CONGRESS, UNITED STATES. 



161 



lie men of their party in that day were un- 

 sound statesmen, dangerous to the country and 

 enemies to the Government? The judgment 

 of an impartial public would be to-day in favor 

 of the Republican leaders of twenty years ago 

 in preference to those of to-day. 



"When the record of gentlemen has been 

 so different in the past from their present posi- 

 tion, on the questions of the effect of decisions 

 of the Supreme Court, the supremacy of Fed- 

 eral law, and riders to appropriation bills, are 

 we to look upon them as reformed statesmen ? 

 Does my colleague desire to appear in that 

 role ? Has my colleague seen the error of his 

 ways ? Has he become convinced that in those 

 days he and his party were wrong? Are you 

 willing, gentlemen, to admit that to the coun- 

 try now ? Or are we to draw the proper con- 

 clusion that you can change your side as the 

 necessities and emergencies of party demand? 

 In 1860 the Republican party was as powerful, 

 as strong, as brainy, as full of great leaders, and 

 as intent upon great purposes as it ever was in 

 the history of this country; indeed, more so; 

 for it had not then been debauched as it has 

 been since by the unlimited possession of pow- 

 er; it had not been corrupted by the handling 

 of millions or rather of thousands of millions of 

 the public money without accountability except 

 to itself. It was then a party for the equal 

 rights of men ; a party which a man might well 

 respect, although he might not agree with it in 

 its aims and purposes. In those days one of the 

 corner-stones of the party was placed in the 

 Chicago platform of 1860: 



" That the maintenance inviolate of the rights of 

 the States, and especially the right of each State to 

 order and control its own 'domestic institutions accord- 

 ing to its own judgment exclusively, is essential to 

 that balance of' powers on which the perfection and 

 endurance of our political fabric depend ; and we de- 

 nounce the lawless invasion by armed force of the soil 

 of any State or Territory, no matter under what pre- 

 text, as among the gravest of crimes. 



"A similar enunciation of doctrine to-day, 

 by any Democrat, would be denounced as hatred 

 of the Federal Union and hostility to the Fed- 

 eral Government. Will you admit that in 1860 

 you were for the rights of the States because 

 you possessed a majority of the State govern- 

 ments, and were not in possession of the Fed- 

 eral Government? Do you admit that you 

 were wrong then but right now ? I leave gen- 

 tlemen to decide that before the American peo- 

 ple. A party which can maintain both sides 

 of the same important question, with equal vig- 

 or, depending only upon where its party inter- 

 ests may temporarily lie, is not well qualified 

 for the position of monitor to any other party, 

 nor are its teachings deserving of the attention 

 of a serious people. 



"Mr. Chairman, the ingenuity with which 

 our friends on the other side evade the discus- 

 sion of all economicnl questions that look to 

 the real interests of the people is remarkable. 

 When the Belknap investigation was first or- 

 dered, the cry went all over the country that 

 VOL. xx. 11 A 



the * rebel brigadiers ' were assailing an honest 

 Union soldier who had helped to put the re- 

 bellion down ; and, although he was proved to 

 have been guilty beyond all controversy, Repub- 

 licans did all in their power to protect him. 

 This is only one instance in the past. When 

 we have now under discussion the question of 

 how much money shall be appropriated for the 

 Printing-Office because the Public Printer 

 has violated law in using up in eight months 

 an appropriation intended for the whole fiscal 

 year when we discover that the appropria- 

 tions for that department, if voted as the de- 

 mands of the office now require, will make an 

 increased expenditure of $400,000 over former 

 years, when charges of extravagance, inatten- 

 tion to public interests, squandering of the 

 people's money are made, how are we met? 

 Why, the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. Garfield] 

 rises, and, in his dilettant way, says he will 

 not waste any time on the discussion of the 

 Printing-Office. That seems to him to be only 

 a matter of a few hundred thousand dollars to 

 the American people ! I suppose, in view of 

 the history of his party, he considers such a 

 deficiency a very small matter. Perhaps it is. 

 But it is the mission of the Democratic party at 

 this time and for that reason it has been kept 

 in power to look into the expenditure of the 

 money of the people, no matter how small, and 

 save wherever we can, no matter how small 

 the sum may be. 



" This purpose of the Democratic party to 

 economize expenditures and expose the extrav- 

 agance of the Administration can not be evaded 

 by side issues. It does gentlemen no good to 

 undertake at this late day to flaunt the bloody 

 shirt before the American people. It might 

 do, Mr. Chairman, in the days when our people 

 were distressed, when men were out of employ- 

 ment, when there was no work to do, when our 

 manufacturing establishments were stopped, 

 when every interest and industry in the coun- 

 try was paralyzed, as the result of the pol- 

 icy of the party of gentleman on the other 

 side. But now if men are out of employment 

 it is simply because the exigency of the occa- 

 sion authorizes them to demand an increase of 

 10 or 20 per cent, over the wages of hard times. 

 I say to gentlemen on the other side, when they 

 come before the American people with that 

 same worn-out, tattered, faded, bloody shirt, 

 they mistake the temper of the American peo- 

 ple. They will find that the people will put 

 the seal of condemnation on that party which 

 inaugurates these sectional discussions, tending 

 to disturb the business of the country and to 

 increase discord between the two sections. 



" The business of the country demands quiet, 

 and the people will have peace. Who teach 

 the rising generation that they should hate 

 their fellow-countrymen? If you put into the 

 hands of the boys of our day the speeches of 

 Republican politicians, they are taught that 

 their natural enemies lie in the South, and the 

 seeds of future civil wars are planted by design- 



