Adlai E. Stevenson

The great mass meeting at Ann Albor is over. Adlai E. Stevenson, the Democratie candidato for vice-presídent, and in all probability the. next vice-president of the country, has been liere. II e has rnade a great speech. It was listened to )iy pne of the largest crowds which everlistened to any politl-' peech in tliis county, and a crowd made up nearly eatirely of voters. There have been much largei' crowds in the city on the occasion of Democratie mass-meetings in former campaigns, but tliey have come in large part to see the demonstration, and not to listen to the speeches. Tiie people who came to town Monday, cauie to bear the speeches. It was a raw, cold day, which kept many at home, bnt nearly all the men who did come, weregathered around the speaker's stand. Theremust have. been about 4,CO0 people listeniüg to the speeches. And for over two honrs they stood in the chilly atmosphere, listening to ever? word that dropped from the speaker's lips. The procession formed about ten o'clock, and marched to the depot. It was headed by the Ann Arbor Kifles, which presen ted a very creditable appearauce. There were four baiuls in the procession, which is thus described by a Detroit correspondent : "It was a rather singular coincideuce that the procession which marched to the depot to meet Gen. Sie('!iso:i led by the "Hou. Benjamin Harrison," ! a handsöme Arabian Jiorse, ridclen by the marshal of the day. 'Die procession incjuded the Ann Arbor City band; the Ann Arbor Rifles; the University of Michigan Democratie Club, 200 strong, each earrying'a hickoxy cane and wearing a handsome Cleveland badge on which the motto was "Oíd Principies and Young Blood"; theLodi Marching Club, consisting of flfty well-drilled young farmers, who executed many movements on the lineofmarch; the Cbelsea, Milan, and Superior bands, heading divisions from Ann Arbor. Ypsilanti, Fittsheld, (Jhelsea, Dexter, Scio, Northfield, Freedom, and the townsliips of the county. Gen. Stevenson and ilon. Frederick Marvin were received at tlie Michigan Central depot. At'ter the gentlemen liad been seated in carriages, the pro cession moved over the followiug route: Detroit street to Ann, thence to Main, thence to Liberty, thence to División, thence to Jeflerson, thence to State, and past the University again to the Michigan Central to receive Judge Montgomery, Ilon. E. E. Uhl, and Congressman Gorman, the procession then moving to the court house, whére it was reviewed byGen, Stevenson, Fdlknviiiii the parade ascenetook place sucb as has not been witnessed in Ann Arbor in nearly thirty years, a regalar old-fashioned barbecue. On a vacant lot on the corner of Washington street and Fourth avenue a pit had been dug and since the day beíore a large, fat ox had been roastiug, until at iioon Monday it was done to a turn, and the hundrées who crowded around and received large si ices of bread and a liberal allowance of roast ox, only wished that barbecues eame oftener. There were two candidates for state office on the platform when the speaking began at two o'clock, Frederick Marvin, candidato for treasurer and Charles F. Marskey, candidate for secretary of state. Mayor Doty presided as president of the day. Mr. Stevenson was in strong voice and seemed to be standing the stain of campaignlng well. Ilis references to Judge Cooley and ex-Governor Felch were received with cheers, and the whole of liis ruasterly address was punctuated with applause. Some of the Republicana in the audience persisted in interrupting the speaker. One'named Smith Stebbinf, kept saying, "Yon were a Knight of the Golden Circle." Stevenson stopped and said, "W'hat's that yon said?" The offensive reinark was repeated, and Stevenson replied, "I wish to say that you, or any other man who makea that charge, isa liar. I do not wish to be misunderstood. You or any other man who makes that charge, is a wilí'u! and delibérate liar." The forcible nianner ín which the base charges were denied drew out great applause. Mr. Stevenson"srernarksin full were as follows : ON. ut, Lidies and gentlem$n-- I mndLy grateful to ycrar chairnian for the courteous ch I have been introe. 1 am the cordial weln me upon this mr beautiful city, ttióus in part by nniversitv, and by the fact f the greatest jurists known to our country in atíy age of its history. I plause, a oice, '-Cooley will vote for Stevenson.") I bring to you, iuy fellow-Democrats, words of good cheer, and I am gratified to know that the üemocracy of Michigan is in line, prepared for the glorious victory in November. (Applause.) I desire to express my thanks and yours to the distinguislied chairman of your state executive committee, the Hon. Daniel J. Campau, for the splendid services he has rendered the l)emocracy of this state ;reat contest. (Applause.) Dui short time I shall ad- you ! shall eiu' i discuss ■ , hich the p tve a shall .-. i til me or npt, I am dy or gentleman lio I their píe day trom this assemblage that they have been treattit in ótlieir than á respectful and courteous manner. W.e should never lose sight of' the fact that, differ as we may upon these questions, we are all American citizefts, having conimon interests in our common country, and all interested alike'in good government. Ours is a government of the people. , It is wisely pfovided in our Frederal Constitution that once in four years all pblitical power shall return to the liinds of the people. Twentysix tpnes during the 103 years of our cónstitutional history. the people of these. United States lia peaceable methods prescribed by law indicated their preference for a can didate to hold the high office of Jent of the United States. m the eye of tne Sth of November, the peopl these United States are to determine which of the candidates shall be selected for that office. If you will pardon me, I will read to you the wonls of the greatest living Republican, the Hon. Chauncey M. Depew. On the gü day of October, i8(o, Mr. Depew, in presenting to a New York audience a private citizen of the City of New York, said : "If I am to name the typical American ; the man who loves and believes in his country beyond everything else ; the man who, determining once in what direction his duty leads, cannot be swerved from the path ; the man who is doggedly persistent in what he believes to be right ; the man who thinks not of himself, but of his country and its needs - I would name Grover Cleveland." (Applause.) The man uponwhom this splendid eulogium was pronounced by' the greatest of living Republicans has been presented by the national Democracy as its candidate for the high office of President of the United States. (Applause). I shali endeavor to indícate to you some of the reasons why, in ray judgment, your interests and the interests ol all the people of our conimon country, will be subserved by the election of Grover Cleveland to the presidency, and the restoration ol the Democratie party to power. The administration of President Cleveland was confessedly an honesi administration of the general government. During his term no scandals attached to his appointments to office. During his term no additional burdens were laic upon the shoulders of the people. During his term a hundred millions of acres of public lands were rescued from the grasp of the giant corporations, by which they were held unlawfully, and restored to the public domain for the benefit of al the people of our country. (Applause.) During his administration the bonds of the governrnent were paid at maturity, and for the last two years of his holding the office, as you remember, the question was "what shall be done with the sur plus revenues of the government?' Under the wise, the honest, the economical administration of Presi dent Cleveland, the revenues of the government exceeded its expense more than $100,000,000 a year (ap , plause), and when, on the 4U1 o: March, 1889, he retired from hi high office, he successor, as cratii now had thi of Republican ad the question ; bat. with bankn the treasury, the "where shall thi tained to meet the of the general ■ : "Co ba: ! nier the estimates Secretary of the T the expenditures and the il government for the present year there will be a deficit in the íreasury; so that today the Ame voter is confronted with thé that the treasury, instead of h .: a surplus, is confronted with b ruptcy. What is the cause of In my judgment, it is the re first, of the lavish, the n in. the unwise appropriatii the Fifty-first Congre; can which ha.s gon lion dollar Cbngi second place, it is the passage by that Cu Ivinlcy tito a i . no a] tion i questioti in which people of this countr) found interest. You h told by our adversaries that the D cratic party is That is ïiot true. Thi party is not in fa rade. We recognize that aónnt of duties shall be collectécl from imports to meet the the general government, but we say that when the government of the United Statr the taxpayer a sufficient amount to ■ the expenses of the óvernii honestly and eConomii nistered, then the powc ceases, and the government has right to take another dolla earnings of the peop'.e pose of building up. a industries of tliis criantj plan j you. "To lay w1! power of tlie government on the perty of the ' citizen and with the other to bestow it upon favored individuáis, to aid private enterprises and build up private fortunes, is none the less a robbery because it is done under the forms of law and is called taxation. This is not legislation; it isa decree under legislativo 'orm." (Applause.) That sounds like an old-fashioned Democratie platform, does it not? 3ut, I have read to yon from a decisión of the Supremo Court of the United States. I spoke to you of the passage of the McKinley tariff bilí and its effect on the people. Let me trace the ïistory of tariff legislation for a moment. In 1846, when this distinguished gentleman and honored citizen of your state, and one of the grand representatives of your state, ex-Gov. Felch, represented this state in the Senate of the United States, there was passed what was known as the Walker tariff bill, which was a Democratie measure, passed by a Democratie Congress and approved by a Democratie Senate. The cardinal principies of this bill were, first, that no more tariff taxes should be levied than were necessary to meet the expenses of the government, honestly and econornicujly administered, and in the second place, the highest rate of tariff taxes should be levied upon the luxuries of life and the lowest rate of taxes should be levied upon the necessaries of life; and in the third place, that this law should be so administered as to opérate equitably upon all classes and all sections of our conimon country. That was the Walker tariff bill of 184O. So justly did it opérate that eleven years later, all parties concurring, in 1857, this law was still further amended so that the average rate of tariff taxes were less than 15 per cent, and wc reached a period in our history when tariff taxes were lower than they had been at any time since the war of 1812. Mark you, I ara now speakingof the period of low tariff taxes. During the fifteen years, from the passage of the Walker tariff bill to f861, there had been no time in our history since 1812 when it was easier for the farmer, for the mechanic, for the laborer, for all men, to earn their bread by daily toil and to meet the expenses incident to this life than during the period of which I have spoken. (Applause.) It was easier for the reason that taxation was reduced to a minimum. This tent that I have made has been I by Republican orators, as autliority the Hon. .11 nis "Twenty I read. not Mr. ■, but trom the solemn history 'i-y of 1848 was to warrant en a desire to .c the tariflV' That is the I have spoken, liich Lhis distinguished gentleman, ex-Gov. Felch, voted. "Moreover," writes Mr. Blaine, "the tarilï of 1.S46 was yielding abundant reven ue, and the business of th country was in a flourishing condi at the time bis administra (that of President Taylor) was 01 ganized; money became very abundant after the year i849,large enter prises were undertaken, speculation prevalent, and fora considerable period the prosperity of the country was general and apparently genuine. The principies embodied in the tariff lor the, time to be so ly vindicated and approved not only iple, but among the ihis acquiesive tariff tod or even hinted by me of the three parties wliich dential candidato ( Vpplau What was that tariff? tl was the low tariff of 1846 to i8(n, by wbich the average rate of taxation was less than 15 per cent. When the war carne on, and it became necessary to raise large suras of money for the purpose of meeting the expenses incident to that great struggle, the tariff taxes were in-creased underthe Morrill tariff bill f rom 15 per cent per cent, more than doublé, upón all that the people of this country buy for themselves and their families. It was said at the time by the author of that bill: "This is not intended as the permanentpolicy of the govermnent, but just as soon as the exigencies of the war vvill permit the tariff taxes will be roduccd.7' You ietnember that a new systen tem p -vr raiïröads, corporations, incoi other words, taxation which rested heavily iii)on the wealth of the country, while other taxes rested heavily upon the great mass of the people. Under the internat revenue system large sums llowed into the Treasury. There w;is a tax upon manufactures, by which the government collectcd Si 27 ,000,000 a year; and taxes upon other corporations, so that in the aggregate the amount of taxes collected under the internal revenue system exceeded #300,000,000 a year. Bear in mind the two systems to which I have briefly called your attention. Frora 1861 to 1875 a" dejartments of the government were absolutely controlledby the Republicans - the executive and both branches of Congress. When the war closed and it was no longer necessary to raise large suins, then a Republican Congress commenced the work of reducingtaxation, taking off the war taxes, when there was no longer a necessity for their continuance. Where did they comtnence? What taxes did they repeal? Did they say to the farmer, to the mechanic, to the laborer: "Vou have borne tliese taxes year after year. Now you will be relieved?" Not at all. They connnenced by repealing the tax upon manufacturera, by which $127,000,000 a year had been collected; and all the taxes that bore upon the wealth of the country were repealed. Did they reduce the taxation upon what you buy for yourselves and families? Not at all. In 1S66, the year after the close of the war, the tariff taxes were, by a Republican Congress, still further increased, and by subsequent Congresses were increased until the average rate of tariff taxes reached 47 per cent in the year 1890. There was a universal feeling among the people that inasmuch as twentyfive years had gone by since the close of the war, the time had come when the war taxes should be taken from the necessaries of life. The Democratie party insisted upon that. The Republicans told you four years ago that they favored tariff reform, hut they preferred that the tariff should be reformed by its friends. The people believed them. They were restored to power, and they responded to the demand of the people to reform the tariff by passing the McKinley tariff bill. Vou will remember that in the early days of our hi,tory the cry was for the protcction of infant industries. ; It was the doctrine of Mr. Clayl: sixty years ago, that the infant in-j dustries should be protected, but that so soon as they were ï able to stand alone this protection, this burdening the people with taxation should be withdrawn. He advocated a tariff of 20 per cent. If he ljved now he would be deuounced by the Republicans as a free trader, as the Democrats are today. These infant industries have grown into great corporations, and have amassed colossal fortunes, and no longer do we hear the cry of protect infant industries, but the cry now is, first, that a high tariff is for the benefit of the laborer, and secondly, within the Tast four years, that the people do not pay the tariff taxes, but that they are paid by foreign governments, or foreign peoples. They teil you that foreign peoples pay these taxes, and that they are not paid by the people here. I will teil you how a man in Massachusetts got his eyes opened on that question. He was a Republican. He believed in the McKinley tariff bill. He was very enthusiastic in his support of the Republican party. He had heard his Republican Congressman say that foreign governments paid these taxes, and he believed it. But he had occasion to go to the City of Liverpool, and while in Liverpool he bought one dozen pair of socks, untaxed, for a few cents a pair. He brought them to this country, and when he reached New York he found a custom house officer with a copy of the McKinley tariff bill in his hand, who told him that before he could bring those articles into the United States he must pay a tariff tax of $2.25. He paid the $2.25 reluctantly. He thought there was some mistake about it, and when he got home he sat down and wrotc a letter to his Congressman, saying, "My dear Mr. Congressman, I have been to Liverpool, and have bought these articles for a few cents a pair; I thought I had a good bargain, but when I got to the United States, through some mistake, as I supposed, they charged me $2. 25. You have told me time and time again that foreign governments pay these tariff taxes. Will you please take time and write me a letter aud teil me to what foreign government I should apply to get back this Sj.25?" (Applause and laughter.) Fifteen years ago there was a tariff upon quinine, and it cost $3.60 to $4 an ouncc to buy it. Where I live on the prairies of Illinois, it is almost legal tender, we use so much of it. A bill was introduced in Congress to take the tariff off quinine ; to place it on the free list. While that bill was pending one of the representatives of Powers & Wightman, the great manufacturers of that drug in Philadelphia, carne to Washington. He said to me, as he said to other membersof Congress, "The passage of that bill will absolutely ruin us." To teil you the honest truth, I was more concerned about the poor fellowsalongthe creeks and on the prairies who had to take the quinine, than I was about those who made it. I thought I would, vote for that bill, as did every other Democrat in the house, and we voted for it. The bill went to the Senate, where it was opposed by Senator Morrill, the same Republican to whom you are indebted fordoubling tne tanit taxes, and he expressed ít as his solemn conviction that tlíe effect of the passage of such a bilí would not be to lessen the cost to the consumer, but that evenuually it would cost more. But the result has been that today you may buy seven times as rauch quinine for $i as you could buy when the tariff was on quinine, and the consumption of that medicine has morethan doubled, for, as you know, it is the great medicine of the poor, and during the twelve years that have passed since the passage of that bill, there has been saved to the people of this country more than $50, 000,000 because of the placing of that medicine upon' the free list. You go into a drug store today, and you receivê a dollar's worth of quinine. With the tariff upon it you received 20 cents worth of quinine, and 80 cents of the dollar you paid went into the pockets of the manufacturers of that medicine; in other words, 20 cents worth of quinine and 80 cents worth of tariff. If there is auy man who believes that foreign governmenls pay these taxes, and that the people here do not pay them, he does not have any standing in the Democratie party; - he does not belong to our side. I want to say a word or two to the farmers, as to how they are benefited by a high tariff. You are called upon to go to the polls on the 8th day of November and vote to keep the Republicans in power, and you are told that will sustain the McKinley tariff bill. Farmers are appealed to to vote for the Republican party because, as they say, the wheat growers of Michigan and the corn growers of Illinois are protectcd under the McKinley tariff bill against foreign competition. I want io be pcrfectly candid and fair ibout it. Yon can pillow your licads tonight in perfect safety, knowing that there is a tarifï tax of twenty-five cents a bushei on wheat, ind fifteen cents a bushei on corn, in order to keep the wheat and corn grown in .Asia and Kurope f rom being brought to Michigan and Illinois in competition with what you grow here. Hefore you become too enthusiastic about the McKinley tariff bilí protecting you, let me teil you that in the year 1889, even before the McKinley bilí had been passed, when there was still a tariff upon corn and wheat, but not so high, our exports of corn were 69,000,000 bushels, and the amount of corn brought into this country from foreign countries during the same year was 2,388 bushels, and that for seed, and upon that you were compelled to pay a tariff tax. Let me teil the wheat growers of Michigan who think they are protected by the McKinley bilí that in the year 1889 the amount of wheat exported amounted to 90,000,000 bushels, and during the same year the amount of wheat brought into this country from all foreign countrie was 1,927 bushels, and that for seed wheat, and upon which you had to pay a tariff tax. Do not you farmers know that it is a mockery to say that the farmers of this country are protected by a tariff bilí? Do not you know that the producís of your farms are sold in the free and open markets of the world, where there is no protection, and whether the products of your farms are sold here or sold ia Liverpool, the great market of the world, they are sold in a free trade and unprotected market, and the produce of your farms and of the hard labor of your hands is brought into competition with the labor of India, of Hungary, and of the older portions of the world, and to you there is absolutely no protection? What we complain of is that while you are compelled to sell the produce of your farms in the free and open markets of the world, unprotected, you should not be permitted the poor privilege of buying what your necessities require without paying a high bonus of 40, 60, 80 and 100 percent, to the protected classes of your own country. To the farmer who believes that the McKinley tariff bill is a Messing to him, let me say that your place is not under the banner of Grover Cleveland. I desire to address myself for a few moments to laboring men. You will recognize the difficulty I experience in speaking to so large an audience in the open air on such a day as this. It is sometimes as diflficult to make a tariff speech as to ' ii to it. I once heard a conversation between two Scotch preachers. One of them said to the other, "I preached for three hours and a half, yesterday." The other one said, "Didn't you get very tired?" "Yes, but it would have done you good to see how tired my congregationgot." (Laughter.) I address myself now to the laboring men, to mechanics, to laborers, to all men who earn their bread by daily toil. You have been told that a high tariff means high wages. Did they not teil you just befo re the last presidential election, "Go to the polls and vote to keep the Republican party in power and for a high tarifï bill, and it means for you a tin bucketful of bread and meat." But how many moons waxed and waned before they imposed a tax upon the poor tin bucket that held the bread and meat? They teil you that a high tariff means high wages. Let us see if that is true. We have but one system of tariff legislation 11 this country, extending throughout all the States and all the territories of our country alike. We have the same system of legislation extending all over the country, so that if the tariff controlled wages there would be the same wages all over the country, but we know that in California, in Colorado, in all the newly settled parts of the country wages are doublé and in sotne instances treble the wages along the Atlantic seabord and the older settled parts of the councry. Why? Simply for the reason that the tariff does not control wages, but that wages are governed and controlled by the great and universal law %f demand and supply. (Applause.) The only effect of a tariff upon wages is to lessen the purchasing power of wages. A tariff growing higher and higher year after year increases the cost of the necessaries of life. When you are told that a high tariff means high wages, remember that under the low tariff of 1846, extending from 1846 to 1 861, when tariff taxation was reduced to the lowest, wages were not low in purchasing power. When tariff taxation was increased in 1861 and 1862 and by subsequent Republican Congresses, tariff taxes were still further increased, until in 1890 the rate of average taxation was 47 per cent., and then the McKinley tariff bill was passcd, by which the tariff taxes upon the necessaries of life were still further increased. The laboring men and mechanics have not experienced an increase of wages year after year, as the tarifï taxes have gone up. (Cries of "Wc lave not. No! No!") What isitto you thatthey produce columns of figures to show that in certain industries the rates of wages liave been increased? Do not you know that wages have not increased, and that you find it more difficult year after year, under legislation in the interest of the classes and against the interest of the masses of the people to meet the expenses of this life? You are told that under thfe McKinley tariff bilí you may buy a few pounds more of sugar for $i than you did before. If it is true that foreign governments pay this tax, how did it reduce the price of sugar when they took the tariff off? Under the McKinley tariff bilí you can buy a few more pounds of sugar for Sr, but the Republican party stands upon dangerous ground when they undertake to teach anything about the tariff by object lessons, because the people of this country may inquire, "if it be true that reducing the tariff on sugar enables us to buy a few pounds more for a dollar, why would not the same blessed result follow if you reduced the tariff on woolen goods and cotton goods, boots and shoes, hats, and all the other necessaries of life?" (Applause.) Do not you know that while the McKinley tariff bilí contained a provisión allowing you to buy certain grades of sugar free of tax, it also contained a provisión for the payment of a bounty of $10,000,000 a year for iïfteen years to the sugar growers of Louisiana, Vermont and Kansas, at the expense of all the people of this country? It would be equally proper and just to take from the treasury - which means from the pockets of the tax-payers of this country - $10, 000, 000 in order that wheat growing in Michigan might be made profitable to the people of this state, or corn growing in Illinois should be made profitable to the corn growers of that state. That system of legislation is founded upon injustice. It is to build up one industry, to make the business of one class of business men profitable at your expense. And yet that is ! the foundation of the system of protection. Let me summarize briefly. In the first place it is said that foreign governments pay these taxes. Nobody believes that. In the second place you are told that under the high tariff that has existed the last tiiirty-one years in this country, the country has grown prosperous, that wealth has increased year after year to hundreds of millions of dollars and billions of dollars of increase. Let me ask you if ycru have had a part of that increase? (Cries of "No! nol") You mechanics and laborers, do you find it easier to meet the expenses of this life than you did under the low tariff of which I have spoken? Do you not know that under a system of legislation which builds up one industry at the expense of all industries in this country, the wealth of the country gets into comparatively few hands, and that that is so today? And yet you are appealed to year after year to keep in power the men whose policy is to tax the people in the interest of theprotected monopolists of this country, who have grown rich and amassed colossal fortunes at the expense of the people. Do you know why it is that such men as Judge Gresham, of Chicago, and Wayne MacVeigh, of Pennsylvania, and other distinguished men whose ñames are familiar to you, have left the Republican party and now follow the lead of Grover Cleveland under the banner of tariff reform ? (Applause.) It is because the legislation of the Republican party year aftej year has been and is in the interest of the protected classes, at the expense of the masses of the people of our common country. Your interests and the interests of the people are bound up with the success of the Democratie party. I will say a few words upon the forcé bilí. I will show you that you have an interest in that question. The forcé bilí passed a Republican House in the Fifty-first Congress, every Republican but three voting for it, and every Democrat voting against it. It went to the Senate. Four of the Republican Senators voted with the Deraocrats in opposition to that bill, and for the time being-its defeat was secured. One of these Republican Senators who voted with the Deraocrats declared that it was the most infamous piece of legislation that had ever crossed the threshold of the Senate. That bilí provides that the judges of the federal courts shall appoint supervisors of election; that these supervisors shall be appointed for life, and that from their decisión there shall be no appeal. The supervisors have the power, under that bill, to appoint deputy United States marshals without limit; these agents of the federal administration have the power to depose the state officers, the judges of election provided by your state laws,your bors,men whoare elected because of theirintegrity; these state officers can be deposed by the agents of the federal administration; they receive the ballots, receive the oath, count the ballots,certif y the results and deprive the peopleof their representation in the Congress of the United States. More than that. It is provided in that bill that these agents of the federal administration can invade the sanctity of private homes and interrógate you and the inmates of your family, and if you decline to answer their questions you are liable to indictment and imprisonment or fine. Further than that. They have the power, under that bilí, to examine certificatesof naturalization, and if the agents of the federal governrnent conclude that a certifícate of naturalization has not been properly given, although granted by your courts upon proper evidence, they have the power to cancel the certifícate and deprive the naturalized citizen of his right to vote. That is what you are called upon to sustain at the polls. If that law was put in general operation, as it might be under these provisions, it would cali into being an army of more than 300,000 officeholders, surrounding every polling place from Maine to California, from the Columbia "to the St. John, by which the pejple would be deprived of the right to select their own representatives and this at a cost to the people of $10,000,000 at every Congressional election. Do you know why it is that they desired to pass this forcé bill ? When that bill was pending in Congress, the leading Republican paper in the United States said, " Throw aside all other legislation, pass the force bill, for in the force bill are a hundred tariff bilis !" 1 have detained you as long as is proper on this occasion. This question is to be determined by the people under the peaceful methods prescribed by law. I believe that your interests and the interests of all the people, except those who are protected favorites under this protective policy, are bound up in the the success of the Democratie party under the lead of Grover Cleveland, whodeclared that "Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxaction." (Applause.) And I believe that with his election will come relief to the people by legislation in the interests of all the people of our country, anc not in the interests of a privilegec few. The chairman of the mseting then introduced Judge Martin V. Montgoraery, who spoke upon the force bill and the tarift. The following are his remarks on the force bill: 1 wish to say a few words upon the force bill. I do not care whether it is an issne in this campaign or not. It is enough for me to know that a bill which we cali the force bill, and which ourRepublican friends cali an election bill, passed a Republican House of Representad ves by a vote in which every Republican in the House, save three, votod "aye;" that it went to the Senate and was there taken up and occupied fifty-seven days in discussion, and that by a vote of every Republican Senator present, who voted 'aye," and against the vote of every Democratie Senator, who voted 'no. " It Is enough for me to know that on the ist day of December, 1890, when Congress convened for the short session and received, as they always do, a message from the President of the United States, he devoted almost 011e entire page, and that the concluding page of his message, to demand and urge upon the Senators the passage of this bill, which, as my friend, Gen.' Stevenson has just told you, was declared by Senator Teller, of Colorado, afterwards, in a speech from his place unon the floor of the Senate, to have been the most nfamous message that ever crossed the threshold of that Senate. Infamous as it was, it was advocated by Mr. Reed, by Mr. Mckinley, and Mr. Burrows and by every prominent ruember of the House of Representaties upon the Republican side, and it was voted for by every member but three. It is always in issue, and it is entirely proper to discuss what your political adversarles have been doing. Less than two years have transpired since the Republican party of this country, through its chosen Representatives, passed a bilí through the House of Representatives which struck a blow at the very liberties of the people, and at the cherished intitutions of the country. The President of the United States applauded it. It was made a test of party fealty. An obedient Senate took it up, on a vote of every Republican present, and debated it liftv-seven days, and then it was not defeated by any means. On the ;6th day of Januarv, i8oi, the debate having begun on the 2nd day of December, 1890, apon motion of Senator Wolcott, of Colorado-the session being about to iraw to a close, no legislation havng been perfected and the silver bill pending, our silver friends of the west being crazy to get the silver bill passed - they joined hands and postponed the consideration of the force bill; and today it is a living, breathing, infamous issue before the people of tliis country. lt is uot explicitly in the Republican platform, but it is there as much as they dare put it there. They say they are in favor of every elector .in this land casting a ballot and having it counted. Who has not that privilege? But Democrats have never been, and, thank God, never will be, in favor of putting a federal bayonet behind every ballot in the country. Yet Senator Frye, of Maine, declared he wanted to do it. That is the difference between the great Democratie party of the Constitution and the Republican party of this country. We believe that we can trust the people. That is one ot our mottoes. The Republican party does not believe that the people ought to be trusted. The provisions of the force bill are monstrous. It provides for the appointment in every judicial district in this broad land of an officer to be called the chief supervisor of elections, and that gentleman is to be appointed by a federal circuit judge, and to hold office for. life, to take lis pay in enormous fees, and this jompous and important individual, after he receives his appointment, notilïes the United States Circuit judge that he' wants to use his court Eor election purposes, and, the judge lias no discretion, but he must convene his court, and then this gentleman presents to the judge a list of names. The judge does not even have the poor privilege of selecting but this gentleman may select not less than six, and, if he please, sixty or 600 names of persons in every voting precinct of this state, for supervisors of election. The law makes it incumbent upon the judge to appoint six or possibly sixty times six, within the discretion of the chief supervisor. They are appointed, three of them assigned to duty in each voting precinét, and there are some 60,000 voting precinéts in this country. They supervise the election, they examine the poll lists, they examine the ballot box, they examine the records. In company with them are an unlimited number of deputy marshals, with power to arrest you or me, with or without process, and take us to jail and keep us there until after the election is over. Each one of these gentlemen is to get $5 a day on every day but election day, and on election day each gets Sio for his distinguished services. A gentleman whom my friend, Gen. Stevenson, knows very well - Senator Vanee, of North Carolina, - in a speech in the senate not long ago, while this bill was being discussed, produced a list of supervisors and marshals that were appointed in New York in one election during the campaign of 1878 by John I. Davenport. The list comprised burglars, thieves, highway robbers, mail robbers, keepers of brothels, men whohad been indicied for attempt to murder, and men who were actually murderers. And they were the class of men that had been deputy marshals and who had supervised the polling of votes by American citizens. VVhen the President of the United States, or the army or navy of the United States, or the great departments of government, with their employees and officers, want pay, they go to the proper officer of the Treasury, with a proper voucher, and there the statute books are examined to see whether or not an appriation has been made for the ment of those salaries, and not one dollar can be paid exccpt Congress, year by year, appropriates the money for that purpose. Now do you suppose these gentlemen put any such provisión as that in this election bill? Not at all; they were too smart for that. They put a clause in it providing that there should be for all time appropriated out of the moneys in the treasury of the United States not otherwise provided, money sufïïcient to carry out the provisions of this most infamous measure. But there is a still worse provisión in this bill. You remember the dreadful ordeal which the country passed through in 1876. One of the dreadful things we encountered at that time was the proceedings by which Louisiana and Florida were induced to and did turn over their vote in the electoral college to Mr. Hayes. They had down there what they ca! led returning boards. They threw out absolutely and arbitrarily parishes, townships, wards, and voting precinéts, wheerver it came essary to do it, until the aggregatc vote was in favor of Mr. Hayes. This forcé bilí contains a provisión of precisely that character, by which three gentlemen, to be called a board of canvassers, shall be appointed for each state, with power to canvass the vote. Whenever a member of congress is voted for, and whenever they differ from the inspectors of election, they shall tabulate and count the vote, and send their report to the clerk of the House of Reprcsentatives, whose duty it shall be to declare him elected who shall be reported by them. And these gentlemen get the modest sum of $20 a day each for their services. I declare this to be an issue in any campaign, from the antecedents and record that the dominant party, the Republican party, have made ror themselves. As sure as God lives and reins, if the next House of Representatives shall be Republican and the next President of the United States shall be Republican, they will pass that forcé bilí, or a similar forcé bilí, and it will be the law of the land, allhough they havenot the 'courage to awow it today. For the first time in their lives the Republican party distiníttly and squarely dodged the question. I say this will be the result if the Republican party get control, but I prophesy that the next House of Representatives will not be Republican, that the next President of the United States will not be Republican, they both be Democratie, I firmly betieve. (Applause). The crowd called for Mr. Uhl, although it had been announced that his speech would be made in the evening at the rink. In response t the cali lie spoke briefly. In the evening the lireworks went off prematurely and ill together. The meeting at the rink was crowded. Mon. E. F. UW, of Grand Rapids, made a most eloquent address on the tariff question. litis one of the ablestand most polisbed speakers in the state. Ilon. Jeronie W. Turner, of Owosso, made a very witty and entertaining speech. The bazaar in progress interferetl somewhat with the meeting, so that, as the hour was late, Hon. Charles S. Hampton declined to respomí tu the repeated cali for a speech.