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 OF ^. 
 
 HON. STEPHEN B. fACIAED 
 
 AT 
 
 THE REPUBLICAN MASS MEETING 
 
 j:CiTBATIFICATION OF 
 
 THE EEPUBLIOAN NATIONAL AND STATE TICKETS, 
 
 Mechanics' Institute, New Orleans, July 10, 18*16. 
 
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 SPEECH OF HON. STEPHEN B. PACKARD. 
 
 Fellow C it hens: 
 
 I rejoice to see thn entbusiasni with whifb 
 yon have numerously aiiBenibled to ratify 
 your State ticket. You have a good plat- 
 form, that consistH in every reepect with 
 your national platform, and have selected 
 candidates wbo mean, as in the past, to do 
 their whole duty to yon ami to your lellow- 
 citizens, irrespective of ])arty. 
 
 It is not my j)urpo8e at thia time to pre 
 sent a thorough analysis of the platform 
 adopted )iy your late Republican conven- 
 tion. I indorse it. My views accord with 
 the principles therein set forth. To a few 
 ot its leading features I will refer. 
 
 SPECIE RESU:ilPTION. 
 
 Our party is pledged, as heretofore, to a 
 speedy resumption of specie ])ayment, and 
 in entering the present national contest, re 
 Horta to no subterfuge in its platform, nor to 
 any barter between sections by which tliey 
 are each represented in a candidate stand 
 ing upon a directly opposite hHSis. The Re 
 publican party stands unqualifiedly by its 
 past avowals in oonvent'on. anH ;• -'.nto tu 
 ilo ifgisiatioa in Congress as a guarantee 
 that it will surrender none of its pledges. 
 
 PROTECTION TO SUGAR AND RICE. 
 
 It is reasonably a matter of serious so- 
 licitude to the citizen of Louisiana engaged 
 in the sugar and rice cullta-e, that their 
 protection be jealously maintained as in 
 the past by the Republican party. The 
 national Democratic platform declares that 
 "all Customhouse taxation shall be only 
 for revenue." It also uses the following 
 emphatic language: "We denounce the 
 present tariti levied upon nearly 4000 
 articles as a masterpiece of injus- 
 ■ tice, inequality and false pretense." 
 That platform was in every part rati- 
 fied here by Democrats at their late mass 
 meeting in Lafayette Square with total dis- 
 regard of these two important interests. 
 The language of our platform is not ambigu- 
 ous upon thia eubject, to wit: "A system of 
 revenue, taxation and assessment which, 
 while it shall provide ample means to 
 meet the public expenditures and obli- 
 
 gations, shall also assume the proteo- 
 tiin of certain national interests against 
 the destructive competition of for- 
 eign productions ; especially inf^isting 
 that the capital and labor employed in the 
 production of the national ctaplca of sugar 
 and rice should be iiuhided amouf/ any arti- 
 cles entitled to such protection ." What say 
 the sugar and rice planters to the ILtwaiian 
 treaty? The free trade Democracy in the 
 H use of Represent itiv«8 repealed this duty 
 on Sandwich Island pugar and i\w, aud 
 thus, by implication, ou these articles as 
 the product of other nations, with which 
 we have reciprocal duties. This treaty, if 
 ratified by the remission of duties on 
 sugar and rice, would have entitled sugar 
 and rice, produced in Hawaii by servile la- 
 bor to be brought here free of duty, and 
 thus come in ompetiion with the same ar- 
 ticle." i)roduoed here. Sugar and rice cul- 
 ture has been fostered and encouraged by 
 Congress in past years, but let the Demc- 
 oratio party get into power, and with its 
 views and under its platform it will speedilv 
 remniTf tv- v^-. 'y no\« exa'c*'*a upon the im- 
 portation of both sugar and rice. Thus it 
 will destroy these great national in- 
 terests, bring the capital and labor devoted 
 to the production of these staples into con]- 
 petition with the capital and slave labor of 
 foreign countries. A speaker at the recent 
 Democratic mass meeting, ratifying the 
 national platform and candidates, charjc- 
 torized Tilden as the great "smasher." I 
 pubmit: to the candid judgmentof those who 
 have invested their capital and those who 
 contribute their labor to the growing of 
 sugar and rice, that if Tilden should 
 be elected whether with all his "smashing." 
 he and his party will not effectually smash 
 this "sugar bowl" of the Union. 
 
 INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 
 
 Louisiana wants an equitible proportion 
 of the money appropriated annually for in- 
 ternal improvements. A Republican Con- 
 gress gave us appropriations for the Atcha- 
 falaya, Calcasieu, Ouachita, Tangipahoa and 
 Red River; also for the great work of secu- 
 ring deep water at the mouth of the Missis- 
 
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 LIBRftRY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 544 671 5 
 
 sippi river. More money was applied for pur- 
 poses of commerce by the three Republican 
 Congresses preceeding the present, than for 
 the preceding thirty years under Democratic 
 rule. What will be the record of the present 
 tv House? It is believed that it can be truth- 
 fully said that nothing will be awarded for 
 similar and needed improvements. Our 
 levees should be the subiect of federal aid. 
 The maintenance of the levees costs the tax- 
 payers of the State one-half more than do 
 the school's, over one-half as much as the 
 interest on the public debt of ttie State, and 
 nearly as much as the entire executive, 
 judicial and legislative departments of 
 the State government. Our State needs 
 moreover a railroad to Texas. Consistently 
 with the traditions of the Democratic party, 
 nothing can not be expected from that 
 quarter in aid of works of this character. 
 And it is a matter of grave consideration 
 for Louisiana, whether a presidential can- 
 didate from New York — a State -which has 
 long combatted the Western channels 
 southward of trade — will not be more apt 
 t» encourage a policy to befriend 
 the great metropolis of that State 
 than will his Western competitor 
 who has long and vigorously soughc to 
 multiply such channels in the common in- 
 terest of both the South and West. This 
 consideration derives especial force from 
 the reccnb platform of the national Demo- 
 cratic party, which denounces such national 
 encouragement as "a profligate waste." 
 The Republican party, by its liberal ap- 
 propriations in behalf of railroads, harbors 
 and rivers, the commercial highways of the 
 nation, has long been and still is committed 
 to the wise policy of opening to commerce 
 and agriculture the broad acres of the West 
 and Southwest. 
 
 PEACE AND ORDEB. 
 
 It is idle to ever expect an established 
 peace within the borders of our State 
 until both parties shall unite in a com- 
 mon and determined remonstrance against 
 the license with which loyal citizens 
 are beset with violence. The Republican 
 party of the nation has by statute sought 
 to repress this vice, and it becomes every 
 good citizen to conserve the true inter- 
 ests of Louisiana and his own, by join- 
 ing to maintain the laws. No com- 
 monwealth which sutfers such crimes to j^o 
 unpunished deserves or can expect a 
 solidly founded prosperity. Every resource 
 
 of the executive office, should I enter it, 
 shall be employed to this vital end, and if 
 the Democracy here should observe their 
 recent national pledges of "absolute acqui- 
 escence in the will of the majority," and 
 "devotion to the consfitution of the United 
 States, wiDh its amendments, as a final set 
 tlement," there would be little reason for the 
 alarm, announced in our State platform, 
 that "grave national dangers demand the 
 enactment of such additional laws and the 
 enforcement of such a policy as shall secure 
 to every citizen of the United States, in fact 
 as well as in name, the inalienable rights of 
 life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, 
 irrespective of his political views, and irre- 
 spective of race, color or previous condition 
 of servitude." 
 
 Our party desires no mischievou'' feuds 
 aud alit nations among a people that should 
 be one in all the purposes of an American 
 State. 
 
 THE TRUE POLICY OF ABMINI&TRATION. 
 
 It is proper for me briefly to define the 
 policy which will govern me in the admin- 
 stration of the office oi chief magistrate of 
 the State, if elected thereto. 
 
 1. Protection to life and phopeety. 
 This will follow a determined and impartial 
 execution of the Jaws. 
 
 2 Restoration of confidence and good 
 
 FEELING BETWEEN THE RACES, which will 
 
 follow the inauguration of an administra 
 tion, conceded to be elected and having the 
 confidence and support of all classes. A 
 good administration with undiiiputed title, 
 is always competent to command confi- 
 dence. 
 
 3. The continued reduction of expen- 
 ses of the State government, begun by the 
 administration. 
 
 4. Especially a reduction in the ex- 
 penses OF ASSESSMENT AND COLLECTION OF 
 
 TAXES, the introduction of such a system as 
 
 will DIMINISH THE NUMBER OF OFFICERS, 
 
 and guarantee relief from erroneous or 
 
 UNJUST VALUATION OF PROPERTY ASSESSED ; 
 
 in other words, an equitable asfessmeut, 
 and an honest but vigorous collection of 
 the taxes from, the rich as well as from 
 the poor. Were the delinquent tax-payor 
 promptly to discharge his duties the bur 
 dens would rest less heavily upon the mere 
 faithful citizen. 
 
 5. The funding act has been most bene- 
 ficial and has brought relief to a tax-ridden 
 and bankrupt State. It has reduced the 
 
blinded (iobt of tlie State trnm over i-22,- j 
 000.000 to an aninnnt, when all fundalile 
 nhligatioDfl arn jirepenfed, of less than |1J,- 
 000,000. It bas reduond the State taxes from | 
 twenty one and one hall to f(»iirteen and 
 one half mills, and the parish taxes in like i 
 proportion. It will be my duty, as it will 
 b"* my ohoiee, to carry forward this benefi- 
 cent financial nieasnreto the end that taxes I 
 may be further reduced each year and i 
 the debt be constantly dimmished | 
 nntil finally extingiiiphed. The faith of 
 the State will thns be kept, while the 
 burdens of the present taxation will be 
 speedily lightened. 
 
 WE MUST HAVE A PEACEABLE ELECTIO.N. 
 
 The manner in which I have discharged 
 the duties in the responsible public posi- 
 tions which I have hebi in Louisiana enti- 
 tles me to the confidence and trust of the 
 good people oi the State, that an adminis 
 rration of rigid economy and and a faith- 
 ful and impartial execution of the laws 
 will follow my election. We must have 
 a peaceable election. On the part of 
 the Kepublicana there shoald be the ut- 
 most forbearance toward those black men 
 who may wish lo organize and vote with 
 the Demooratio party. They should not 
 he. gphjected to »ny interfer°Tice with their 
 rights as citizens and voters. Their opin- 
 ions are their own property. Republicans 
 must be prepared to exact the same free- 
 dom and tolerance from the DemT)crat9 in 
 organizing and in voting their ticket. We 
 are entitled to protection, if needed, from 
 the federal administration. 
 
 This is a right as old as the history of the 
 republic. From the time that Piesidem 
 Washington suppressed the insurrection in 
 Pennsylvania down to the hour when upon 
 the application of Governor Wise, a Presi 
 dent dispatched troops to Virginia to arrest 
 the John Brown raid; nay, down to the 
 later hour when a President ordered a 
 
 detail of troops from Baton Rougo to the 
 New Orleans Customhouxe upon the requi- 
 sition of a collector of the port in 1859. 
 the authority to exer'tse this right was 
 unchalli>nged, where the State author! 
 ties were unable to maintain the 
 public peace. We depire to have a 
 peaceful and good natured contest at the 
 ballot-box, that the ntmost fairness may 
 characterize every phase of the canvass, 
 and that the minority next November may 
 yield a graceful acquiescence in the choice 
 of a majority. 
 
 I am aware that a considerable measure 
 of acrimony characterizes political can- 
 vasses, but I have here to say that while I 
 shall firmly stand for your rights, I shall 
 not forget thf t the duty of a gentleman is 
 an essential element of good citizenship, 
 and shall compete for the popular sutfrage 
 with my antagonist, be he who he may, in 
 such a way as to forfeit neither his respect 
 nor my own. 
 
 I expfct that the active partisans of the 
 Democracy equally to comply with the de- 
 mands of good manners. The candidates 
 of the Republican party of the nation and 
 the State should receive the votes of those 
 who desire the aid of the federal govern- 
 ment to build up our levees, to construct 
 onr railroads, to open the hiihways of nnm- 
 merce: of those who deprecate violence, 
 who would have justice swiftly over- 
 take the red-handed assassin, reeking with 
 the blood of his victim, who would break 
 down and eradicate the unreasoning pre- 
 judice of such as ostracise men for opin- 
 ion's sake; of those who desire a wide es- 
 tablishment and maintenance of a salutary 
 public school system; and finally, of those 
 who believe that everj' man whose guar- 
 antees are lodged in the constitution, is a 
 member of the civil brotherhood of Louisi- 
 ana, and entitled to equal consideration. 
 If elected, I shall esteem myself the ser- 
 vant of THE WHOLE PEOPLE of Louisiana. 
 
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 
 
 014 544 671 
 
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