Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 October 1888 — FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE. [ARTICLE]

FACTS FOR THE PEOPLE.

x tto Room for Protection Ibmocnti. Hon. George L. Converse has written to Chairman Brice, offering his services as a campaign speaker for the Democratic party on the condition that he be allowed to continue in opposition to the Mills' bill and the free-trada tendencies of the Democratic party. ,Mr. Converse’s letter was written sometime ago, and in it Til mid tlA4i ioluiu 1111/ lift ru<rruMhk “Is it the intention Oi your committee -to allow on #ls stump expressions of opinion favorable to the reasonable protectipn of all American industries, and in opposition to, the continuance and establishment of the internal revenne system* as one of the permanant sources of revenue for carrying on the government in time of peace? “If not, I am as a loss to see how I can be useful in the canvass. 4 Jf,you do infreedom of opinion and expression you must decide whether, under the circumstances, my efforts will be of service to the party in this particular canvass.” Up to the time of going to press Mr. CopvsraeJiad notrecelv^’lHr^Srice 7 *' reply, and Mr. r Converse is, therefore, not as yet on the stump.

D. oxiciatic Paitlsn .ism. Washington*, Oct. 9. —At no time during the rule of Republicans was that party ever charged, even aimlessly and indefinitely, with having run the machinery of the government witlb half the partisan determination that has been proven to he exercised by the present administration. It was discovered today that 40,000 copies of the annual report of the Commissioner of Pensions

have been printed at the expense of the government for distribution as a campaign document. The report was issued early in September, which is fully six weeks before the time it is usually published, and it" contains a great deal of “edited” matter intended for political effect. The idea is that when the document is distributed it will be so late in the campaign that the Republicans cannot correct the exaggerations and prevarications, and that the report will have a powerful- effect upon the soldiers and their friends. Usually , two or three thousand copies of this report are issued, and the expense of printing the 40,000 extra copies is very considerable. Public Printer Benedict was to-day asked where the money came from for the extra expense, and he replied that it was “taken out of the contingent fund for the Interior Department.” There will beam investigation of the matter. Not even the usual number ot copies of the report have been ordered by Congress, much less this extraordinary and unprecedentedly large issue. To-day there was laid on the desks of all the clerks in the Pension Office “an address of the national Democratic committee.” It is an extensive document; —lauding the administration of President Cleveland, praising him as a man in his personal capacity, and pointing out the reforms he is alleged to have made since he took the office, March 4, 1885. It also reviews the life of Thurman apd arraigns the Republicans on their tariff and other records. The address is signed by Chairman Barnum

and Chaimian Brice. At the conclusion is a postscript or addenda, signed by Charles P. Canda, treasurer of the committee and sub-treasurer of the United States at New York. Canda says in his postscript: “All contributions of money for the use of the national committee may be made either by postal order, registered letter or draft. Such contributions will be duly acknowledged, and should be addressed to me.” The most brazen and astonishing part of ethis proceeding is contained in a second and small circular, which goes with the address. It is dated at the headquarters of the national committee, and is headed: “Caution to Contributors:” This circular reads as follows; “On the pretense that direct contributions from office holders to the national committee were in violation of law, certain swindlers throughout the country have sought remittances from postmasters and others, falsely stating or intimating that their solicitations were authorized by the committee. Several of these offenders have been arrested, and will be prosecuted for fraudulent use of the mails. In view of these frauds it is deemed proper td say that, while the law forbids contributions by federal officials to other United states officers and employes, any contribution they may see fit to voluntarily make oan be forwarded to their proper destination without the interposition of an intermediary.”

A Disgraceful Campaign. The Democratic managers with all their pretense of fairness, are conducting a disgraceful campaign, and are using as their favorite ammunition the vile slanders of one so disreputable that not a respectable citizen of Indianapolis, where he resides, can be found to speak a good word for him. if the Republicans wished to indulge in personal attacks upon the Democratic candidates they would not be compelled to take the mouthings of a scalawag, but would need only to repeat the tales that are common talk among the most reputable citizens of Washington, irrespective of politics. The Republican party, however, unlike the Democracy, is not “glad of anv aid it can get,” and declines to circulate* stories that would cause every American citizen to hang lus head in shame.— Journal. A Wfcll Street P*rty. hy should any Greenbacker support Mr. Cleveland? Why should any man who favors bitme'talism,/as a government currency, and is not in-favor of a Wall street dynastic? Shortly before be was inaugurated, Mr. Cleveland sent an appeal to the Democrats in Congress asking tor the immediate and unconditional suspension of the coinage of silver, thus anticipating his office and giving a foretaste of his bulldozing tactics. He placed the Treasury Department in the hands of Daniel Manning, and through him, in 18S5, declared: - 4. “The act authorizing the reissuance of greenbacks was a menace to the public tranquility and injurious to the public morals and public faith.”—Report of the Secretary of the Treasury, for 1885, page Mr. Cleveland fully indorsed these expressions of his favorite financial secretary- In accepting Mr. Manning’s resignation, Mr. Cleveland raid: “I have hoped that the day was at hand when the party to which we belong, influenced largely by faith in you and in the wisdom of your views, would be quickened in the sense of responsibil-

ity and lead to more harmonious action upon the important questions with which you have, had to deal.” In the lace of this record, why should any Gieenbacker or bimetalist support Mr. Cleveland? But further: Why should any Greeubacker or bimetalist favor the Democratic party? Did that party ever prove the friend of the Greenbackers? Who have been its nominees for President? In 1864, George B. McClellan, of NEW .YORK. In 181&, Horatio Seymour, of NEW YORK. In 1872, Horace Greeley, of NEW YORK. In 1874, Samuel J.i Tilden, of NEW YORK. In 1888, General Hancock, practically of NEW YORK. In 1884, Grover Cleveland, of NEW YORK- Who are, and were, in Mr. Cleveland’s Cabinet? Daniel Manning, of NEW YORK. Charleß 8. Fairchild, of NEW YORK. William C. Whitney, of NEW YORK, Who else? The first and second assistants of the Treasury Secretary, and the Treasurer of the Uhited Stated States from NEW YORK. New York, New York, NEW. YORK—always New Ybrk! Contrast this with! the nominees and secretaries of the Republican party. The Demaaatia-jiactY. has ever been the bond servant of Wall street. '■ ■

The Grand Army of the Republic declares that a Boldier’s honorable service in the Union army should entitle him to a pension. The pension bill first introduced by Senator Harrison recognized that disability from whatever cause, if honorably received, entitled the old soldier to the generous care of the government he fought to preserve. In the case of Francis Deming, July 5, 1886, Grover Cleveland vetoed his pension bill in the following words: “This case can rest only upon the grounds that aid should be furnished to this ex-soldier because he served in the army and a long time thereafter became blind, disabled and dependent. I am constrained from a sense of public duty to interpose.”—Grover Cleveland. Which principle do the soldiers of the country indorse? Grover Cleveland says his sense of duty compels him to interpose to prevent a pension to an old soldier who became blind, disabled and dependent after his honorable service in the Union army. Benjamin Harrison says his sense of duty compels him to interpose to secure a pension to such an honorably discharged and honorably disabled veteran.