James G. Blaine's Letter Of Acceptance

Augusta, Me., July 15, 1884.- The Hon. John B. Hendenon and others of the Committee, etc. Gentlemen : In accepting the nomination for the Presidency tendered me by the Republicnn National Conveution I beg to express a deep sen se of the honor w'hieh is eonferrecl and of the duty which is imposed. I venture to accompany the aeceptance with sonie observations upon the fjuestiona involved In the contest- questions v lióse settlemcnt may affect the future of the Nation favorably or unfarorably for a long series of years. In emunerating the issues upon which the Republican party appeals for popular support the convention has been singularly explicit and felicitous. It bas properly given the leading position to the industrial interests of the country as affected by the tariff on imports. On that question the two poliücal purties are radically in conflict. Almost tho tirst act of :he Republicans, when they carne into power in 1861, was the establishment of ;he principie of protection to American labor and to American capital. Th is [(riueiple the Republicau party has ever since steadily maintained, vliile on the other hand the Democratie party in Congress bas for tifty years ])ersistently warred upou it. Twiee within that period our opponents havedestryed tarilïs arranged for protection, and s'uieethe close of the Civil War, whenevcr they tiave controlled the House of Repreae Q:atives, hostile legislation haa been atLempted - never more conspiruou9ly tlian in their principal measure at the late session of Congress. THE TARIFF QÜH9TION. Reverme laws are in their very nature subject to frequent revisión in order that :hey may be adapted to changes and modficiHions of trade. The Republican party is not contending for the permanency of any particular statute. The. issue between ihe two parties does not have reference :o a specitic law. It is far broader and far deeper. It in vol ves a principie of wide application and benelicent inlluence against a iheory wbich we believe to be unsound in conception and inevitably liurtful in practice. In the many tariff revisions which have been necessary for the last twenty-three years, or wliich may liereaifer become necessary, the Republican party bas maintained and will maintain the policy of protection to American industry, while our opponents insist upon a revisión which practically destroys that policy. The ;ssue is tlius distinct, well defined, and unavoidable. The pending election may determine the fate of protection for a generation. The overthrow of the policy uien is a large and permanent reüuction in the wages of the American laborer, besiües involving the Ios3 of vast amounts of American capital inve8ted in manufacturing enterprises. The value of the present revenue system to the people of the United States is not a matter of theory, and I shall submit no argument to sustain it. I only invite attention to certain facts of official record which seem to constitute a demonstration. In the census of 185U an eftbrt was made for the ür.st time in our nistory to obtain a valuation of all the property in the United States. The attempt was in a large degree unsuccessful. Partly from lack of time, partly from prejudice among many wbo thought the inquiries foreshadowed a new scheme of taxation, the returns were incomplete and unsatisfactory. Little more wa3 done than to consolídate the local valuation used In the States for the purposes of assessment, and tbat, as everyone knows, differs wldely from a complete exhibit of all the property. In the census of 1SG0, however, the was work done with great thoroughness- the distinction between "assessed" value and "true'1 value being carefully observed. The grand result was that the "true value'' of all the property In the States and Territories (excluding slaves) amounted to fourteen thousand millions of dollars ($14,000,000,000). The aggregate was the net result of the labor and the sayingrs of all the people within the area of the United States from the time the first British colonist landed in 1607 down to the year 1800. It represented the fruit of tbetoil of 250 years. After 1860 the business of the country was encouraged and developed by a protective tariff. At the end of twenty years the total property of the United States, as returned by the census of 1860, amounted to the enormous aggregate of forty-four thousand millions of dollars. This great result was attained, notwithstanding the fact that countless millions had in the interval been wasted in the progress of a bloody war. It thua appears tbat while our population between J8tiO and 1880 increased 00 per cent. the aggregate property of the country increased 214 per cent. showing a vastly enbanced wealth per capita among the people. Thirty thousand millions of dollars had been added during these twenty vears to the permanent wealth of the Nation. The period between 1860 and to-day bas not been one of material prosperitj only. At no time In the bistory of the United States has there been such progress in the moral and philanthropic field. Rcligious and charitable tions, schools, seminaries, and colleges have been founded andendowed far more I generously than at any previous time in I our history. Greater and more varled relief bas been extended to human suflering, and the entire progress of the country in wealth bas been accompanied and dignified by a broadening and elevation of our National character as a people. Our opponents fiud fault thac our revenue system produces ¦ surplus. Kut they should not forget tbat the law has given a specitic purpose to which all of the surplus is prolitably and honorably applied - the reduction of the public debt and the consequent relief of the burilen of thxation. No dollar has been wasted and the only extravagance with which the party stands charged is the generous pensioning of soldiers, sailors, and their families - an extravagance , which embodies the highest lorm of 1 tice in the recognition and payment of a I sacred debt. When reduclion of taxation isto be made, the Republicau party can be trusted to accomplish it in sucli form as will most effectively aiil the industries of the Nation. OUR FOREIGX COMMERC K. A frequent accusation by our opponents is that the foreign commerce of the country has steadily decayed uudur the inllueuce of the protective tariff. Lu tuis way tbcy seek to array tlio mporting inlerësta against the Hepublican party. It is a common md yet radical error to confoutid the commcrce of the country with its Mrrytng trade - an error often coramitted innocently and sometimes designedly - but an error so gross that it does distinguish between the ship and the cargo. Foreign comnierce represents the exports and Importa of a country regardless of the nationality of the vessel that muy carry the comtnodities of exchange. Onr carrying trade has f rom obvious causes suffe red many discourageineuts since 18G0, but our foreign commeroe lias in the same period steiidily and prodigiously increased - increased, indeed :it a rate and to an amount which absolutely dwarf all previous development of our trade beyond the sea. From I8G0 to the present time the foreign coiumerce of the United States (divided with approximate cquality between exports and importa) reached the astounding aggregate of twenty-four thousand millions of dollars ($24,000,000,000). The balance in this vast commerce inclined in our favor, but it would have bei'n much larger if our trade with thecountries of America - elsewhere relerred to - had been more wisely adjusted. It is diffieult even to appreciate the magnitude of our export trade siuce 1860 and we can gain a correct conception ot' it only by comparison with preceding rcsults in the same field. The total exports froin the United States from the Declaration of Indcpendence iu 1776down lo the day ot' Llncoln's election iu lSiiO, added to all that had previously been exported trom the American Colonies from tlieir original settlement, amountedto less than niue thousand millions of dollars ($'.),- 000,000,000). On the other hand our exports from 1860 to the close of the laat fiscal year exceeded twelve thousand millions of dollars ($12,000,000,000)- the wliole of it beingthe product of American labor. Evidently a protective tarifl' lias not injured our export trade when, uiider its influence, we exported iu twenty-four years40 per cent. more than the total amount that bad been exported In the entire previous history of American commerce. All the details, when analyzed, correspond with the gigantic resuit. The commercial cities of the Union never had sueh growth as they have enjoyed since 1800. Our chief emporium. the City of New York, wilh its dependencias, h.is within that period doubled her population and increased her wealth iivefold. During the same period the iinports and exports which have entered and left her harbor are more than doublé in bulk and vahie the whole amount imported and exported by her between the settlement of the first Dutcn colony on the lsland of Manhattan and the outbreak of the Civil War In 18C0. AOBICULTÜRE AND TARIFF. Tlie agricultural interest is by far the largest in the Nation, and is entitled iu every adjustrnent of revenue laws to the flist consideration. Any policy hostile to the fullest development of acriculture in the United States must be abandonéd. Realizing this fact, the opponents of the present system of revenue have laborod very earnestly to persuade the farmers of the'United States that they are robbedby a protective tariff, and the effort is thus made to consolídate their vast influence In favor of free trade. But, happily, the farmers of America are intelligent and cannot be misled by sophistry when conclusive facts are before them. They see plainly that during the last twenty-four years wealth has not been acquired in any one section or by one interest at the expense of another section or another interest. They see that " tho agricultural States have made even more rapid progress than the manufacturing States. The farmers see that in 18G0 Massachusetts and Illinois had ahout the same wealth- between $800,000,000 and $900,000 000 each- and that In 1880 Massachusetts had advanced to $2,600,000,000, while Illinois had advanced to $3,200,000,000. They see that New Jersey and Iowa were just equal iu population in 1860, and that in twenty years the wealth of New Jersey was increased by the 6um of $850,000,000, while the wealth of Iowa was increased by the sum of $1,500,000,000. They see that the niue leading agricultural States of tho West had grown so rapidly in prosperity that the aggregate addition to their wealth since 1800 is almost as great as the wealth of the entire country En that year. They see that the Soutli, which is almost exclusively agricultural, has shared in the general prosperity, and that, havingf recovered from the loss and devastation of war, it has guined so rapidly that its total wealth is at least the doublé of that which it possessed in 1860, exclusive of slaves. In these extraordinary development3 the farmers see the helpful imoulse of a home market, and they see that the finan; cial and revenue gystem, enacted since the Republican party caine into power, bas established and constantly expanded the home market. They see that even in the case of wheat, which Is our chief cereal export, they have sold, in the average of tho years since the close of the war, three busliels at home to one they have sold abroad, and that in the case of corn, the only other cereal which we export to any extent, one hundred bushels have been used at home to three and a half bushels exported. In some yean the disparity has been so great that for every peck of corn exported, one hundred bushels have been consumed in the home market. The farmers see that, in the increasing competition from the grainfields of Russia and from the distant plains of India, the growth of the home market becomes daily of reater concern to them, and that its iinpairment would deprecíate the value of every acre of tillable land iu the Union. OUR INTERN'AL, COMMERCE. Such facts as these touching the growth and consumption of cercáis at home give us some slight conception of the vastnees of the internal commerce of the United States. They suggest also that, in addition to the adyantages which the American people enjoy from protection against foreign competition, they enjoy the advantages of absolute free trade over i larger área and wilh a greater population than any other nation. The Internal commerce of our thirty-eight States and nine Territories is carried on without let or liindrance, without tax, detention, or Uovernmental interference of any kind whatever. It spreads freely over an area of three and a half million square miles - almost equal in extent to the wliole Continent of Europe. lts prolits are enjoyed to-day by 50,000,000 of American freemen, and from this enjoyment no monopoly is created. According to Alexander Hamilton, when he discussed the same subject in 17'JO, " the internal competition which takes place does away with everything like monopoly, and by degrei s reduces the prices of anieles lo the niiniContinued on Second Page. JAMKS G. BLAOE'3 LETTEB Ot ACCEPTAKCE. CONCI.UDED. in ti in of a i'ensonable proflt on the otpila einployed." It is imposible to pol ut to a ¦Ingle monopoly in the (Jnited States tha bas boen created or foatered by the indus trial system wliich is uplielil by tlie lic publican party. Com pared wlth onr forelgn commerce these (loniestic exciiangea are inconceiv ably RTbat In amnunt - requiring merel] as onc instrumentality as large a mileage ot' railway as exists to-day in all theotlie nations of the workl coinbiiied. These internal exchanges are estimated by the Statistlcal Uiireau ot the Treasury De partinent to be annually twenty times a great in amount as our lOreijrn commerce ït is into this Held tliat the opponents o our present revenue system woukl freely admit the countries of Eurone - countrie luto whose internal trade we could no reciprocally enter; countries to which we shoukl be surrendering every advantage of trade ; from which we sUould be gain ing nothing in return. EFFECT CrON TUE MECHANIC AND TUF LABORER. A poücy of this kind would be disas trous to the mechanics and worklngniei of the United States. Wages are unjustl' rednoed when uu industrious man is no able by his earnings to live bl comfort edúcate his children, and lay by a sufllcient amoont for the necessities of age Tlie reduction of wages inevitably consequent upon throwlng our home marke open to the world woukl deprive them o: the power to do this. It would prove a great calamity to our country. It woulc produce a conflict between the poor ani the rich, and in the sorrowful degradation of labor would plant the seeds of public danmr. The Republican party has steadüy aimed to maintain just relations between labor and capital, guarding witli care the rights of each. A conflict between the two has always led in the past and will always lead in the future to the injury ol both. Iabor is indispensable to the creation and profitable UK of capital, and capital mercases the efficiency and value of labor. Whoever arrays the one against the other is an enemy of both. ïliat policy is wisest and best which harmonizes the two on the basis of absolute justice The Repúblicas party has protected the tree labor of America so that lts cotnpensiitioii is larger than is realized In any other country. It has guarded our people against the unfair competition of contract labor from Chin-i, and may be called upon to prohibit the growth of a similar evil from Europe. It is obviously unfair to permit capitalista to make contracts for eneap labor in iöreign countries to the tuut and disparagement of the labor of American citizeus. Such i policy (like that which would leave the time and other conditions of home labor exclusi vely in the control of the employer) is injurious to all parties - not the least so to the unhappy persons who are made the subjects of the contract. The institutionsof the United States rest upon the intclligence and virtue of all the people. Suffra;e is made universal as a just weapon ol self-protcction to every citizen. It is not the interest of the lïepublic that any economie system shoukl be adoptcd which involves the reduction of wages to the hard standard prevailing elsewhere. The Kepublican party aiins to elévate and diguify labor - not to degrade it. As a substitute for the industrial system which, under Kepubliean administrations, has developed such extraordinary prosperitv, our opponents offer a policy which is but a series of experimenta upon our systum of revenue - a polidj whose end must be barra to our manufactures and ureater harin to our labor. Experiment in the industrial and tinancial system is the country's greatest dread, as stability is its greatest t)oon. Even the uncertainty resulting from the recent tarift Bgitatlon in Congress bas hurtfully aft'ected the business oi the entile country. Who can measure the harin to our shops and our homes, to our farms and our coinmerce, if the uucertamty of perpetual tariff agita t ion is to be Inflioted upon the country ? We are in the midst of an abundant harvost; we are on the eve of a revival of general prosperity. Nothing stands in our way but the dread of a chango in the industrial system which bas wrought such wondi rs in the last twenty yearf, and which, vvith the power of increased capital, will work still greater marvels of prosperity in the twenty years to cotue. OUR FOUEIGN POLICY. Our foreign relations fayor our domes;ic de opment. We are at p ace with thewoild - at peace upon a suund basis, with no unsettled questions of suffleient naguitude to embarrass or dis-traet us. Happily removed by our ffeograpliical wsition from participation or interest in ;hose questions of dynasty or boundarv which so frequently distui'b the peace o'f Europe, we are left to cultívate írjemlly relations with all, and are tree from possible entanglements in the quarrels of any. The United States has no cause and no desire to engage in conflict with any Power on earth.uud we may reit in Mttired eonfidence that no Power desires to attack the United States. With tlie nations of the Western Hemisphere we should cultívate closer relations.ai'd for our oomnion prosperity and advancement we should invite them all to join with us in an ngreement thnt, for the future, all international troiibles in Xortli or South America shall be adjusted by ïmpaitial arDltratlon and not by anuí. Tliis project was part of the fixed policy of President Garfleldi admlnUtratlon.and it shoulü la my judginent be renewed. lts aecomplliliDient on this continent would favorably effect the nations beyond the sea, and thus powerfully contribute at nodtttant day to the universal accept anee of Ihe phllanturoplc and ehrUtiaa principie of arbitiation. The effect even of suggefting it for the Spanish-Amcrican States has been most happy, and has increased the conlidence of those people iu our friendly disposition. It feil to niy lot ai Seeretary of State in June, 1881, to quiet upprehension in the Kepublic of Mexico by giving the assiiiunce, in bo official (lisp;itch, thnt "there is not the faintest desire in the United States for territorial extensión soiitli of the Rio Grande. The boundaries of the two Re public have been established in conformity with the best jurisdictional interests of botli. The line of demaication is not inerely conventional. It is more. It separates a Spanish-American people trom a Saxou-American peoile. It divides one greatNation f rom another with distinct uil national iinality." We seek the conquests of peace. We desire to extend our commerre, and in an especial degree with our friends aud neighbors on this continent. We have not improved our relations with SpanishAmeiica as wisely and as persistentlv as we might have done. For more than a ífeneration the sympathy of those countries has been allowed to drift away trom tis. We should now make every eilbrt to gain thelr friemlship. Our trade with them is aheady large. Duriug the last year our exchanes in the Western HemUphere amounted to $.')f0, 000,000- nearly one-fouith of our entire forelgn oommerce. To those who may be disposed to underrate the valueof our trade with the countnes of North and Boutb America it may be well to stalathat thelr populstion is nearly or quite 50,000,000. and that, In proportion to agirrujeate numbers, we import nearly doublé as miich from them as we do from Europe. l!ut tlie resul t of the whole American trade is in a high degree unsatisfactory. The import du r'w! the last year exceeded $'25,003,000, while the exporta werc less than i?12."),000,000- sliowing a bülanoe a"aiust us of more thau $100,000,000. Bat the inoney does not go to öpani-h America. We send large sums to Europe in coin or its equivalent to pay European manufacturan for the goods which they seud to Spanish America. Wc are but paymasters for this enormous amount antiually to European factors - an amount whicli is a serious draft, in every linancial depression, upon our resources of specie. Cannot this conditiou of trade in graat part be changed 'i Cannot the market for our products be greatly enlarged? We have made a begjnning in our effort to improve our trade relations witli Mexico, and we should not be content until similar and mutually advantageous arrangements have been successively made with every nation of Nortli and South America. While the zreat l'owers of Europe are Bteadlly enlargmg tlicircoloin.il doniinatlOD in Asia and África, I is the especial provluce of lliis country to improve and expaud ts tradc witli the Natlons of America. No Beid promlses s much. No lield has heen cullivated so lidie. Our foreigu nollcy ghould he an American policy in ts hroadest and most comprehensive sense- a policy of peace, of friendship, of commercial enlargunent. The name of American, whicli belongs to us in our National Capaclty, must al ways exalt the juut pride of patriotten: Citizenship of the Repoullc must he the pauoply and tafeguard of liini who wear it. The American cl tizan, ricli or pooi' native or naturalized, white orcolored must everywhere walk secure in his per sonal and civil rights. The Kepublic should never accept a lesser duty, it cai never assume a nobler o'ie, than the pro tection of the humblest man who owes i loyality - protection at home, mul pro tection which shall follow liim abroai into whatevur land he may go upon a lawful errand. TUE SOUTHERN STATES. I recognize, not without regret, the necessity for speakin of two sections ol our eommon countiy. But the regre diminishes when I see that the elementa wliich separated tliem are tast disappear ing. Prejudiees liave ylelded and are y leiding, while a growing eordialitv vvarms the Southern and the Northen heart alike. Can any one doubt that be tween the sections coulidcnce and eateen are today more markcd than at anj period in" the sixty years preceding tht election of President Lincoln? Tliis is the result in part of time and in part of Republican principies applied under tht favorable conditions of uiiiformity. It would be a great calamity to change these infiuences under which Southern Commonwealths are learning to vindícate civil rights, and deptlny themselves to the condition of political tranquility ani industrial progress. If there be occasional and violent outbreaks in the South against this peaceful progress, the public opinión of the country regards tliem as exceptional, and hopefully trusts thut each wil! prove the last. The South needs capital and occu pation not COntroversy. As much as any part ol the North the South needs the f uil pro tection of the revenue laws which the Republican paity offers. Some of the Southern States have already eutered upon a career of lndustllal development and prosperity. 1 Hese ut luust should uot lend their electoral votes to destroy their oivn future. Any eflbrt to uuite the Southern States upou issues that grow out of the memories of the War wlll siimmon the Northern States to combine in the assertion of that Nationality which was their inspiration in the civil struggle. And tlius graat energies which should be united in a eommon industrial development will be wasted in hurtful strife. The Democratie party shows itself a foe to Southern prosDerity by alwHYB invokinjf and urging Southern political consolidatiou. Siieh a policy qiienches the rising instinct of patriotlsm i;i the heart of the Southern youth; it revivts and stimulates prejudice; itsubstitutes the spirit of barbarie vengeanoe for the love of peace, progress, and liarniony. THE CIVIJ, SEKVlCE. The general eharacter of the civil service of the United States under all adminUtntloni iias been honorable. In the one supreme test - the collection and disbursement of revenue - the record of üdelity luis never been surpassed 'm any Nation. With the almost fabulous sums which were received and paid during the late war scrupulous integrity was the prevailinr rule. Indeed, throughoiit that trying period t can be said to the honor of the American name that unfiithfiilness and honesty among clvl] ofhVers were as rare as misconduet and cowardice on the leid of battle. The grawUi of the country has continually and necessarily enlarged the civil service, antll now it includes a vast body of officers. Rules and methods of apiointment which prevailed when the ïumber was smaller have been found insufficient and impracticable, and earnest efforts have been made to separate the great mass of ministerial officers from larfisan intluence and personal control. [mpartiality in the mode of appointment to be hased on qualilication, anil security of tenure to be based on faltllful discharjie of duty, are the two ends to be accomplielied. The public business will be lided by separatinjr the legislative branch of the Government from all control of appointment, and the Executive Department will be relieved by subjecting appointmenta to flxed rules and tlius removing then from the caprice of favoritism. But there should be riglit observante ot the law which gives in all cases of equal competency the preference to thesoldiers who risked their lives in de[ense of the Union. I entered Congress in 1803, and in a somewhat prolonged service I never fouud it expedient to request or recommend tne removal of a civil offleer, except in four instances. and Enen for non-political reasons which were instuntly conclusve wirh the appolntlug power. The officers in the district, appointed by Mr. Lincoln in 1SG1 upon the recommendation of my predecessor, served, as a rule.until leath or resignation. I adopted at the begining of my service the test of comsetltlve examination for appointments to West Point, and maintained it so Ioiik as [ had the light by law to nomínate a cadet. In the case of many officers I bund that the present law which arbitrarilylimits the term of the commission oflered a constant temptation to changes 'or mere political reasons. I have pubicly expressed the belief that the essential niodification of that law would be in nany respects advantageous. My observation in the Department of State conlirmed the conclusious of my egislative experience, and impressed me with the conviction that the rule of iuimrtial appointment might with advantage bc c.irri.id beyond any existing provisión of the Civil-Service law. It should be applied to appointments in the Consular service. Consuls should be comnercial sentiuels- encircling the globe vith watchfulness for their couutry7s iuerests. Their intelligence and compeency become, therefore, matters of great lublic concern. No man should be poinieu io an American Consulate who is not well instriicted in the liistory and resources of bis own country and iu the requirements and language of commerce in the country to whicli he is sent. The same rule should be applied even more rigidly to Secretaries of Legatfon in our Diplomatic service. The people have ttaerlghtto the most elHcient agenta in the discharge of public business, and the appointing power should regard this as the prior and ulterior consideraron. THE M0KM0N QUESTION. Rdigious liberty is the right of every citizen of the Itepublic Congress is forbidden by the Contitution to makc any aw "respeotlDg the establishment of religión or prohlblting the free exerciae thereof." For a century under thisguarantee, Protestant and Oathollc, Jew and Gentile, have worshiped God according to the dictates of consoience. But rallgioua liberty must not le perverted to the jiutlficatlon of oll'enses ag.iinst the law. A religious sect, strongly intrenclied in one of the Territorial of the Union, and preadlng rapidly Into four other Territories, claims the right to desiroy the great safeguard and muniment of social order, and to praetice as a religious privilege that which is a crime punisued with severe penalty iu every State of the Union. The Öaciedness and unity of the family mv.st be preserved as the foundation of all civil government, as the source of ordeily administratiou, as the surest guarantee of moral purity. The claim of the Morruons that they are divinely autlioried to practice polygamy sbould DO more be admitted tlian the claim of certain heathen tribes, if they should come amon us, to continua the rite of human sacriíice. The law does not Interfere with what a man bclieves; it takes cognizance only of what he does. As citizens, the Mormons are entitled to the sanie civil rights as olhers. and to these they must bc contined. l'olygamy eau never leceive National sanction or toleration by admittlng the community that upholds it ai a State in the Union, Like others, the Mormons must learn that the liberty of the individual ceases where the rights of society begin. OLR CÜRRENCT. The peopleof tlie United StHtes, ttiough often urged and tempted, have nevor seriouslv conteinplated recognitlon of any other moiiey thau gold and gl) ver - and currency directlv convertible into tliem. Thcy iiave not done so, thcy will not ilo so, ander any necessity less preath ing tlian tüat ot' desperate war. The Olie special reqnUlte forthecoinpletion of our nionetaiy systcm is the fixing of the rellulive values of silver and gold. The large use of silver as the inoney of aeeount among Asiatic nations, taken In eoniicction with tlie increasingcomtnerce of tlie world, gives the weightiest reasons for an international agreement in the premises. Our Government should not cease to urge this meaiure until a coniinon standard of' value shall be reached and established- a standard that shall enalle the United States to use the silver from its mines as an auxiliary to gold in sutUinji the balances of commercial exobunge. THE PUBLIC LANDS. The strength ot' the liepublic is increased ly the ninltiplication of landholders. Our laws should, look to the jndicious encouragement of actual setilers on the pnblic domain, which should hencefurth be held as a sacred trust for the benefit oi' those seeking homes. The tendency to consolídate large tracts of land in the ownership of hdividuals or eorporations should, with proper regard to vested rights, be discouraged. One liundred thousand acres of land in the hands of one man is far less profitahje to the Naüon in cvery way tban when its ownership is divided among 1,000 men. The evil of permkting large iractsof the National domaiu to be Consolidated and controlled by the few against the many is enhanced when the persons coutrollir.fi it are aliens. It is but fair that the public land should be disposed of only to actual settlers and to those who are citizens of the Republlc, or wilüng to beconie SO. OUR SHII'PING 1NTERKSTS. Amon our National interests one languishes - the forelgn carrying trade. It was very seriously crippled in our Civil War, and another blow was giveu to it in the general substitution of steam for s.iil in ocean traffic. With a frontale on tlie two great oceans, with a freightage larger than that of any otlier nation, we have e very iuducement to restore our navigation. Yet the Government has bitherto refused its help. A small share of the encouragement given by the Government to railways and to manufactures and a small share of the capital and the zeal glvcn by our citizmis to those enterpiise8 would have ourried our ships to every sea and to every port. A. law just enacted removes some of the burüens upon our navigatiou and inspires hope that this great interest may at last receive its due share of attention. All eflbrts in this direction should receive encouragement. SACREDNESS OF THE BALLOT. This survey of our condition as a Nation reminds us that material prosperity is but a inockery if it does not tend to pres-irve the liberty of the people. A fiee ballot is the safeguard of republican institutions, without which no nationa] welfare is assured. A popular election houestly conducted, embodies the very inajesty of truc government. Ten millions of voters desire to take part in the pending contest. The safety of the Republic rests upon the integrity of the ballot, upon the security of sulfrage, to the citizeu. To deposit a frauduleiit vote is no wore a crime against constitutional liberty than to obstruct the deposit of an honest vote. He who corrupts suffrage strikes at the very root of tree government. 11e is the arch-enemy of the Koptiblic. He forgeta that in tramping upon the rights of others he fatally imperils his own rights. '-It is a good land which the Lord our God doth give us," but we can maintain our heritage only by guarding with vigilance the source of popular power. I aiu with great respect, V)ur obedient srv:mt