Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 October 1884 — THE SOLID SOUTH. [ARTICLE]

THE SOLID SOUTH.

The Southern Wing of the Democracy Trying to Get Control of the Nation It Sought to Destroy. Preponderance of Ex-Robels Among the Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives. Mr. Blaine's Speech at Ft. Wayne, Ind. “Citizens of Indiana; "The October elections in Ohio and West Virginia have put a new phase on the national contest, or rather they have reproduced the old phase. [‘Good.’] The Democratic party, as of old, consider now they have the South solid again: they believe that they will surety get 153 electoral votes from the sixteen Southern States, and they expect, or they hope, or they dream, that they may secure New York or Indiana [‘Never!’ ‘Nevei!’ ‘lt is.a drcam!’]; and that with New York and Indiana added to the solid South, thev will seize the Government of the nation. I‘They can’t do it—never!’! Ido not believe that the farmers, the business men, the manufacturers, the merchants, and, last of all and most of all, I do not believe that the soldiers of Indiana can be put to that use. [Great cheering, and cries of ‘Ne'er!’ ‘Never!*! I do not believe that the men who added luster and renown to your Staterhreugh fourytarsof bloody war can be trusted to call to the of the Government the men who organized the great rebellion. [‘No!’ ‘No,!’ ’Never!’] In the Senate of the United States the Democratic party have thirty-seven members, of which number thirty-two come from the South. Ot their strength in the House of Representatives the majority of Representativi s come from the South, and now the intention is, will an absolutely solidified electoral vote from the South, added to the votes of the two .states I have named, to seize the Government of the Union. [,lt can’t be done!’ ‘I hat seizure can never be made!’J That means a great deal; it means that, as the South furnishes threefourths of the Democratic strength, it will be given the lead and control of the nation in the event of a Democratic triumph. It means that the great financial and industrial system of the country shall be placed under the direction of the South; that our currency, our banks, our tariffs, our internal revenue laws—in short, that our whole system upon which the business of the country depends shall be placed under the control of that section. It means that the constitutional amendments to which they are so bitterly opposed shall lie enforced only so far as they may believe in them, that the national credit as guaranteed in the fourteenth amendment, that the payment of pensions to the soldiers of the Union, as guaranteed in the same amendment,.shall be under their control; and what that control might mean may be by the bitterness with which those amendments were resisted by the Democrats of the South. There is not one measure -of hanking, of tariff, of finance, of public' credit, of pensions; not one line of administration upon which the Government is conducted to-day on which the Democrats of the South are not recorded as hostile, and to give them control would mean a change the like of which has not been known in modern times. It woul d be as if the dead Stuarts were recalled to the throne of England; as.if the Bourbons should be-invited to administer the Government of the French Republic; as though the Florentine dukes should be called back and empowered to govern the great Kingdom ot Italy. [’Good!’ and cheers.] Such a triumph would be a fearful misfortune to the South itself. That section, ’ under the wise administration of the Government by the Republican party, has been steadily and rapidly gaining or the last ten years in ail the elements of material prosperity. It has added enormously to its wealth since the close of the war, and has shared fully in the general advance of the country. To call that section now to the rulership of the nation would disturb its own social and political economy, would rekindle smoldering passions, and underthe peculiar leadership to which it would be subjected it Would organize an administration of resentment, of reprisal, of revenge; and no greater misfortune than that could come to the nation or to the South. It would come as a reaction against the progress of liberal principles in that section—a progress so rapid that the Republicans are waging earnest contests in those States whose interests are most demonstrably identified with the policy Ot protection against the baleful spectacle of a solid South. “ l am sure that Indiana will protest, and, on the whole, will conclude to stand where she has stood in the past. I believe that you will stand where you stood in the war; that you will stand for the principles and the policies which have made your State bloom and blossom as the ruse, and which have made the American republic in manufactures and in agriculture the leading nation of the world. [Great cheering. I The leading nation of the world, not merely in a material sense, but in a moral philanthropic sense —a country in which every man has as good a chance as every other man, and which, among other great gifts, bestows absolutely free suffrage. [Cheers.! You enjoy that suffrage, and the 4th day of November next you are to say for which party, for which policy, you will cast your votes. [Loud cries of ‘For Blaine!’ ‘For Blaine!’] Not me personally. [‘Y’eii.’ ‘Y’esl’J No, lam not speaking tor myself. No man ever met with a misfortune in being defeated for the.. Presidency, while men have met with great misfortunes in being elected to it. I ampleading no personal cause. lam pleading the cause of the American people. (‘That’s it!’ and cheers.] I am pleading the cause of the American farmer and American manufacturer, and the American mechanic, and the American laborer against the worla. [‘Good!’ ‘Good!’ ‘Good!’ and great cheers.] I am reproached by some excellent people for appearing before these multitudes of my countrymen, upon the ground that it is inconsistent with the dignity of the office for which I am named. [‘No!’ ‘No!’] I do not feel it to be so; there is not a courtier Jn Europe so proud but that he is glad to uncover his head in the presence of his sovereign. So I uncover in the presence of the only earthly sovereignty I acknowledge, and bow with pride to the free people of America.” (Great and prolonged cheering. J -