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 REPUBLICAN STATE EXECUTIVE COM. DOCUMENT. 
 
 Read and Circulate Among Tour Neighbors. 
 
 1/ 
 
 Hon. JOHN SHERMAN, 
 
 AT THE RATIFICATION MEETING, 
 "WedLnesday IVig-ht, JTniie SI, ISTl, 
 
 The preliminary work is now complete. The Convention 
 to-day has been distinguished for its numbers, ability and 
 character. You have had more than the usual diversity of 
 opinions as to candidates. Some feeling of disappointment 
 is inevitable, but on the whole every delegate will feel that 
 he has been fairly treated, and that he can now support the 
 ticket, the whole ticket, and nothing but the ticket ; not that 
 it is just as he wishes, but that it has been fairly made by one 
 of the ablest conventions that ever assembled in Ohio. We 
 all feel, too, that organization is indispensable to success in 
 every movement, great or small. 
 
 The matters involved in this election not only reach to 
 every department of our State Government, but will affect 
 the apportionment of our State and the revision of our Coh- 
 stitution. It will affect you in the National Councils, and 
 will be a decisive sign to the great Presidential contest of 
 1872. It is therefore a matter of pride and satisfaction to 
 see the Republican party of Ohio, with its glorious history 
 and proud record, enter into this canvass with a ticket Avorthy 
 its support, with its principles sanctified by great success, 
 ready to enter upon new reforms and able to carry them out. 
 
 And we enter upon our canvass with one satisfaction that 
 does not often fall to the fate of a party. We have the in- 
 dorsement and approval of our political adversaries. We 
 have administered the Government of the United States and 
 of this State, for now ten years. We have had many con- 
 tests, in war and in peace — contests involving great changes 
 in our Government — contests political and administrative. 
 
C&l 1 
 2 .t)SSS 
 
 We have realized the original idea of the founders of oar 
 Government — a central government, supreme in its limited 
 powers, surrounded and supported by thirty-seven local State 
 Governments — and all now moving on in harmony. We 
 have emancipated four millions of slaves. We have secured, 
 by the highest constitutional sanctions, the liberty and equal- 
 ity of all citizens before the law. We have administered our 
 internal affairs so that our credit is untarnished, our industry 
 is prosperous, our Territories are forming into States, new 
 railroads are building, old disputes are dying away, and 
 nothing is needed on the part of the Government but the fair 
 enforcement of the Constitution and laws for the protection 
 of persons and property. We have so managed our internal 
 affairs, and have so borne ourselves with foreign nations, that 
 we have now no dispute or controversy with any nation of 
 the world, and our strength and power have been so demon- 
 strated that we need not fear that any nation will desire a 
 contest with us. The theorv and principle of a republican 
 government is so strengthened by our example as everywhere 
 to enlarge the powers entrusted to the people. Even the poor 
 negro — emancipated by our laws and clothed with political 
 power — is recognized by our old Democratic adversaries as a 
 man and a brother. 
 
 I congratulate you that we have now, in Ohio at least, 
 the formal approval of the great distinguishing measures of 
 Republican policy, by the recent convention of Democratic 
 politicians here in Columbus. They tell us that they recog- 
 nize as accomplished facts the three amendments to the Con- 
 stitution, and they pledge themselves to the full and faithful 
 enforcement of the Constitution as it now is, so as to secure 
 equal rights to all persons under it, without distinction' of 
 race, color or condition. So far well. It is a great matter to 
 secure even a formal acquiescence in constitutional changes, 
 especially when they involve the rights of millions of people, 
 and when they have been so steadily opposed in all stages by 
 the Democratic party. North and South. They were the 
 issues of the war. They were the issues since the war. They 
 were mainly the issues of the last Presidential campaign. 
 Opposition to them was the starch, the uniting element of the 
 Democratic party. Where would they have been without 
 the bate of the negro? What bond holds the mass of the 
 people of the South to the Democratic party but negrophobia? 
 Where will Kentucky be w'ith(;ut this tie? Her old affinities 
 were not with the Democratic party. Where will be that 
 great mnss of honest but mistaken men, who feared the effect 
 upon our institutions of the citizenship of emancipated slaves ? 
 Where will be that other class of Democrats, whose only 
 political idea was founded upon prejudice against and hate of 
 
-S.. 
 
 negroes, and who, in the mobs of New York, and in organ- 
 ized mobs of the South, hunted down, whipped and murdered 
 negroes to prevent them from exercising either civil oi*^ politi- 
 cal rights, and who whipped, scourged and murdered white 
 men and women, too, for educating and being friends of the 
 negro race? What will Jeif. Davis say, who, though his life 
 ■was fairly forfeited by his treason, yet commands influence 
 over more votes in the South than we have Democrats in 
 Ohio? What will the large minority of Ohio Democrats say 
 who protested in the Convention against acquiescing in the 
 amendments? Still, in spite of all this uncertainty, it is a 
 glorious fact, of which every Republican may be pround, 
 that a majority of the Democrats of Ohio acquiesce in the 
 great measures we have brought about — promise obedience to 
 them and enforcement of them, and beg of us no longer to 
 consider them as political issues before the country. 
 
 We would have greater cause for rejoicing if we did not 
 see so many reasons for regarding this new departure as a 
 Trojan Horse — a new device of the enemy to steal into our 
 camp and betray our cause. What do they mean by de- 
 nouncing the extraordinary means by which the amendments 
 were brought about? The only means by which the amend- 
 ments could be adopted was by a vote of two-thirds ot each 
 House of Congress, ratified by three-fourths of the States- 
 Was this consent given ? If so, the fiiuendments are the 
 supreme law. Do they dispute the fact? If not, why this 
 back-handed lick at what they ratifiy and agree to enforce? 
 Again: What do they mean by vigorously ajiplying the 
 Democratic rule of strict construction to the amendments? 
 Does this conceal some covert purpose to defeat them? Is 
 this a new Kentucky resolution of ^98 containing the heresy 
 of Secession and Nullification ? The 14th amendment is, 
 mainly, only the true interpretation of the old Constitution, 
 but the vital ])rinciples and guarantees of the old Constitution 
 were nullified by strict construction, or rather by false con- 
 struction. Hence the necessity of the 14th amendment, 
 which defines who are citizens, what are the rights of a citi- 
 zen, and specifically give Congress the power to enforce them 
 by appropriate legislation. If Calhoun's doctrine of strict 
 construction is to be revived to defeat the amendments, then 
 nothing is settled. What we mean is, that these amendments 
 are the logical results of a great civil war which brushed from 
 our atmosphere all taint of slavery, secession and Calhounism ; 
 that they shall have their full oj)eration according to the plain 
 meaning of English words, and that Congress shall, from 
 time to time, pass laws to enforce them ; and that the Presi- 
 dent shall execute these law.^fuUy and elficiently, subject only 
 to the judicial power of the Courts of the United States. If 
 
that is what they mean by the new departure, it is all right. 
 If not, it is a mere political trick, too shallow to mislead or 
 deceive any one. 
 
 Again : What do they mean by their fifth resolution ? Is 
 it the mere naked axiom that acts passed by Congress are 
 subject to repeal ? If so, why pompously utter what all 
 admit? But the context shows that they mean a repeal of all 
 the acts passed to enforce the amendments. The amendments 
 without the appropriate legislation are mere dogmas without 
 inherent power of enforcement. The ten commandments are 
 laws of the highest sanction, but what are they worth with- 
 out penalties and punishments ? What good does it do to 
 say, thou shalt not murder, unless the law comes in and says, 
 if thou dost murder, thou shalt surely be put to death or be 
 imprisoned? What use is it to say that all men shall have 
 equal political and civil rights, unless the law punishes a vio- 
 lation of these rights? W^hat does this new departure mean, 
 except to say, we recognize the amendments, but we will 
 repeal the laws that enforce them ? We had many rights 
 secured by the Constitution as it was that were plainly and 
 openly nullified. The citizens of any one of the States had 
 all the privileges and immunities of citizens in the several 
 States, and yet for years a citizen of the North could not and 
 
 -■'^'^+s in the South. 
 did tiot enjoy nis i.g,..-. --i->plled from South 
 
 Judge Hoar, of Massachusetts, was ^^j— . - •' 
 
 Carolina for the mere effort to appeal to the e&mts of ^_mm 
 Carolina for protection from illegal imprisonment of a citizeil^ 
 of Massachusetts. The Democratic party, by what they call 
 strict construction, and by their refusal to pass appropriate' 
 laws, stripped the Constitution of half its vitality. Do the/ 
 wish in the same way to emasculate these amendments? Does 
 any sensible man believe that a Democratic Congress could oi 
 would pass any law to enforce any of these amendments ? Every 
 effort of ours to enforce them has been met by the most vio- 
 lent parliamentary opposition, and the laws have been resisted 
 by organized violence. 
 
 Now they tell us they will repeal the laws, and yet they 
 recognize the amendments. They believe in the Maine Liquor 
 Law, but are opposed to its enforcement. They confess their 
 sins but will surely repeat them. 
 
 The new departure is a good enough Morgan until after 
 the election, and then their platform is loose enough for them 
 all to creep through and follow their old course of hate, per- 
 secution and violence. While these tricks are played upon 
 us here, the mass of the Democratic voters in the South are 
 waiting and watching— not over ^^le border— but in the heart 
 of our country, to restore the lost cause— to upset all that we 
 have gained in the last ten years. 
 
It is only necessary to read the Democratic journals both 
 in Ohio and in other States to show that this new departure 
 is only to shield themselves behind some jiig(i;lery about the 
 construction of the amendments and the mode of their en- 
 forcement. The essential modifications made in the conven- 
 tion of the Dayton resolutions gives color to this idea, and 
 the whole, as they stand in the platform, look like a bad 
 mixing of opposing idea«. 
 
 They felt that the public voice demanded that these amend- 
 ments must be ratified and indorsed by their party, and yet they 
 did not want to do it. They did it with an if — and a damn 
 — add a slap — with several loop-holes of escape — with many 
 antidotes — and in bad temper generally. The dose was objec- 
 tionable to many, but they took it and have not felt well since. 
 And now nothing could be more ludicrous in political strategy 
 — if it were not dangerous — than to trust the Democratic 
 party with the enforcement of these amendments. Better 
 give the lamb to the wolf than either the blacks of the South, 
 or the loyal people of the South, to the Democratic party of 
 either the North or South. The Democratic party of the 
 Korth would be powerless to execute their pledge. The same 
 men who broke that party at Charleston, the same men who 
 sacrificed Douglass, the same men who covered our land with 
 the graves of patriot soldiers, would, by virtue of their ma- 
 jority, seize the T'ower of the Democratic organization ; and 
 where, then, would be the amendments, or the protection of 
 loyal people, white or black, or the public's honor as repre- 
 sented by the pension list and the public creditors ? From 
 the logic of affinities and the association of names and events, 
 it is evident that no sincere movement to enforce the amend- 
 ments can ever be executed by the Democratic party. Noisy 
 crowds that hail with enthusiasm the treasonable utterances 
 of Jeff. Davis — the bands of midnight Democratic outlaws 
 who make night hideous in the South by murder and name- 
 less crimes, without danger or fear of punishment — clearly 
 show that the Democratic party of the South can not yet be 
 trusted with political power ; while the uncertain, evasive 
 and divided voice of the Democratic party of the North — 
 with policy pulling one way and principle another — with the 
 politicians preaching the new gospel of a new departure, and 
 the instincts and prejudices of the masses still opposed — with 
 its spoken utterances, like Delphic oracles, paltering in a 
 double sense — in such a condition the Democratic party of 
 the North is utterly unfit to assume any responsibility in the 
 Government except its old role of fault-finding; of opposing 
 what we do; of proposing nothing; of voting against every- 
 thing — even the English Treaty — in hopes that something will 
 turn up. 
 
Tost the Domocrntic party l>y wliat it has dnne Avhorc ifc 
 has been in power recently. Wli:\t gooci did its temporary 
 nuijority in the Lcgishiture of Ohio do the people of Ohio? 
 It jjledged reform, and yet increased the State expen(htures 
 in every l)raiu'h of the service, and lari^ely increased local 
 taxes. What has it (h)ne in New York, atid especially in the 
 city, where, under 'Jamminy influence, there is established 
 the njost scandalous and corrupt municipal government in tho 
 ■world ? \Vhat can it do for the future of tliis country ? Here 
 is a string of fifteen resolutions, and there is no.t a single 
 affirmative proposition in them upon which the Democratic 
 ])arty could stand united, except the one dem-anding amnesty 
 to Davis, To()nd)s, and the rebels of the South. 'Jhe first 
 seven resolutions they call the new departure. They remind 
 one of the famous group of bronze horses at Milan. They 
 appear eager to de|)art in every direction, but. go nowhere. 
 They tell us that they hold good to the old Democratic doc- 
 trine of annexation of territory, but are opposed to the 
 acquiring of San Domiligo. They pretend to be for hard 
 money, but propose to issue an unlimited amount of green- 
 backs. They pretend respect for the laws and the courts, and 
 they propose to disregard not only the solemn- pledges of our 
 loan laws, but the decision of tb.e Suprenie Court, in order 
 to cheat tlie |)ublie creditors. They declare their oppositioQ 
 to tiie national banking system, but propose notliing to take 
 its place. In their wild and blind opposition they would 
 destroy the best system of currency we have ever had, merely 
 because it was established by the Republican party. Though 
 the first commercial nations of the world are applauding it 
 and following our example, though Governor Chase, now one 
 of their candidates, fatliercd it and supports it, though no 
 man has lost a dollar as the holder of a national bank note, 
 y<-t tkey would derange all the business of the country by 
 uprooting the system, mereJy because there is su|)posed to be 
 virtue in a party cry against banks. They talk about a 
 revenue tariff and wise tax laws, and yet no member of 
 their party in Congress ever proposed either, but oppose 
 every measure offered by us. When we repeal eighty mil- 
 lions of taxes, they vote against it. When we devise new 
 guards against fraud, they vote against them. They talk 
 about economy, and yet they vote for every extravagant ex- 
 penditure. They would load us down with rebel losses in 
 the war. They seize upon every popular cry — here one 
 thing, and there another. In Ohio it is greenbacks; in New 
 York it is specie payments; in Pennsylvania it is protection; 
 here it is a new departure; in the South it is perpetual war 
 against the amendments and death to the negro. With the 
 Irish it is Fenianism. In Kentucky it is the llesolutions of 
 
'98, slightly rpvise.l. "With JrfT*. Divia and his powerful fol- 
 lowers it is discord, war Jind di-union. 
 
 Let any impartial man look over the whole field of Xa- 
 tional and State polities — let liiiii look at the dan»:;erous ele- 
 ments eomprisin*; that party — let him eonsider what they 
 Avould probahly do if jjlaced in power — let him combine in 
 one cauldron all the iu<:redients, and say upon his oath is it 
 wise and politic yet to turn over to the Democratic jiarty the 
 administiation of the all'airs of a great nation like ours? 
 
 ^Vhen, on the other hand, we turn to the great jiolitical 
 organization to which we belong, we may find shadows and 
 clouds, but the general policy of the Republican party has 
 been elevating, nianly and successful. Above all, we have 
 extended to all oiu' inhabitants liberty and equality l)efore 
 the courts and the law in civil and political rights. Our 
 policy has strengthened the power of the nation without 
 sacrificing the rights of the States. The increased powers of 
 the Ivuti(»n all inure to the benefit of the individual citizen, 
 for the sole object of it all is to enable its to protect the citi- 
 zen from local injustice and outrage. 
 
 We have a strong Government, whoso widc-rcaclnn!i 
 hand shields and protects the humblest citizen, and yet 
 the power of the State to educate and foster — to jirotect 
 and encourage — to punish and reward all it citizens, is 
 unimpaired. We have now such a Union as George 
 Washington described in his Farewell Address, with 
 nothing to threaten it but the decaying embers of the 
 lie bellion. W^c need to pass no resolutions to assure any 
 one that wc will stand by and enforce the 13tli, 1-lth ami 
 loth amendments. Wc proposed them; we a(lvocat<-d 
 them, and, while su[)ported by the people, will enforce 
 them. That wc have been liberal to vanquished foes, is 
 shown by the fact that, after waging a war of unexam- 
 pled proportions, no blood was shed for political otiensc:^. 
 No i)roperty has been confiscated. Many of the leading 
 rebels arc now protected in the secure enjoyment of large 
 estates, and show their gratitude for our generosity by 
 hissing on disguised murderers and outlaws to the mur- 
 der and scourging of poor negroes and preachers and 
 teachers. We conferred franchises upon millions, but 
 we deprived no one of any right they liad before the war, 
 except only that we forbade, for a time, the leading 
 rebels, of the South from holding olHce. This was the 
 extent of our punishment. 1 have been disposed to 
 pardon even this, but after recent developments I will 
 not vote to relieve froai any disability such men as Davis 
 and Tombs who are totally incapable of appreciatinggener- 
 osity. I never questioned the justice of excluding these 
 
8 
 
 men from office; but I would, if their conduct would 
 ever allow it, make our treatment of them so generous 
 and forgiving, that history never could surpass it. The 
 Republican party from its very nature could not be cruel 
 or aggressive. We have so nmny hunninitarians among 
 us that tbcy often demand amnesty when punishment is 
 required. We fought for the liberty of others, and for 
 tlie union of all, and could not logically deprive any one 
 of either liberty or civil or political rights, except as the 
 public safety clearly demanded it. If we have erred, it has 
 been in underrating the power of these rebels and the 
 danger that may come from them. The Republican 
 part}' has excelled the generosity of the Girondists, and 
 has exhibited none of the fury of the Mountain. All 
 our measures since the war, and the amendments are the 
 most important, were aimed to secure personal rights. 
 The additional powers given to Congress by the amend- 
 ments are only to enable Congress to enforce these rights, 
 and to give pardon to the rebels. They talk about the 
 Bayonet Bill and the Ku-Klux Bill. These bills were 
 demanded by organized resistance to fair elections, and 
 to punish crimes of the most revolting character against 
 the commonest rights of humanity. If they are not 
 sufficient, we will give them others. The difterence is 
 that they would encourage these crimes. We try to 
 prevent and punish them. If they will restrain their 
 fellow Democrats of the South from murder and organ- 
 ized frauds, we will repeal these laws. If not, we will 
 pass more effective laws. 
 
 On the question of finance, we need no resolutions to show 
 where we stand. The whole existing system of financial 
 legislation is the work of the Republican party. During the 
 war we were driven by our necessities to provide a currency. 
 We gave you the Greenbacks and the National Bank Notes. 
 The Greenbacks were a forced loan. We did not, in the 
 beginning; intend to exceed in amount the sum we could 
 maintain at a specie standard ; but our necessities left us no 
 choice. We increased them to a dangerous extent, but we 
 supported their credit by the legal tender clause, and by the 
 right to convert them into interest-bearing bonds. We have, 
 since the war, sought to improve their credit, to bring them 
 nearer and nearer to the standard of gold. During the two 
 years of this administration, we have raised their value from 
 69 cents on the dollar to 91 cents on the dollar — and this 
 without contraction, distress, panic or financial revulsion. 
 If left alone, we will, in two years more, bring them to the 
 standard of gold. We had two dangers to avoid: First 
 — An increase and consequent depreciation of these notes; 
 
9 
 
 and Second — A too sudden contraction of currency, and the 
 inevitable distress and ruin to those in business or in debt. 
 "We could sooner have resumed specie payments by redeeming 
 a portion of the greenbacks, but we would thus have changed 
 the standard of value and increased the burden of debt. We 
 have avoided both extremes. We have maintained in circu- 
 lation the maximum limit of greenbacks, and increased their 
 value by the natural growth of our business and population, 
 and by the public confidence in our policy. The Democratic 
 party threaten to subvert this policy. In Ohio they would 
 increase the greenbacks — in the east they would redeem 
 them, and force, abruptly, specie payments. Disagreeing 
 among themselves, they agree to subvert our wise policy, and 
 in their platforms threaten again to open the question of 
 paying the bonds in greenbacks. Our policy will soon make 
 greenbacks and gold the common standard of all values and 
 debts ; and if this policy succeeds in the future as in the past, 
 our country will present the unexampled spectacle of recov- 
 ering from the vast expenditures of a war without discredit 
 — without dishonor and without a single wave of financial 
 panic. In human life the most prosperous and healthy man 
 is rarely contented with his fate; but surely our nation 
 should be satisfied with its financial prosperity under the 
 greatest difficulties ever overcome by a people, 
 
 ^ As to our ba.rxking system, it was but the choice of expe- 
 "-Icnts, and was a happy choice. It subverted an incongru- 
 ous hotch-pot of State Banks, founded upon the laws of 
 thirty-seven different States, without security, without uniform 
 value, of local circulation, and endangered by a swarm of 
 CQunterfeits. These State Banks were spawn of the extreme 
 doctrine of State Rights. If anything should be national, 
 it should be bank notes. They are the blood of the system, 
 and should flow freely through the system. A centralized 
 bank, like the old Bank of the United States, was dangerous 
 from its unity and power. It was managed by a few who were 
 encouraged to use their power for political ends. Oiir present 
 banks are a unit only in their security, form and circulation. 
 They can not combine. When carefully supervised and reg- 
 ulated by law, and well distributed, they form the most con- 
 venient financial agents of the people. In comparison with 
 the old State Banks, they are preferable in every respect. 
 The only question that can arise in the future, about the 
 National Banks, is whether notes issued directly by the Gov- 
 ernment, and redeemable by the Government, may not super- 
 cede the necessity of bank notes. 
 
 This would save to the people the interest on the circula- 
 ting notes. So I'ar, good. Their credit depends mainly upon 
 the security of the Government, and the Government should 
 
10 
 
 share in the profit. But, on the contrary, the general objects 
 of a Government are not consistent with other necessary 
 functions of a bank. The operation of loaning and redeem- 
 ing notes can not safely be performed by Government agents. 
 It must be done by private parties, personally interested. 
 Government banks could not be proi)erly distributed. Even 
 offices of redemption are subject to many dangers. With- 
 out going into details upon this subject, we can safely follow 
 all modern experience by leaving the business of banking, 
 like other business, to the free and interested agency of 
 private citizens. The function of the Government is fully 
 exhausted when it secures the absolute safety of the note- 
 holder, when it prints, in the best form and devices, the bank 
 note, and then leaves the private parties, without favor, the 
 circulation and the redemption of the notes. This is the 
 basis of our present system, and the United States shares in 
 the profit by an annual tax of nine millions, and the States and 
 municipal corporations in another tax of nine millions, while 
 the people enjoy local facilities, unquestioned security, freedom 
 from counterfeits, and the uniform credit and value of the note 
 in every part of our wide extended country. With this admi- 
 rable system, I, for one, am not disposed to interfere except to 
 cure such d^-fects as may appear in its practical workings. 
 
 The policy of the Republican party in levying taxes is also 
 shown by what we have done. During the war it was money 
 that we wanted, and from all sources and quarters. We were 
 fi";htino- for national life, and we took w'here we could take 
 easiest, and the people sustained us in it. But from the close 
 of the war to this hour, we have been reducing taxes. Each 
 Congress has relieved the people from taxes. Most of our 
 internal taxes levied during the war are now repealed. The 
 last Congress threw oif fifty-six millions of such taxes. At 
 the next session of Congress the whole system will go by the 
 board, except the taxes on spirits, beer and tobacco, and per- 
 haps a few stamps. Those that remain will be simplified so 
 that the tax-gatherer need only look to the distilleries and 
 breweries. Taxes on imported goods must now, as before tlie 
 war, be the main reliance of the Government, and even these, 
 I promise you, we will'reduce to the extent of at least twenty 
 millions, and as much more as our necessary expenditures 
 will justify. The articles upon which this reduction will be 
 made will be the subject of long dispute. The mere catch- 
 phrases with which platform makers tickle and deceive will 
 not answer in this work. It is a practical duty, and the only 
 test will be to reduce or repeal those that bear most heavily 
 upon the jieople. 
 
 My official duty requires me to think of these questions a 
 good deal, and I shall, without evasion, in the coming can- 
 
11 
 
 vas8, enter into details. It is now sufficient for me to say 
 that I am utterly opposed to continuing, at a high ra^te, the 
 taxes on articles of prime necessity, in common use among all 
 our people, merely to be able to reduce the taxes on those ar- 
 ticles which enter into competition with our own industry. 
 Nor is it wise, by protection laws, to force our home industry 
 into unnatural channels. A reduction of duties on necessa- 
 ries, large duties on luxuries, and average duties on articles 
 competing with our own; this is the general idea which, in 
 my opinion, should guide us in reducing our tariif, and they 
 surely will guide me. Under our present tariff laws, all de- 
 partments of mechanical industry have sprung into healthy 
 life, diversifying our products, consuming our farm products, 
 and extending our railroads. 
 
 I am for the reduction of taxes by the repeal or modifica- 
 tion of all that are excessii/e, but I am not in favor of follow- 
 ing any wild theories of political economists, to the destruc- 
 tion of any home industry, or to the diminution of our 
 revenue so as to endanger a deficiency. 
 
 It is a charming business to repeal taxes, but we must re- 
 member that by taxes alone we have been able to pay off 
 fully eight hundred millions of floating debt and claims since 
 the war was over. We have also paid off, since the war, 
 nearly five hundred millions of the funded debt. Since Gen- 
 eral Grant was inaugurated, we have paid off two hundred 
 and thirty millions of the bonded debt, and thus saved four- 
 teen millions of annual interest in gold. We are also dimin- 
 ishing the interest on that which remains unpaid. Our 
 financial condition is now so assured, that after all the strain 
 of the war, our credit is now better than before the war. 
 The debt is no longer the mountain that threatens to over- 
 throw^ us. Our expenditures, our taxes and our debt, are all 
 rapidly diminishing, while our population, our resources, our 
 wealth, and our industry, are all rapidly increasing. Such is 
 the result of a Republican Administration. In what respect 
 can the Democratic party improve this condition of things? 
 
 Such is now oiir financial condition that we can make a 
 careful balance of accounts, we can tell very nearly what any 
 given tax will produce, we can estimate accurately oijr expen- 
 ditures, and may limit our taxes to the bare sums necessary 
 to fulfill our loan laws, and meet our necessary expenditures. 
 Our taxes may now safely be reduced to this extent, for now 
 the people may be sure that under this policy the debt will 
 be constantly diminishing, and the taxes be periodically les- 
 sened. It is the glory of General Grant's administration 
 that, with the reduction of taxes and debt, we have also a 
 large reduction of expenditures. The army was largely re- 
 duced by the last Congress; the civil service is diminishing 
 
12 
 
 in every branch of the service, except the postal service, 
 which necessarily increases with the growth of the country, 
 and the number of employes is lessening, and now we have, 
 to^rown other reforms, a movement that will bring about 
 civil service reform. A committee of practical men are now 
 framing, under the authority of law, a series of regulations 
 to secure efficiency in civil service, and to protect faithful 
 officers from arbitrary removal. I never doubted the power 
 of Congress to regulate the duration of office and the causes 
 for removal. I therefore voted for the tenure-of-office act, 
 but every Democrat voted against it, alleging it was uncon- 
 stitutional. Now they resolve in favor of Civil Service Re- 
 form, and denounce us for not bringing it about. All the 
 evils complained of had their origin in the precepts and prac- 
 tice of Democratic Administrations. "To the victors belong 
 the spoils," was their cry, and the amount of spoils according 
 to political service, was their rule. No doubt all parties will 
 choose from among political friends for political offices; but 
 the tenure of their offices, the causes of their removal and the 
 requisite qualifications, should all be fixed by regulations 
 with the form and sanction of law. Without such regula- 
 tions the army and navy would be unorganized mobs. How 
 far this system may be established in the civil service, is one 
 of the problems this Administration will solve with the hearty 
 concurrence of the President and Congress. In the whole 
 round of political and social life there is not one single reform, 
 progress or advance that may not be entrusted with more 
 safety to the Republican party than any other. Gen. Grant 
 has fulfilled every promise he has made you. He is executing 
 the laws as well as it is possible for any one to do. He fol- 
 lows, rather than leads, public opinion, and does not in any 
 way force a policy upon the people against their will. His 
 military success broke the power of our enemies, and his civil 
 administration is marked with prosperity. Let us, then, 
 enter upon this canvass with active confidence, ready to rea- 
 son with our adversaries — to gather wisdom from opposition ; 
 but with a proper appreciation of the merits of our cause and 
 party. We have now a ticket, carefully selected, of gentle- 
 men \Yorthy of your choice. Upon the election will depend 
 a General Assembly, the election of a United States Senator, 
 and of the most important State Legislation. More than all, 
 the maintenance of Republican principles in the administra- 
 tion of the National Government will be greatly afiected by 
 our election. 
 
 Ohio often speaks for the whole country, and I hope will 
 do so now. ^^^ 
 
 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 'Hill iiir I'll II'' !M|| 
 
 013 789 495 6 •