Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 July 1874 — SHALL THEY CAPTURE US? [ARTICLE]

SHALL THEY CAPTURE US?

Mr. B. CYmirer has retired from the mansgcmc nt of the Kentiaml Gazette. ll is farewell issue contained a virtual •dniwatoit that Newton .county is not likely to give a Republican majority next fall. The Independent* have a strong hold down there. The Rensselaer Union assumes a decided independent tone, so far as iwditical matters are concerned, which is truly admirable.“-Francesvillc banner. Thank you, dear friend; but, for the lovti we bear y«>u, be careful. It ia not fasliionablcjlor peighboi* ing newspapois to apeak friendly of Thk Union this campaign.

The Democratic platform is comjmscsi of acids neutralized with alkali, and a little grease thrown ill to make the mass consist.—lndianapolis llcrahl. liut it wont wash in pure water. Like Saint Paul, the average lloosier Democrat recommends a little wine for his stomach's sake and old Timothy’s often infirmities. Col. Kil. M. Verger, the cowardly assassin who murdered Col. Joseph G. Crane in Jackson, Mississippi, in 1808, has gotten himself into another scrape. Since Ins acquit- ■ tal of the murder upon the specious pica of emotional insanity, he has been living and doing business in Baltimore. Week before last lie was arrested charged with stealing drafts from J II Maddox to the amount of $20,000. In Michigan a constitutional provision has keen submitted to the people for female suffrage, which is eliciting a good deal of sharp argument both for and against. — At Traverse City recently, in order to ascertain what proportion of the women really desired to vote, a circular was left at every house, to be answered by each woman over twenty-one years of age, which contained these questions: 1. Do you want to vote ? 2. If no to the first question, answer this: In case it should be decided that women be allowed to vote, would you vote on questions of temperance and moral or political reform ? To the first question the yeas wore 42, nays 95, blank 60 ; to the second question, yeas 109, nays 34, blank's3. It would appear from this test that, in Traverse City at least, a majority of women do not care anything at all about the privilege of voting, and it is the impression of The Union that such is generally the feeling among them over the greater portion of the United States. The Independent State Central Committee met in Indianapolis on the 13th instant, and organized by electing E. A. Ollemati permanent Chairman, A. V. Pendleton Secretary, and J. Q. A. Newsome Treasurer. The declination of Noy'es S. White, as a candidate for Secretary of State, was received and accepted, and the following resolution passed: Resolved, That we depart from the usual practice of filling vacancies in the ticket by the State Central Committee, believing .that the people should make choice 1 of their own servants; and we, therefore, call a mass convention to be held at Indianapolis, Wednesday, August 12th, to nominate a 'candidate for Secretary of State, and to fill any other vacancies that may occur, and also for the'purpose of ratifying the nominations already made, as .we! 1 as to attend any other business that may arise. The Chairman, Secretary arid Treasurer were appointed a committee to establish a Statfr organ. A committee was appointed to issue an address to the people of the State, and to publish the same, in the form oi a circular for general distribution. rf ln the Indianapolis Journal of the 15th instant is a selected list of ten Democratic counties, which it says, “ ‘knocks the socks’_ off of everything in the way oVtaxation.” In that list the local taxes, for 1873, in Tipton county are placed at sl-22, and in Brown at $1.24, on the SIOO appraised valuation. In that same year the same taxes in Jasper county were $1.33 on the SIOO valuation, feo that for the privilege of having their public business conducted in a frugal manner by sinion pure Republican financiers, people who own property in Jasper county paid sl,lO more on every SI,OOO than people of Tipton, and 90 cents more on every $1 ,000 than people of Brown, paid to have their public business managed by extravagantDeipooratic officials. If Tipton and Brown counties ‘ knock the socks off” for taxation, Jasper certainly strips off the irons, ers besides. The Journal argues that the cxpouscs of courts and bridges and roads and paupers, need not be more in one coufity than iu mi other, and that the excess of taxation goes somewhere <?lse than. for legitimate purposes —in Democratic counties! .

The Laporle Argus and Rensselaer Union are reading each other with intense interest just now. As the former passed tiie last compliment, it is now in order fV>r the (Jolonel to tickle Jlro. \V*dsto»tth.—Laporte Herald. TlieiT, tliertq sweet child, do not be jealous) It shall be com pi imctitcd, too. Always respectable’ ‘ami mild mannered, modest ami unassuming, there is no exchange on our very large list more togliiy prized or eagerly rcad-than the Laporle Herald. cautious, politic, eminently conservative, since the demise of Mr. Greeley ami Mr. Sumner, the notes of its political Inusic are unmistakably Republican. There! dear Violet, we love thee, and thy charming blushes have not bloomed unseen! The [Rensselaer] Union is ably edited, we admit, and we are sorry Bros. James and Healey are conducting it in the interests of the Democracy.—Crown Point Register. Briefly, The Union advocates: Lower taxes; honester officials; smaller salaries for the President and some other government officers; no more salary grabbing; no more legislation which builds tip one class of industries at the expense of others; a uniform currency based on gold value commensurate with the necessities of business; increased facilities for transportation between the great producing re- \ gipii.s and markets, which may be encouraged by the general government; statutory regulation of the charges made by transportation monopolies to prevent extortion; freedom of the press to criticise the acts of public officers, w ith perfect immunity from arrest, trial, fine or imprisonment therefor.— When Brother or Sister Bedell say The Union is “conducted in the interests of the Democracy” they make a scathing arraignment of the political party which procures for their respectable paper those advertisements called Laws of the United States (Official.) The Rensselaer Union is one of the most abused and most extensively advertised country papers in the State of Indiana. For a “contemptible little sheet, without influence at borne or abroad,” ibis is somewhat remarkable. While no truly good men desire notori., ty for notoriety’s sake alone, tlte editors being conscicnciousdii their positions, and confident that the people will come out victors from their desperate struggle against the encroachments of capital and corrupt politicians, are patient under the misrepresentations of their contemporaries. It hath been written that men are blessed when they sitfl’er persecution for their opinion’s sake, and are maligned for advocating; the cause of the people against the oppressions of their rulers; while history 4 is replete with illustrations where the seeds of martyrdom yielded an abundant harvest of triumph. Then let the heathen Republican editors rage, and all courthouse rings and county seat elieques imagine vain things, for The Union is one of the best local papers in the United States, has a fair and increasing circulation among intelligent people, and its subscription price is only two dollars a year,cash in advance The Rensselaer Union docs not think the financial officers of Jasper county anything to brag about. It hasdiseov wed -that 'Urn- people there are paying a larger tax than a major- , ity of counties in the State, and this, in view of the fact that they are making no public improvements.—Wiuainac Democrat. -A—- - But notwithstanding the high .rates -paid by us we arc much better off than the tax-ridden people of Pulaski county. Our taxes for local purposes amount ur $1.33 on each SIOO of valuation, while those of Democratic Pulaski reach the outrageous sum of $1.49. We are compelled to pay $3.43 more on each sl,boo worth of property in Jasper county than is paid on the average through the State, but our Pulaski county neighbors pay $1.60 on each SI,OOO more than we do—or did last year. Pulaski county people, iiy 1873 paid in the way of local taxes $14.90 on each.Sl,ooo of their listed possessions, while the average arnolmt paid in the other ninety-one counties of Indiana was only $9.86. They paid $5.04 on the SI,OOO more than an average rate. Pulaski county peofde paid proportionahljj; higher taxes than did the citizens of any Republican county in the State (and there are forty-four of them), and higher taxes than cither of the o*her forty-seven Democratic counties, except five. Iu other words, Pulaski is one of the six highest taxed counties in thejStatc, all Democratic. Kighty-sii out of ninety-two counties have lower tax levies, than Democratic Pulaski. Dare the Wjnawao Democrat or Republican or Mto other local papers in that county, call attention to thesc facts editorially? - -j : • .. f

The Rensselaer Union intimates! that if u suitable person is nominated by the opposition for Congress, oneHn.li of the Republican majority in this district would be overcome in Jasper and Newton counties. Hut suppose a suitable person should be nominated by the Republican conven-tion?-—Valparaiso Vidette. A t last elect ion Hie comities that now make this Congressional district gave the Republican State ticket 1,54 7 majority; that y ear Jasper Packard received 010 majority in Jasper and Newton counties. This year it is highly probable that the People’s Movement will elect their local ticket in each of these counties, and it is very doubtful if any man yet mentioned for the Valparaiso nominatioh’ (except, perhaps, Judge E. P. Hammond, who declines to be considered an aspirant), standing upon a platform likely to be adoptedv can carry either of. these counties against such a man as the opposition might nominate on an acceptable reform, anti-monopoly, anti-Wall-street declaration. of principles. The [Rochester] Sentinel last week in an article headed “How Others See It,” would have us believe that the Rensselaer Union is a Republican paper, and quotes an article from that dishwater journal for the purpose of showing up what the Sentinel supposes to lie a little inconsistency in tile Republican resolutions of this [Fulton] county. The fact, is Tiie Union is not, and has not been for six months, a Republican paper, but is a regular polTtf cat aura lgamati onist; knowing not “from whence it came, or whither it goetli.”—Rochester . Union-Spy. As the Republicans of Fulton comity have adopted bodily a platform of principles that was constructed in this office, loss than ninety days ago, by the editor of this “regular political amalgamation dishwater journal,” and the ticket they have nominated on it is advocated by Brother T. Major Bitters", editor of the Rochester Union-Spy, a painful suspicion is aroused that either the Republicans of Fulton county are arrant demagogues, or else the editor of the Union-Spy is a deluded fool. From his parting the name of his paper in the middle, and wearing his own name after the same fashion, the latter theory seems most plausible. Exchanges attribute the doubtful Republican paftyism of tile Rensselaer Union to disappointment about getting softie sought-for appointment from the Republican party. Bueh may lie the cause, but it could be I eosily accounted' for on other and more charitable grounds.—Valparaiso Vide! to. ~ " Blessings upon your head, Judge Talcott, for your charity and justice ! The day will comc and is not far distant when tho flttle creatures whom Providence now permits to edit the country post offices in this Congressional district will wonder they did not discover the yawning gulf of popular disfavor into which th‘c Republican party is being driven by those professing to be its friends. Credit mobilier frauds and lies, Congressional and Legislative salary stealing, con Untied legislation in the interests of corporate capital , and against the welfare of the laboring classes, unnecessarily high rates of State taxation, tyrannical attacks upon the liberty of the press, are only a few of the acts which the Republican party is responsible for, which the Indiana Republican platform endorses, which Republican papers excuse, palliate, defend or advocate —that The Union declines to be accessory to, or an apologist for. When newspapers or individuals answer the positions taken by The Union bv retorting “You are dis- * • 'T . y: ■ : ; -—r ■; .. y—; ■■ - - appointed, you are a sore-head,” they evade the issue and admit the weakness of their own pretentions. The Rensselaer Union, whose editors head the new political movement in Jasper county, and one of whom yearned after the nomination forelerk and got beaten, thinks it. smart and pointed to say that the recent Republican State Convention was a “convention of office seekers.”—Laporte Herald. Rensselaer Union " take the witness stand, and answer the following questions without co’.faxication: Q. Is your editor or editors, one or both of them, at the head of tiny political movement of whatever nature, whether new or old, in Jasper county, Indiana, or any other portion of the United States? v A. No sir. Q. Did one of your editors ever yearn after the nomination lor clerk? , A. Slightly yearned. Q. Did lie get beaten 2 A. He goUuotliing else. Q. Did it hurt him? A. There are no hurts visible to the nnclad optic. Q. Did you ever call the Indiana Republican State convention a “Convention of office seekers?” A. No sir. Q. What did you designate it? A. “Pre-eminently a convention of office holders.”

Q. Why did you call it scT? A. Because it was attended by a large proportion of office holdeis, who assembled for the express purpose of nominating a ticket of officeholders—which was done. Q- What was the complexion of the delegations to that convention so far as you arc acquainted ? A . The two self-constituted dolegates from Jasper county have been 'office holders or office seekers ever since I was horn. Maj. Calkins, of the Laporle delegation, has been an office seeker or an office bolder ever since lie was old enough to vote. Q. llow many facts did the Herald tell in its eight-line squib ? A. Two. Q. llow many falsehoods? A , Two direct and one implied. Q. llow does the Herald's veracity in that article compare with its political statements generally ? A. Fair to average. Prosecution take the witness.

The Laporte Argus (Democratic) last week published a call for a convention tube held in the city of Laporte on the 13th day of August, 1874, to nominate a Democratic candidate for Congress—probably Mr. Thomas J. Merrifield, of Valparaiso, a brother of the Republican aspirant at Mishawaka. In this convention, Jasper arid Newton counties will each be entitled to a representation of six delegates. .The call is worded as an invitation to “the Democratic and Liberal Republican voters of the Tenth Congressional District, together with all Republicans who oppose Grant’s Administration, and the further rule of the Republican party.” “All opposition papers of the District” arc requested to copy it, as though that permission was a distinguished favor! Boih the old parties wilfully shut their eyes and close their ears to the true condition of popular sentiment which resulted in the orgafti/.ation of the Independent party of Indiana. Everywhere Republican papers and Republican talkers announce that the new party is simply an organization to draw votes from the Republican party, in order to place the Democratic party in power ; while Democratic I papers anil active Democrats will blink and chuckle, as much as to say “there is a private understanding to that. effect.” But they are mistakeny -both - o-f- them. - Neither one need expect sympathy or aid from tiie Independents. -Both old parties in Indiana, by their platforms, ignore tiie. Cxistanee of the gross evils of which farmers and other laboring classes complain, or else they hint at them so vaguely that it amounts to the same thing. Tire State conventions of both were managed by men whose political record is one of rascality, falsehood and corruption. Neither gave definite promise of re formation, accomplished or contemplated.— Each is an organized band, owned and controlled -by capital, to rob and oppress labor. In Indiana there is a large body of voters who arc opposdkl to the continued supremacy of the Republican party, smirched as it is by credit mobilier, Congressional ami Legis 1 aifYtnstrtary- -grnbbing, high taxes, class legislation, attacks upon the liberty of the pi ess, and general misrule ; but they have no confidence in the Democratic party Which was an accessofy ill the credit mobilier and salary grabbing infamies, beside* pronouncing against temperance, attacking our free school system, and advocating practical repudiation of the National Debt. They think both parties league together continuously to do evil to the laboring people. This class of voters is, as yet, but imperfectly organized. They inny not be able to make much ot a showing this campaign. It niay not be policy for them to bp very demonstrative at present. But they exist, nevertheless, and are gradually perfecting mians for communication with one another. Wherever found, they ,aro among the cool, intelligent, determined, aggressive minds, that can be. patient until public opinion is fully ripe for their demonstration. When the hour for action arrives, tlicjr power will be felt by selfish politicians even inorb than it is now courted and feared. In the Tenth District there arc enough of this class of voters to hold the balance of power. In Jasper and Newton counties they have a clear majority, and are well organized. 'ln Lake, Porter, Laporte and White, they are no insignificant portion of the voting population. In tit. Joseph and Pulaski,

the leaven is gradually and surely at work. We do not belicVc it would be good policy for them to compromise themselves by sending delegates to either the Republican or Democratic conventions of this District. i