Rensselaer Union, Volume 10, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 September 1878 — Secretary Sherman at Toledo. [ARTICLE]

Secretary Sherman at Toledo.

Hon. John Sherman, Secretary of the Treasury, recently delivered a speech at Toledo, Ohio. The financial question was treated at considerable length. The following is what the Secretary nad to say upon Anderson and Weber and kindred topics: folds recent speech, Judge Thurman said: The seat of the Chief Magistrate—that seat that in times past has been, and in all times should be, an emblem of purity and honor—is occupied by a man who was never elected to it, and whose elevation was accomplished by the grossest frauds and boldest usurpations that ever disgraced the honesty of a free people. This declaration is a gross Injustice, and 1 believe Judge Thurman will live to regret that tie ever made it. As to Louisiana, I hail better means of information than Judge Thurman, and I say to you, that the criminal conspiracy by the Democratic party of that State to control the election of 1876 so as to east the vote of that State for Gov. Tilden, has rever been fully told. It extended to more than ten parishes or counties, and held in absolute terror five Republican parishes that had always since the war given about 7,000 Republican majority. It led to and included in its plan and scope scores of murders of Republicans, white and black, mainly intelligent black leaders of their . race. It wounded, whipped and maimed others, drove hundreds to the swamps at night and spread universal terror among this ignorant ana superstitious people who had the same legal right and a better moral right to vote than their perss. cutors, whose hands were only recently red with the blood shed in war against the Union. The chosen agents of this infamy were Democratic, rifle clubs, fully armed, marching at night in disguise, distributing anonymous threats and occasionally executing them and leaving notices to ieaqe the parish with the more intelligent, accompanied with threats and devices to excite fear and tenor.

lA 1 I • Such were the means used by the Democratic party to carry Louisiana. They may here and there induce a disappointed officeseeker like Anderson and Weber to falsify their former oaths, ana even prevail upon poor negroes like Amy MitcheU and Mrs. Pinkston to withdraw the former depositions; but the scores of dead men killed by the rifle clubs speak from their graves, and the men who killed them and rode their nightly rides of terror know now in their hearts that al) that has been said of them is true. The statements and affidavits made by this people were submit ted to the local returning officers selected by the State Legislature, composed of two white men and two colored men, all natives of the South, and these men, who knew the surroundings and many of the facta, decided, in strict compliance with the law of that State, that under this lawthese parishes and pollingphees must be excluded,' and it was done. Thus Gov. Hayes got the vote of Louisiana as lawfully and fullv as that of Ohio. All this cry of fraud and usurpation, ought] in the minds of just men, to react with fearful effect against the Democratic party, for it was their organized crime and violence that created the doubt which the Returning Board and Electoral Commission decided in our favor. One of the dangers which threaten the country if the Democratic party comes in power will be the bold and reckless use of election machinery to commit frauds and to organize violence, ballot-box stuffing, and kindred crimes, as a < part of our American system of politics. The Republican party in the heat of party zeal has done something n this way. I have no apology to make ior such crimes, no sympathy with them, ai.d would denounce and expose such wrongs by whatever party committed, but it is pretty hard for us Republicans' to be lectured about election frauds by members of the Democratic party. No inteHizent man can doubt that if in the cotton States there was an open, fair oppor-

tunlty to establish newspaper*, to carry on a canvass, and to appeal to the natural instincts and Interests of the voters of those States, but what a majorityof every one of them would be with the Republican party. The policy of President Hayes, his earnest desire and hope la to deatroy sectionalism, to Invite by kindness and forbearance a like kindness and forbearance to the Republicans of the South. If this effort fails, the South will tie a slumbering volckno, which some day will break forth in retaliation and crime. For free men having Constitutional rights cannot be, chained by violence. Intelligence’' and organization will soon enable them to assert their rights or deter the practice of such violence. In the face of these facts the following statement by Judge Thurman seems to me the caricature of truth and justice: It is not enough that the South has frankly and manfully accepted the results of the war: that, waiving all questions as to the mode of their adoption, no voice is raised against the binding force of the Constitutional amendments: that every law passed by a Itadicnl Congress, however doubtful its constitutionality or manifest its injustice and impolicy, is nevertheless obeyed. 1 pass over, as a matter of taste, the inference he raises against the mode of adoption of the Constitutional amendments and the doubt he expresses as to the Constitutionality of the Jaws to enforce them—-to say that the Democratic party has not frahkly and manfully accepted the results of the war; that they do not accept, observe, or enforce the Constitutional amendments or the laws passed in aid of them. It is precisely of this that the Republican party complains; that it will try to enforce, and, though temporarily divided and defeated, will continue to demand, and will certainly in time secure. It was the organized deprivation of the Republicans in Louisiana of the right to vote that occasioned the controversy there, and so in Mississippi and South Carolina. 1 have no doubt that many of the planters, business men, and property-holders of the South, nbw acting with the Democratic party, arc anxious to, and, in time, will be, able to protect the blacks in their rights, but they are not the dominating influence in the south. It is not they who, like Judge Thurman, denounce President Hayes as a usurper and a fraud, but thousands of them acknowledge that the policy adopted by the Republican party to the people of the South at the close of the war was w ithout example in generosity in the history of the world, and they gratefully acknowledge that the policy of President Hayes would secure to the South peace, order and prosperity. But I, who supported this policy and shared in it, as do Republicans generally, feel that the South lias never frankly or manfully responded to tills policy. They do not enforce the amendments. They do not give equal civil and political rights' to either white or black lirpublieans. They <lo not permit or tolerate that free expression of opinion and discussion and action essential to a republican Government, but, by their adherence to the very elements in the North that encouraged them into rebellion, that brought upon them the very waste and desolation of which they complain, they repel all efforts to break down the sectionalism of the past, and make it vitally necessary again to concentrate the people of the North in order to secure | eace, order and liberty. Judge Thurman says: Now, certainly no one will deny that this country has lor the last five years suffered, as perhaps no other country ever did suffer," from depression, in every branch of business in every industrial occupation. I deny this statement in toto. That this country has suffered from depression in many branches of business and in many industrial occupations I admit, but every civilized and Christian country in the world has suffered to a greater degree. In comparison with any Nation of modern times, our condition in every respect is more prosperous and happy. If you read the English or French or German papers, you find that our causes of complaint are nothing to be compared with theirs, while in our own conn try there are many circumstances which rej lieve the general depression. Let me name some of the hopeful signs of the times. The whole period since the war and before the panic was a debt-contracting period. From July 1,1863, to July 1, 1873, our imports exceeded our exports in the enormous sum of 41,047,069,219. Much of this was for silksand furbelows, contracted in the faith of cornerlots marked up, of inflated fortunes suddenly acquired, but most of it was for articles that our own labor should have produced. It represented foreign capital loaned to our citizens and to corporations, and paid for in Government and corporation bonds and private notes. The same causes produced extravagant prices here. Wild schemes, railroads built twenty years in advance of their need, reckless expenditures led to numerous debts being contracted, and to our corporations and homes and farms being plastered with mortgages. Since the panic the whole condition of our trade and business has changed. Since 1874, our exports have exceeded our Imports in the sum of *507,459,237. During the last fiscal year, the excess was *357,459,250, our exports reaching the sum of *680,683,798, and during this fiscal year this excess of exports is increasing. This is a debt-paying process. The great body of the debts contracted before the panic are now settled, either by payment or bankruptcy, or readjustment.

At one time it was estimated that the amount of United States bonds held abroad approached $ 1,000,000,000. Two years ago the general estimate was about $600,000,000. Now, after the most careful examination, it is" estimated somewhere near <200,000,000 to $250,000,001). The common fear expressed for the success of any plan of resumption was that foreign Nations could at once, by a return of our bonds, exhaust our gold and thus defeat resumption, but this is ho logger feared when the surplus exports for a single year would pay off every dollar of our National debt held beyond the limits of the United States. Last winter, when an exaggerated fear prevailed in Europe as to the effect of the Silver bill, $60,000,000 of our bonds were promptly absorbed by our own people in sixty days, and, although this stopped the sale of bonds by the Treasury, it strengthened our position by bringing them home. Another favorable sign of the times is the very large increase of domestic production, both of the farm and of the workshop, which not only fill the place of goods heretofore imported, butenable us to compote with foreign Nations in their own markets. This increase of our exports and diminution of our imports is .perhaps the most remarkable in modem times. We are competing in cotton fabrics with Manchester; in cutlery with Sheffield; in iron and steel with Birmingham; in watches with Switzerland, and in glovesiwith France. It is a debt-paying and trade-developing process that is adding immensely to our wealth.

Our progress toward resumption is accompanied by increased National credit, and by a reduction of the interest of the public debt. During the first twenty days of the present month our sales of 4-per-cent. bonds amount to $20,000,000, ami I now have the confident assn ranee that during this year they will exceed $100,000,000, ami will pay off all the 5-20 6-per-cenL I tonds of the issue of 1865. The enormous development of our agricultural production, the chief employment of our people, gives a source of wealth and prosperity unexampled in any Nation in modem times. From the Atlantic to the Pacific, from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, ourcountry has been blessed with bountiful harvests, assuring plenty of food te all our people and an increase of our exports to Europe. I understand that a rich stream of wheat is now pouring into your port for shipment. And now, fellow-citizens, in conclusion, let me Invite your attention briefly to the agitation of the labor question, not only in this country, but in other countries where pro ductton has exceeded consumption,’ and thrown out of employment many industrious laboring men, and paralyzed importantbranchesof industry, especially of the iron and coal industries, f "know that in some places labor is depressed, that wages are low, that many a willing hand finds it hard to get work, ami sometimes hungry men, women and children want food and clothing, and shame be to him who does, not sympathize w ith such suffering and relieve it if possible. /’No wonder that honest labor grows soured at the inequalities of lite, and sometimes listens to the cry of the demagogue that human laws have caused this distress, and that if he was in office be could furnish redress. The same distress, in a far greater degree, exists in Great Britain, France, Germany and all civilized Nations, whatever may be their forms of currency or standards of value. Modem inventions, which supply wonderful machinery which consumes only water and coal, 'is a substitute for the skilled niechahFc, have greatly diminished the occupation of labor. Fewer laborers are required for the same work. The only remedy would seem to be to pursue new industries and seek new markets td be supplied. Our own country is blessed with cheap lands, inviting labor; and the energy of our own people, as I have shown, is already discovering increased employ meut in supplying productions heretofore made abroad, and In sending our home bfiiiluctipns to foreign countries. AH that the Gove'rnmentcan do, within its limited Powersoft ought to do, to encourage, protect and foster labor. And I can say of our laws and Institutions that they are far more favorable to the laboring man than those of any other country, and any idea, or reform, or measure that is proposed to relieve and protect labor finds in the

Republican party Ito earnest and sympathetic advocate. That party has done more for the protection and development of labor than any other. Our Constitution and laws guarantee to every man equal civil and political rights. Property la more equally distributed than elsewhere except In France, and, excluding the negroes, who but recently acquired the right to vote, a greater proportion of our citfe* sens are property-holders. More than 'twothirds of our voters, with this exception, are property-holders, and the rest want to be, hope to be. and can be. This country of ours Is not the |>ermanent field for tram pa end communists. Vur laws for the distribution of projierty tend directly and rapidly to distribute large estates. Property hero la required to bay more tribute to labor than in any country in the world. Property educates the children, maintains all your chart table Institutions, matntainsiyour streets, roads and local improvements, and all parts of National, State and local Government. The very few taxes that attach to those who have no property are on whisky, tobacco and beer, which are voluntary taxes. If the Government can do more to protect labor, It wil). It offers to every citizen a homestead on the public lands. It offers every man an equal chance. Every office and honor is ojien to equal competition, and it gives to no man rank, title or advantage except what he himself acquires. This is all that a free government can do. It cannot take the property of the rich and divide it among the poor. It cannot, as is proposed, take the public treasure, collected by taxes,' and distribute it in any other way except for the limited proper objects provided for by the Constitution. It cannot control contracts men make with each other, except where they are grossly Immoral or violate public policy. Its office is spent when it secures Ireedogj, equality and an equal chance in the race of life. While the sympathies of the Rtfpublican party must ever ba with the laboring man, it cannot violate the fundamental principles of free government to favor any class, or refuse to protect any class in the enjoyment of life, property and the fruits of their own labor.