State con vent ion—Be publican-democbao t. i 85 
the dreamland of the millennial future, our mission is not accom¬ 
plished, our hope is not abated, our faith in republican-democracy 
abides, strong and steadfast. 
But before us impends a contest with chartered privileges, in¬ 
trenched in statutes that are called contracts, fortified by decisions- 
that, it is dimly suggested, are too sacred to be questioned. It is 
a contest in which you, the men of the west, must lead. To you 
the nation looks. Nine years ago, as our civil war drew near its 
close, the North American Review paid this honorable tribute of 
New England brain and culture to western ability : “ No friend of 
democracy, who has watched the course of the west in this war, can 
help feeling his blood stirred and his hopes strengthened by the vig¬ 
or with which it has thrown itself into the strife, and the great rich¬ 
ness of the blood and brain which it has sent into the arena. All the 
great generals of the war are western men. No higher capacity 
for organization, for conceiving great enterprises and conducting 
them with courage and fortitude, accuracy and punctuality, has- 
been displayed than in those mushroom communities which, yes¬ 
terday, were not. And, if we turn from the military to the po¬ 
litical field, we find everywhere the most striking proofs of the- 
sagacity, foresight, patriotism and tenacity of their population.' 1 
And in a sermon delivered at the Broadway Tabernacle church 
last May, I find that earnest patriot and Christian, ex-president 
Woolsey, uttering such words as these of the agricultural class of 
the west: “They are placed in that condition in which men see 
that labor is the source of all production; they are likely to have 
simple tastes; they are independent and manly. Our farmers in 
the west were saviors of the land, more than any other class, in 
the late war. * * * I hope to hear loud voices from them,, 
which will make men of evil, east and west, quail: We abhor 
you, ye political corruptionists ! ye men of bribes! ye managers 
of parties, who want to see knavery in high places of trust, that* 
you may be respectable! We can stand changes of party, but- 
we cannot stand falsehood and want of principle. We must have 
good men for our leaders, or we will overturn all existing parties 
and consign you to your appropriate disgrace.’ ” 
At the conclusion of Mr. Flagg’s able address, Secretary Field 
