Author Title Imprint. 10 — i7;'.T2-a oro SENATOE THURMAN'S SPEECH, AT CINCIT^NATI. SEPT. 10. 1H70. AN EXPOSITION OF THE CENTRALIZING POLICY OF THE RADICAL PARTY. The Higliway to an Imperial Despotism. THE FINANCIAL POLICY AND ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE RADICALS REVIEWED. Tlie Debt to be rartde ]PerinaTT.ent for tlie Benefit of tlie lyational Bankers. THE CONDUCT OF OUR FOREIGN RELATIONS, AND THE LABOR QUESTION EXAMINED. .Mr. Pkesidknt and Fkllow-citizkns : Under what kind of government are we to live in the tiitiire ! Upon this question, that transcends all others in importance, I propose first to speak to- night. The qne.stiou has been forced upon the coiintry by theeVBUts of the last ten years, and the tim(^ ha'^ come when it must be con- sidered and decided. other by a false interpretation of it. Of these modes, the latter is far oftener resorted to than the former, and is attended with dangers from which the open amendment is comparatively exempt. Our Federal Constitution was estab- lished in 1788. In about three years afterward, ten articles of amendment were adopted ; but not one of them conferred an additional power upon the Government. On the contrary, they were all dftclaratorv of rights of the States or No candid and intelligent man wUldeny that [the people, and were designed to protect them CEXTKALIZATION. a revolution in our government has b^en going on for the last ten years ; and that its tendency has been and yet is, to deprive the States and the people of rights heretofore considered by all parties as unquestionable, and to vest in the (-reneral Government nearly t^very power that a government can possess over a people. The idea of our institutions bv which mat- ters of local concern were left to the States, Hud only those of general concern confided to the Federal Government, has been fast tading away igainst usurpation by the Federal authorities. In 1798 an eleventh amendment wa.s adopted, which was also restrictive of the powers of the Government. In 1804 the twelfth amendment was adopted, but its sole office was to alter the mode of electing the President and Vice Presi- dent. It conferred no new power upon the Government. So stood the Constitution until after the breaking out of the civil war. Then, for the first time, amendments were framed to restrict ince the Republican party came into power,] the rights of the States and to enlarge the and will soon cease to exist should the ascend- ancy of that party be prolonged. We are, therefore, forced to consider the question powers of the Federal Government. The 13th, 14th. and 15th articles oi amendment were proposed and declared to be adopted, and these whether so ra'lical a change in our institutions: are the only amendments, of that character, is desirable, and we cannot consider it toosoouimade in the course of eighty-one years. But or too profoundly. while there have been but these three open I need hardly remind as intelligent an audi- [amendments to confer power upon theOovem- enceas this, that there are two modes by which jment, the Constitution has been so radically a government, acting under a written Consti-i changed, in pra«*ice, by false ia«erpretation9 tution, may increase its powers. The one island usurpation, bMwt it'oan soarwely be a«Jd to by an open amendment of the Constitution, the 'have a real exiatanoe. In a time of profound peace States have been denied representation in Congress, >iave been compelled to abrogate their constitutions and adopt others to s\iit the views of the dominant party, and have been forbidden by law to alter the latter in matters of the merest local con- cern. Millions of people have been placed under the dominion of martial law, and civil government merely tolerated by the will or the caprice of a Brigadier General. Members of a State Legislature hav^- b^-en expelled and their seats given to others by act of Congress, upon an assumiption of power which, if warranted, would authorize Congress to disperse, at will, any State Legislature in the Republic. Acts of Congress have been passed authoi'ising the intervention of Fed»»ral officers or agents ^n State elections, punishing State ofl&cers by heavy lines and imprisonments, for refusing the vote of a colored man, bat leaving them unpunished if the rejected voter be white ; authorizing the arrest of the judges ■ f election, even during the election, upon the warrant of a petty Uni- ted States commissioner, conferring upon the circuit and district courts of the United States authority to trv and determine contests of elec- tion for State officers, from that of Governor down to that of constable, and clothing the President with power to employ th<- land or naval forces of the United States, or of the militia to enforce the law. importance of the former, and to diminish the jurisdiction and dignity of the laUer, Agaiu. . you will find a multitude of new crimes and otienses created — many of them most uselessly andvexs.'iouslycreatH'd- -punii?hable, of course, by the Federal tribunals ; thus bringing the Federal Government, day by day, more in con- tact with the people. Not a few of these crimes and ofif-nses are already punishable in tbc State courts under State laws, but this fact, instead of deterring, has seemed rather to incite Con- gress to i wanton display of power by making them punishable also in the Federal court^ In Federal law. in briei, the purpose seems to be that the General Government shall intrude itself everywhere and assume jurisdiction of everything. And, now, when to all these facts you add the further consider ation. that the Government maintains a large army and navy and a stili larger host of civil employees, that the Treas- ury Department alone has under its control more than twenty thousand persons, and the other departments employ, in the aggregate, over twice as many mwre ; that the Federal taxes annually amount lo over !H(>0,(iOO,00<>, and th»t all of this vast sum is annually ex- pended ; and then reflect that the tendency of every government clothed with such vast po vers is to usurp more power still, and I ask you if it is nt»t time to consider whethei- the By other laws the State banks have beenlimperial, centralized government that looms up ruthlessly taxeft out of existence — their destruc- before us, is a desirable thing for the people of tion, and not revenue, being the avowed pur- 1 America. pose of the law.s — and thus the States are pro- 1 1 am, l\y temperament and habit, diposed to hibited the exercise of a power enjoyed by themjtake a hopeful view of affairs. 1 never have from the foundation of the Government, andlbeeu, and am not, an alarmi.st where my judg- the whole sitl\ject of ihe currency has been [ment finds no cause for alarm; but I cannot seized upon by Congress. look at the vast strides toward consolidation An unlimited right to construct works of in- 1 that have recently been taken, and hear the ternal improvement in a State or States, with-ldoctriues promulgated that aie almost daily out their consent, is boldly declared and often|heard in the (.Ongresy, without feeling that the acted upon, while a power to regulate, by actsireserved riglits of the States and the people are of Congress, tolls and charges upon every rail- threatened with but little less than anuihila- road or canal, and every navigable river in the Republic, is openly asserted in the Halls of Congress. Power to charge a higher rate lor tion. Once more, then, I ask, is this threat- ened change in our institutions desirable t Is local self-government a laihire, or an evil that transportation thi^^n their State charters allow, oughi to be abolished' Ought the States to has been conferred by Congress upon State cor- j be reduced to the dependent condition of mere porations, and to of her corporations ot the sort, departments oi- counties;' Oiight Congress to privileges and faculties have been given by be clothed with the imperial powers of a Brit- Congress that.the States creating them refu.-ed]ish Parliament, and the great body of the laws to confer. The State corporations are thus, oni affecting the rights, the welfare, and the liber- the one hand, made superior to their creators, ties of the people, emanate from it y Congress, and the twelve Senators from New England, not chosen by or responsible to First. I am opposed to it because it wouldlyou, would have six times the power of your be destructive of the existence of the Republic, [own two Senators. Th- Senator.s and ReprH- The Republic could not, in my judgment, long sentatives of other States, far outnumbering endure auder such a systeni. It would Invak your own, would dictate your local laws, uot down under its i>wn weight. There^ never was with reference to your interests, will, or hap- a greater mistake than to suppose that a gov- piness, but with relereuce to the interests. ernment of despotic powers is alone alout- able to govern a great extent ot territory. The will, and prejudices of their own constituents. And thus a truly Representative Government verv reverse of the proposition is nearer theiin your local ved from the people, .lust in propor- tion as the law- maker is independent of and separated from his constituents, in the same proportion will corruption in legislation in- crease, (rive to Congress jurisdiction over the subjects chat now >'elong to the State legi^la- tures, and it would soon become a more cor- rupt l>ody than ever disgraced the earth. Au.e party in power, what manufacturing monopolists. i would the country say .' And yet where is the To provide, as was said, a forced market for ' difference between that case and the case as it the sale of United States bonds, they taxed the] stands ' Wh it is the difference between giving State banks out of existence and created over I away a road already built and giving the means fifteen hundred national banks, with powersjto build it ? There is but one difference and and privilrges so vast that their annual profitslthat is prejudicial to the existing case. By range, according to Senator Sherman, from 1,5 'giving to a private corporation this vast body to 20 per cent. And the currency authorized by the banking act was so distributed as to give 828.67 per capita to New England, only $12.iyl of land, Congrers has made it the greatest and monopolist the world ever saw. By its grant of 9ver 130,000,000 acres to rail- to the middle States, but 84.08 to the westernlroad corporations, it has deprived millions of States, and the southern States only 97 cents, landless people of thH chance to get homes, At this very day the amount of this currency [except upon the payment of exorbitant prices — allotted to .Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and land* that should have been reserved for actual Connecticut, with a population of about two'settlers and given to them under a system of millions, is $86,9 .7,808 ; while Ohio, with two'homestead laws, and a half millions of people, has but $18,405,-1 Not only this, the wealth, power, anddomin- 385, In other words, these three States havejion thus conferr d upon these great and favored ab(mt $44 per he^d for every man, woman, and corporations will make them the overshadow- oeild in them, while Ohio has less than $8. ing and ruling power in at least a dozen States. By sudden changes in the internal revenue laws, knowing speculators have been enabled to acquire more than princely fortunes— the in reality they, and not the State legislatures, will choose Senators in Congress ; they, and not the unbiassed voice of the people, will el«ot Rf>pr«.sentativos. They, and not fre« States, will speak in the oboioe of Presileuts. Think ot a ro^d stretchinji from L ike Supe- rior to tlie Pacific ooean, embracing with its branches more than two thousand miles )f line, the property of a siuf^le corporation, and that corpor-y the corporation or a favored ring of its stoi'khol l- ers, scattered along the roid, and the crreal stockholders, those owning nearly all its stock and ruling its alfairs, residing in Boston, New York, and Pliiladei ohia, and you will have some iiiea of what the Northern Pacific railroad is to be, and what chance for political promotion any man within the limits of its iatluence would have should he daie seek to restrict its monopoly, restrain its exactions, or otherwise oppose its will Much is being now said about the relativ« rights of capital and labor ; much complaint i^? being uttered at what is said to be the exac- tions of capital and the depression of labor. The working men are everywhere forming unions, holding congresses, and issuing books, pamphlets, and newspapers to advocate their claims, and to protest against the unequal dis iribution of wealth, wuich they assert is re suiting from existing laws, and especially from their tendency to aggregate capital. But what aggregation of capital and privilege was ever seen equal to that created by Congress, by the charters it his granted and the donations it has made to the four railroad companies I have named ? What other corporations have ever become the owners in a fee of a territory equal to seven States of this Union, greater, than the area of (Germany ; and in aiidition to this wealth, been clothed with a corporate existence and immense corporate privileges of perpetual duration '! I am oertainly not so abaurd as to be an enemy of railroads. No man acknowl edges more fully than I do the immense advan- tage they are to the country. No man honors more than I do, the men who wisely project and honestly build and manage tlnm. I could mention names — some of the dead, some of the living — to whom Ohio owes a great debt of gratitude for the construction and liberal, wise, and successful management of her railways. But there is a vast diflFerence between roads built under State authority, with capital fur- nished by the stockholders, supervised by the feefore I leave this topic, I must call your attention to an alarming st^p, taken at the last session of vlongress, in the matter of thes«i land grants. Before then Congress had never granted any bat the alternate sections, designated by odd numbers, and iu defense of these grants it wa.s said that tliw construction of the railroads woull donlile the value of the even numbered sections retained by the Government, and hence there would be no loss of money. And accord- ingly the price of the retained .sections was raised from *1.2') to 62..')0 per acre. This de- fense never had any weight with me, for it treated the 'roveruiueut as a speculator in lands, seeking to extort the highest price from tile settler ; whereas I thought, and yet think, that it is not as a speculator, but as a beneficent parent that the Government ought to regard and administer these lands. But that was the defense, and with those who look at nothing but dollars and cents it suflBiced. But at th« last session the Senate threw even this defense away. For, iu the face of the most determined opposition, and after full discussion, it deliber- ately passed a bill granting to the Central branch of the Union Pacific railroad the even numbered secti»ns, the odd numbered having been already given to other railroad companies. And so, for a distance of about three hundred miles, lying partly in Kansas, partly in Nebras- ka, and partly in the territory of Wyoming, every foot of land belonging to the Government was granted, so tar as the Senate could do it, ti) railroad corporations. And this leads me to observe that yon must not suppose that be- cause all the land grabbing bills that passed the Senate did not go through the House, there- fore they are dead. In view of the approa)h- ing »:ongressional elections, and fearful of the people, the House laid some of them aside: but they are still upon its Calendar, to be acted upon next winter ; and should the Radical party triumph in the fall elections, you may rest assured that every one of them will pass. THE PUBLIC DEBT. I have now some brief remarks to make about the public debt. The admiuLstration is claiming great creple that raised the money, and their aj?fents, the Presi- dent and Congress, are no more entitled to us gold at par for our bonds, when we refuse to require agencies of our own creation to take thmn; when we even refuse to require new hanks, not yet organized, to take these new bonds, and when we refuse to require old hanks, which hav« made on the average from fifteen to twe ty per cent, annually upon the credit for the payment tnan 'is an attorney whoifranchise derived frqm the United States, to discharges a note of his principal with money placed in his hands by the latter for that pu - pose. No, my fellow-citizens, whatever credit is due for the reduction of the debt belongs to no a (ministration, to no Congress, to no one par- ty, but to the entire eople of the Unite i States. But I must not stop here, and leave unex- posed the stupendous hypocra<:!y ol this claim to merit on the part of our lia lical rulers They would have the people to understand that they intend to, and will, pay oflf the deVit, and they ask the support of the people because of that intent and capacity. Whereas, the truth is, they do not mean to pay the debt. They mean it to be per letual, as the debt of England is perpetual. Pay it off! Why, what would become of their entire system of National Banks, were it paid off? That system wholly rests upon the public debt. It is the debt that constitutes the security for its circulation, with- out which it would not enj . y public confidence for an hour. Remove that security, by a pay ment of the debt, and the whole fabric would tumble to pieces in ninety days. Now, wili those who rule the Radical party give up these banks? Have they the power to do it, if they would? Look at the House of Representatives. There are in that Hotise, according to a state- ment of a leading Radical, not less than sev- enty stockholders in National Banks — nearly one-third of the whole House. Have they any power there? If you doubt it, hear what your own a^nator, Mr. Sherman, chairman of the Finance Committee, said in the Senate on the 13th of last .Inly. A funding bill had passed the Senate, requiring, among other things, that the banks, instead of the 6-per cent. Grovern- ment bonds they now own, an i which are held as a security for their circulation, should take other bo. ids bearing a lower rate of interest. It did not require them to exchange the former for the lattei', but left them free to sell the former, pocket the premium they hear, a.:d with the residue of the proceeds buy the new bonds. It wa-* a perfectly fair requirement, as I then thought and still think, and so thought a majorfty of the Senate, notwithstanding a strenuous opposition on the part of the banks But it was otherwise in the House. Nothing could induce that body to agree to the proposi- tion, and after two conference committees had sat upoo it, it was given up. Reporting the result of tke conference to 'the Senate, Mr. Sherman said: ' ' 'I do not see how we lean go before the peo- ple of tke United States and ask them to lend am us to this extent in funding the public debt. But, air, the note of tke House shows the power of the National Banks. It is so yreat, at least in the House, that in order to secure a fund - iiiy bill, we have been compelled to abandon all provisions in regard to the National Banks.'" Kut the argument does not stop here. The Funding Bill, to which I have alluded became a law on the 14th of last July. I observe that the Republican National Executive Committee. Id their adili-t!S< to the people, claim great credit on account of this law. Now, let us see what is the object of the law, and what are its material provisions. The object is to refund tlie .5-20 bonds iu other bonds bearing a lower rate of interest. All these .')-20 bonds are now due, and can be paid as fast as the Govermiient can raise the means. But this law contem- pl ites an extension of the debt, represented by these bonds as follows: $200,000,000 for ten years, $300,000,000 for fifteen years, and 81,000, 000,000 for thirty years. If the debt be thus extended, the Grovernm -nt will have no power to pay a dollar of it for ten years, and at the expiration of that period can only pay ^iJoO,- OOO.OOO. Then it must wait five years more before it can pay another cent, and when those years have gone by it can p»y but $300,000,- 000, while as to the main l)ody of the debt, the $1,000,000,000, it will remain deprived for fif- teen years more, or thirty years in all, of any power to make payment whatever. For, ob- serve, the right to make payment belore ma- turity of the bonds is not reserved ; so the scheme is to prolong a portion of the debt ten years, another portion fifteen years, and the chief portion thirty years, or the life of a gene- ration . And yet these men who thus seek to continue the existence of the debt until nearly all who hear me will be in their graves, talk of paying off, and ask unbounded applause from the peo- ple. No more transparent hypocrisy, no plainer instance of double dealing with the people could be conceived. 1 again affirm, and for the reasons I have already stated and others that I might state did time permit, that they neither mean or wish to pay off the debt. They want it to be perpetual to serve as a foundation for banks, to be a source of profit to stock jobbers and specula- tors to put money into the pockets of capital- ists by its annual drain of interest from the people, and to increase or sustain the political influence or power of those who regard a na- tional debt as a national blessing. FOKEION RELATIONS. A few words abont our foreign rt-lations. TbtTe arf but few persons, if any, i think, who will a^Sf^n that thest^ have been successfully managed by the administration. On thf con- trary, there sreuis to be a very decided Dpiuion ij> the oontraiy that, in this respect at least, the administration is n. failure. And the facts, it appears iu uae, luUy warrant this conviction. Shortlv betore the inauguration of General rtma .\gainst the ratification of this treaty the whole weight of the present administration w- thrown, and it was almost cOulemptuou^ly re jecte.i by the f^enate. This was at the March session of 1Sd9. By an order of the Senate the injunction of secresy upon its consideration was so far re- moved as to permi* thf publication of Mr. Sumner's elaborate speech ag.-iust it, and the speech was accordingly pulfilished. In that speech Mr. Summer made great demands upon Great Britain, and the fact of Ins leadership of the Radical party, of his position as cliairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, and of the Seeming sanction of his views by the Senate, as eviileuced by its order to print his speech, and his only, gave tiuusiial and git-at impor- tance to that production — an importance that was heightened immensely by the President's recall of Mr. Johnson, our negotiator of the treaty, and the appointment of a bosom per- : .,1 think it would be a valuable acquisition the contrary, 1 think it would be Qjj profits to the business man, and wages to the g^ J. j_ laborer. Wow, if the wages be low, it must be , . , „ „, ,„ „„,.„ ,.,rn\iju because the annual product is .small, and all ouslv- disturbing element. In race, civilua-l ^ • \ ■ ouhijf lUTvLiiiw ,6 . . ,, , ^^^ ^-.^j jclasses sufler, or because thai i^roduct i-s un- fairly distributed. In general, the latter is the tion, habits, education, and religion, nese are widely difl'erent from our people— so , ., . nese die wi«ci.t tviii^^ -.^r.+ruvr k-ause, and wheal wages are vety low the la- different as to torm a very .striking contrast. ^ x ^ -f' ■, . • ^ ui iv. uiueieui ar, V » ■ f,i orr,.. ry,.u boter gets but a bare subsistence, while the The European immigrants are «1 the same race, ^. % »• *« 1 . luex-ujupo" 6 „r,^i ,„hii^ other olas.'ies, or some ot them, .accumulate religion and civilization as ourselves, and wnile ' . j .u . - * v reugiuu, aii -• «^ ^„. ^„^„, J, .enormous wealth. And thus society becomes thev add immense y to the power and wealth , , • ^ .1 v. 1 rpi * mey duu '"^i"^ .' f ,„ ,,.j,..,, 'divided into the Very rich and very poor. That of the Republic, they do not seriously distuib . . , » •^. ^ 01 Lijc ivcyu , .; .. , K;t„..-....i tliisis au untortuiiate cc ondition for a country hat its teni'encv is hostile to fiee institutions, as well the substantial homegeneity of our white pop u littiou. Their migratiou, therefore, Iteuefits the; country, and deserves encouragement. Not soi , . », 1 •, „ w^th the Chinese. TUey will never be.n.me,^^ to tne material com.ortot the people, is un- Were they to dwell here f'onbtedly trtie. I have theretore 110 sympa- thy with the cry for cheap labor and low one people with us for centuries, they would probably be as dis tinct from the white race as are gypsies in Spain from the pure blooded Spaniard. We are destined .to have a great commerce with Asia, and the natural result will be the volun- tary migratiwn from that continent of a limited number of business men. 1 see no objection to that. It will not interfere with our me- chanics or laV>orers, will not disturb our social or political system, while it will teu<). by an increase of our commercial connections, to add to our commerce and wealth. But that is a wholly different thing from the Coolie immi- gration that is now going on, and whicb, vf not stopped, must alarmingly increase. This im- migration is in no proper sense of the word voluntary. It is a kind of Chinese slave trade. Instead of an independent, sell-reliaut body ot freemen, it introduces a ht rde of quasi slaves working at half wages, by the command of a task master. And thi- leads me to notice a statement 1 wages. They may give rise, it is true, t'> great public works and m.ignifi'-ent structures, but th«» iMjnefit is gained at the expense of a sutferins people. The l-'yramids are striki^ig monuments of the pride and ostentation of kings, but they are more striking c^9ideIK•^s of a degnded condition of the laboring classes. Ttiat country is likely to be most free and happy where, the annual produotion oi wealth being justly distrihuted. labor obtains a- fair reward. CONCLUSION. And now, in i-onclusion, my fellow Demo- crat!^, let me exhort you to do your whole duty. You have hs great a stake in this land as any other equal number of men. What benetits the Republic will >)enefit you — what iujures it will as surely injure you. Upon thf perpetitity of tree institution.-; and the exiat- ence of gooil government, depend the happi- ness of yourselves and your posterity Demo- have seen that this country needs cheap lalor ;jcratic principles h^ve actueved a glorious past in other words, men who will work for low for our country, and will work out an equally wa^'es- that there is a scarcity of laborers- here. I glorious future if they be preserved in their and therefore Chinese laborers should be im-| vigor and purity. Let us all, then, resolve ported to supply the deficiency. Ithat they shall not fail tor want of our support, I do not concur in this view. My opiniou islthat they shall sutler no dishonor trom our that we, ot rather our posterity, are muchjhands. Publiabed by the National Democratic Executive Ktsident Committee. /