.

At Cleveland, Tenn., last week, the brothers addressed the largest meeting of the campaign. This is a Republican stronghold, and Alf was in high feather. But Bob's followers made up in shouting what they lacked in numbers. While waiting to board the train at Athens for Cleveland a crowd gathered around the station. The sun was hot, and the brothers sought the shade of a neighboring tiee. Here the crowd followed them, and the jokes flew pretty thick. “Alf,” said Bob, “would be lost if it was not for his little tariff and Blair bill.” “You don’t want to come out too strong about our Mexican diplomacy,” retorted Alf. “You must be referring* to Mr. Blaine’s guano contracts,” said Bob, good-naturedly. “But what are you going to do with the public domain, Bob?” asked Alf, winking slyly to the crowd. “Sell it and educate those 400,000 ignorant Tennessee children you are always talking about.” At this moment a hardy mountaineer approached on the scene. He approached Alf and said: “I want a place under the next Governor.” But before he could reply Bob spoke up: “Here he is; what can Ido for you?” The crowd laughed, but Alf got in a neat rejoinder by saying: “‘A public office is a public trust.’ I cannot promise patronage for votes.” Some one rang a ches:nut bell, and a minute later the brothel s were boarding the train arm in arm, and bowing their acknowledgments to the cheering crowd.

The gathering at Cleveland is typical of what has met the brothers all over the State. “Remember,” said Squire Gant, in introducing “our Alf” to the public, “that an insult to one of these gentlemen is an insult to the other,” and this represents the policy of the campaign. There are no side issues in Tennessee this fall. The question is simply between Democracy and Republicanism, and both sides feel that the result w.ll be a true test of each party’s strength. At Athens another feature was introduced into this canvass which promises to become a regular card. Some one alluded to it as the War of the Roses, and the expression was promptly caught up by the crowd. It furnished the proper campaign insignia. At once the red rose became the badge of the Republicans and the wLi'e rose the emblem of Democracy. It spiead like wild fire, and within forty-eight hours these historic decorations were worn in rosettes from one end of the Mate to the other. The ladies, too. are flying the colors of their choice. So it is now a double campaign, roses and fiddles, and all canopied over by the best of good-fel-lowship and fraternal rivalry. An incident last night, while the brothers were at Bridgeport, illustrates the spirit of he canvass from the matron’s standpoint. They performed, as usual, and then went aim in arm to the same bed. As they came down to breakfast the hotel proprietor’s wife, a smiling old lady of 60, approached them with a bunch of the rival roses in ach hand and said: “Col. Bob and Col. Alf, I’m not a pohti. ian, and I don’t know anything about politics, but I want you io accept these flowers because it makes my mothc r heart glad to see two brothers making a canvass against each other and yet r ating each other as loving as you two do. Let me sej you slake hands before you go.” They took ihe flowers, shook as desired, and laughingly took th - train for Tullahoma, where they speak to-night.

INDIANA STATE NEWS.

—A man at Fort Wayne, a few nights ago, captured a singular-looking bird that had flown into the open window of a ] aint shop. Its toe* looks like that of an owl, but this is the only resemblance. The head and face resemble those of an ope, and its bulging eyes are suirounded by a fringe of gray beard tipped with black, while its ears are exactly like those of a human being except that they are almost entirely concealed by the growth of tine gray hair that covers the cheeks and forehead. It is an uncanny looking creature, and attracts the attention of crowds of people every day. —A man is now in Clay County placing on record the phenomenal size of various farm products. He has already found squashes weighing 188 J pounds, grapes 3| inches around, tomatoes 19J inches in circumference and 8 inches long, and radishes 25 inches in girth, 21 in length, and 10 pounds in weight. He lias only seen a small section of the country as yet, and there is no telling what lie may discover in the way of vegetable Jumbos by the time he reaches the river bottoms. —A man at Leesburg, aged 80 years, while riding home in a buggy, was taken with an apoplectic fit, and fell forward out of the buggy, and became fastened between the shaft and wheel, and before the horse could be stopped he was dragged over 200 yards. When extricated his head was badly injured, one ear torn off, and he sustained injuries which render his recovery doubtful.

—A farmer at Wea, Tippecanoe County, built a fine new barn, and then signed a contract with a lightning-rod man for one point to be placed on the structure at a cost of $6.50. A few days later he was confronted with a note for $260, and, rather than get into a legal fight with the swindlers, he compromised the matter by paying $l6O. —The nude body of a white num was found in the Ohio River, near Evansville. It was horribly mutilated, both legs being cut off below the knees, the right arm off just above the elbow, and a largo piece of the skull missing. It is thought the man had been murdered, the body stripped, mutilated, and then thrown into the river. —A press used in the manufacture of counterfeit coin in 1832 will bo one of the curious exhibits at the Huntington County fair. It was plowed up by Farmer Wernerder, two years ago, in a locality which used to be a rendezvous for the Helvey brothers, long ago noted as venders of spurious money. —Valuable beds of kaolin have been discovered near Etna Green, Kosciusko County. Vessels manufactured from it, when struck, give forth a clear, ringing sound, like porcelain. It is the intention of the owner to fully develop his find with expensive machinery. —A barn four miles north of Washington, and all its contents, consisting of GOO bushels of wheat, fifteen tons of bay, and a lot of farming implements and machinery, were destroyed by fire It was the work of an incendiary. Loss $1,500; no insurance.

—The 4-year old daughter of a man at Logansport fell out of a third-story window to the pavement below. The distance was over thirty feet, but the child, after remaining unconscious for a short time, resumed her play as if nothing bad happened. —A St. Joseph County farmer, aged about 70, drove to South Bend and drank so much liquor that his wife would not return home with him. The next morning he was found lying in the roadway with a broken neck, having fallen from his wagon. —While excavating for a new bridge under the old canal aqueduct at Fort Wayne, workmen found a Mexican silver coin of the date of 1782 and a horse-shoe of primitive construction. They lay ten ’ feet below the bottom of the river. —The South Bend agent of the Michigan Central Railroad has an old appletree, which, to all appearances, has long been dead. Recently it suddenly showed signs of life, and is now covered with a profuse crop of blossoms. —Clam bakes are the rage at Huntington just now. If the clams in the Tippecanoe are anything like those found it White River, the people in that section must have cast-iron stomachs to be able to survive more than one bake. —A Baptist minister who has resided at Crawfordsville ever since the first cabin was erected in Montgomery County, has performed 577 marriage ceremonies, and is still hale and hearty, although stooped with age and hard labor. —A very uncommon occurrence happened near Decatur recently. A hardware merchant was driving a short distance in the country, when a small whirlwind formed under the vehicle, lifting it from the road and carrying it several rods. —A potato and carrot firmly grown together, so that it is impossible to tell where the potato begins and the carrot ends, is one of the vegetable freaks exhibited by a St. Joseph County farmer. —A man employed on the Kentucky and Indiana bridge, at New Albany, lost his footing and fell a distance of nearly forty feet. He received injuries iu the spine which may prove fatal. —The apple crop is so large In the neighborhood of New Albany that the best command but 75 cents per barrel, while common stock sells at 40 and 50 cents. —A white pelican four feet seven inches high, and five feet, four inches from tip to tip of wings, was killed near Corydon. —A child with six well-developed toes on each foot and six fingers on the right hand was born at Albion recently.