Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, December 17, 1894, Page 9

ARRANARANAPNNNARNANNAN: TWELVE PAGES, ESTABLISHED JU IMBER 17, 1894. SINGLE cory FIVE CEN THE FALSE AND TRUE Retrospective Sketoh of Republicanism in Nebraska, COPPERHEADS AND CONSERVATIVES OF '66 The Straggle of Loyal Republicans Against Faithless Leaderships, PERFIDIOUS WATCHMEN ON THE TOWER Ring Out the 0ld—Ring in the New—Ring Cut the False—Ring in the Trus, HONEST CONVICTIONS VS PARTY SPOILS Full Text of Beatrico Al Mr. dress on the Past, Present Edward Rosewater's and Future ot Republicanism In Nebraska. Persuant to previous anncuncement, Mr. Edward Rosewater delivered an address in Paddock opera house, Beatrice, Friday even- ing, in which he discussed “The Past, Pres- ent and Future of Republicans in Nebraska." The speaker was introduced by one of Gage county's old-time republicans, Hon. Nathan Blakely, and the address was listened to With close attention throughout, Mr. Rosewater spoke as follows: Mr. Chalrman and Ladies and Gentlemen: The unexpected most always happens. When I was in this city four years ago this last summer, during the memorable debate b tween myself and Prof. Dickey on the great question then pending of the prohibition amendment, 1 had occasion to take a casual view over your town, and I was struck most favorably with its location and its general metropolitan appearance. I then promised myselt that at some future time I should return to Beatrice, either on a pleasure visit or perhaps in connection with professional duties or political contests. It so happened during the late campaign that I was not able to fulfill the promise made to appear before the people of your city. T had been urged by populists and discontented republic- ans to deliver an address here some time in September or October; but I thought that the field, perhaps, was not as promising, or that the occasion did not warant—in any event. I did not respond; but, at the urgent Tequest and solicitation, the prayerful appeal of my friend, the enemy, of the gentlemen who have so industriously and zealously advertised me individually and the paper of which I am editor, through the campaign, I thought that I must not refuse the invita- tion; and I feel very grateful for the hos- pitable and cordial welcome that I have recelved at their hands. When 1 was about 17 years of age, away back in 1859 (and I am not giving away a secret about my age) I was transplanted suddenly from the most rank abolition town in the world, Oberlin, O. to the city of Murfreesboro, Tenn. It was In the midst of the very great excitement that preceded the John Brown raid. Soon after my loca- tian In Murfreesboro I received a very polite request to vacate my place as telegraph operator In that town for the reason, the superintendant said, that I entertained free 80il sentiments, and that no man who enter- tained such could remain in the south, and 1 was kindly admonished to go north it I wanted to continue in the business, ‘Well, I am somewhat of a stubborn makeup, some people think, and, instead of going back north, I went further south. I went first into Mississippl, and then finally got located in north Alabama, at the crossing of the Memphis & Charleston and Nashville & Chat- tanooga railways. I had not been in that place more than a week when I received a telegraphic message from Murfreesboro, say- ing: “Don't ever come back here; If you come back to Murfreesboro they will hang you.” I took the train that very evening and the next morning I was In Murfreesboro, and told them to proceed with the hanging it they wanted to. I have come to Beatrice not under exactly the same conditions (laughter), but I have felt that the urgent in- vitation could not well be declined. (Laughter.) FOR PRESIDENT : John C. Fremont OF CALIFORNIA, For Vice-President William L. Dayton, OF NEW JERSEY. Now, the object of my address tonight Is slmply somewhat retrospective. I have been sked to explain, in the first place, why 1 still continue to be a republican; and then some other matlers have been asked that are perhaps of more lmportance to the pub- Mshers of rival newspapers than they are to ¥ou or myself. Before answering all of these very ‘ dmportant questions, I want to em- Phasize the fact that my credentlals as a re- publican date & good many years back; they date back to the time when men wore this badge, (exhibiting a badge), and I venture to Say that there is not another one in this clty today. This badge, if you will lnspect it after I get through here, and I will cheer- Qully let you look at it, bas the American flag over it, as you note, and the portrait of | ing that rebels must take back seats. John C. Fremont. Upon it 1s written In the flag, “Fremont and freedom John C. Fremont of California; and for vice president, William L. Dayton of New Jerssy.” That s the kind of a badge I wore. I marched in the procession with the boys that carried the torchlights for the first candidate | for president of the United States that the republican party had nominated, and mit whether it is essential that every milksop who was not born at that time concedes that I am a republican or not. I do not either, whether I have got to consult people who were converted to republicanism only after the party had gone into power, and had offices to bestow, revenues to divide, and spolls to distribute. My republicanism was that of conviction and of cholce. My father was a republican. He vated for Abraham Lin- coln in 1860 (applause), was a full citizen of th United States then; and my first vote was cast for this ticket. You see here the ticket For president, | I sub- | Know, | In less than a year he invited them all to the front seats, and invited congress to take the back seats. “The position of congress was that the state government, in order to be republican, | in torm under our constitution, should not only have boundarles, territory, and a writ- ten constitut'on, but it should have officers who had taken an oath to support the con- | stitution and laws of the United States. It ! should b a friend of the general g:vernment, there for the purpose of supporting it, and not there for the purpose of destroying it. “On this question the president took issue, and pr mulgated what was then known as My Policy,’ that fs, his policy-and took l he broad position that, though a state gov- roment might be organized and officered by | men ready to destroy the general government, | it was the same as though it were run by men ready to uphold it. “On this issue we organized in this state, Grant and Colfax. U. 8. GRANT. BCHUYLER COLFAX Republican Union Nominationg, For Presidential Ilectors, T. M. MARQUETT E, of Cass. LOUIS ALLEGWAHMHR, of Richardson. J. ¥. WARNER, of Dakota. that I voted in 1868, It was my first pres tdential vote for president, Grant and Colfax— U. 8. Grant and Schuylr Colfax. That was the first presidential ticket republicans voted in Nebraska. I was not running a news- paper then. I was not in politics. I also carry with me another credential, one that I have never exhibited anywhere to anybody outside of my family, since I have been in Nebraska. I not one of those that believe in harping o the soldier racket, but I just want to show you another one of the credentials that entitle me to be classed as a republican. I wore this with General Fremont in the campaign of West Virginia, I wore it again witi General Pope, and it was at the second battle of Bull Run. I wore it in the War department when I transmitted by telegraph the emancipation proclamation that Abraham Lincoln issued; and maybe you will want to know whether I am a republican or not, but I think that my credentlals are pretty good. (Applause.) am and the republicans organized all over the United States. “The election in our territory came on in October, and those who were in favor of state—that 1s, the admission of Nebraska into the union—organized and passed resolutions taking sides with congress. The democrats and office holders generally in the territory, organizing and nominating men, took sides with the president.” I have quoted Mr. Mar- quette. Now what was this contest In 18662 Tt was a contest for the life of the nation, for the perpetuity of the union, and in this state it was also a contest for republican suprem- acy over disunionism and copperheadism. There are doubtless a great many here who remember the issues of that day, and who wera then as I was already full grown men and Nad a share in that great conflict; but there are others who do not, understand much about this and have had perhaps no particu- lar opportunity to get a true insight into the struggles of the republicans of those days epane Now let us take a retrospective glance at the history of Nebraska, and see how it comes that some men who rank as stalwart republicans and are held up as great exam- plars for us to follow, while those of us who were Grant republicans in those days do not think that they were republicans at all, Let me read to you from some standard au- thorities: Here is the second volume of the Nebraska State Historical soclety. On page 162 there is a chapter contributed by Hon. Charles H. G:re on the admission of Ne- braska into the union. You know Mr. Gere ranks high in the coun- cils of the gentlemen who want to question my republicanism. Mr. Gere describes the polit- feal situation as follows: “Under the administration of President Johnson a considerable change was likely to be made in the boundary lines between the two great parties. The republican party was more or less divided and the democrats were affiliating with the Johnson or liberal wing. The president was exercising the power of patronage for the success of the coalition and the liveliest hope pervaded the ranks of the democracy and the Johnson republicans that another election or two would put congress and the government in their hands. Hence, the republicans in Nebraska were exceedingly anxious to forestall such a change and assist in holding the national legislature for that party by the immediate admission of Ne- braska. “With equal foresight, the democratic lead- ers saw that it was agalnst their interests to permit this to be done; that by delaying the matter until thelr expected accession of strength would give them control of the na- tion, and eventually of Nebraska—where the majority against them was comparatively small—they would assist their friends In Washington, and at the same time keep the coveted senatorship for themselves, * + * * For this reason the canvass became ex- ceedingly lively, and was, in fact, the most thorough and bitterly contested of any that bad thus far occurred. “It was a stoutly fought campalgn and an exceedingly close election. The majority for the adoption of the constitution was barely 200, and Butler was elected governor by a vote of 4,093 to 3,048 for Morton. So close was the election that the majority of Judge Crounse, one of the republican candidates for the supreme court, was only six, while Wil- liam A. Little, one of the democratic candi- dates for chief justice, was elected. I will read a littl: from another authority In tho same volume, but just at the present I will recite what another very goed repub- lican authority from the railroad standpoint sald, the Hon, T. M. Marquette. In his Nebraska State Historical soclety contribu- tion, made at the quarter centennial cele- bration of our admission into the union. Mr. Marquette says this about that campaign: “Between the adjournment ¢f congress in July, 1866, and the general election in the fall of the same year, there was what m'ght be sald to be a revolution in politics. Andrew Johnsom, the then acting president, who was elected on the ticket with Abraham Lincoln as & republican, tcok direct lssue with the republican party on the question of the re- construction of the southern states, which had engaged in the rebellion. Johnson started out in his lnaugural address by say- and who know nothing about the conduct of the republican or democcratic leaders of Ne- braska in that memorable confiict. Every old veteran will remember how the country was shocked over the announcement of the dastardly assassination of Abraham Lincoln, and this is what Andrew Johnson said on April 18, 1865, three days after the president’s murder: “The Ameriean people must be taught, if they do not already feel, that treason is a crime and must be punished; that the gov- ernment will not always bear with its ene- mies; that it is strong enough not only to respect, but to punish. When we turn to the criminal code and examine the catalogue of crimes we there find arson lald down as a crime, with its proper penalty; we find there theft and robbery and murder given as crimes, and there, too, we find the last and highest of crimes, treason. With other and Inferlor oftenses the people are familiar, but in our peaceful history treason has been al- most unknown. The people must understand that it is the blackest of erimes and will be surely punished. Let it be engraven on every heart that treason is a crime and that traitors shall sufter its penalty. While we are appalled, overwhelmed at the fall of one man In our midst at the hand of a traitor, shall we allow men to attempt the life of the state with impunity? While we strain our minds to comprehend the enormity of this assassination, shall we allow the nation to be assassinated?” But Johnson changed his tune very soon thereafter, and turned in with the men who were trying to overghrow the government by indirection, which they had failed to destroy by force of arms, A The Omaha Republican of September 28, 1866, contains this editorial: “The president, at Newark, 0., on Thurs- day last, announced that another civil war was inevitable; not a civil war between sec- tions, not a war between the north and the south, but, as he styles it, an internecine war, In which, for instance, the people of Ohio of his party will array themselves in arms against that portion of the people of the same state who are not of his party. This war, he declares, is Inevitable, except upon one contingeucy, and that contingency s the election of a congress.who w.ll admit the sen- ators and representatives of the rebel states without requiring of these states any previous ratification of the constitutional amendment." From the Chicago Tribune of the same date: “‘Let every voter remember that when he votes for a democrat or Johnsonite for con- gress he votes to send a man to Washing- ton to join Johnson in his projected overthrow of congress. Every such man elected to con- ress is a vote for civl, war. The importance of & vote at this election is very great."” In that dark hour of the country's history, when the natlon was on a high teosion of excitement over the almost treasonable ut- terances from the white house, and the ef- fort to overthrow the union party, for that was the name by which the republican party was then known, the republican party of Nebraska arrayed itself in unison with the republicans of the loyal states in defense of the great principles for which the war had been fought. Having formulated a constitution for the state In case it was admitted into the union, the republicans nominated one delegate to represent the territory In congress and one representative who was to take his place after the state should be a@mitted into the union. The cholce of the mepublican con- vention for de'egate fell @pen IZon. T. M Marquette. Remember she Burlington had not yet been_built and Mr. Marquette had not yet becoine a failroad ‘attorney. For member of congress they nominated ‘‘Hon- est” John Taffe. Oppbsed to them were the candidates nominated. by ' the democratic Andrew Johnson coalffion, with J. Sterling Morton for delegate ald Algernon 8. Pad- dock for member of cOmgress, On September 14, 1866, the day on which the Johnsonite democratic tfcket was put in nomination, the Omaha Republican published this editorial: AID TO TREASON. “The copperheads of Nebraska are today giving ald and comfort to rebels. They passed resoutions today which will be ac- ceptable to those who waged the war of the rebellion. They will make nominations today for whom every rebel bishwhacker from Missourl now in Nebraska, will vote. By thelr acts today they will rejoice over the enemy of the government. The democracy of Nebraska are sympathizers with treason, they know It, they can't deny it. They are conscious of the infamy thelr course has brought upon them and they seriously con- template organizing under & new party flag of conservatism, which 1s in reality treason in disguise. These men will resort to any- thing, yield anything, &0 that it will help them to gain political power again in the nation. These men, these copperheads of Nebraska, will take the worst traitors of the south by the hand and gladiy welcome them without condition or guaranty back to the halls of congress to legislate for them, trust- ing that by such business they may recover the position which they forfeited by their former political degeneracy. Can any one concelve of a more debasing position than that which the democracy of Nebraska occu- ples today? Afders and abettors of treason these men are. The tendency and result of their teachings and their acts is to aid in bringing on another civil war, and they do it with the full knowledge of the consequerces of their course. Disgraceful indeed Is the position occupled by the ddmocracy of Ne- braska today."” And here is the heading of an appeal that appeared In the Republican a few days later: “To the Young Men of the Loyal North: In October and November Elections Take Place Upon Which Result Holds the Destiny of the Republic. You Are:Called Upon to Decide Whether or Not the Republic as Be- queathed to Us by Our Fathers Shall Be Maintained in Its Purity,, or Whether it Shall Be Overturned and a Monarchy Erected in Its Stead! You Are Called Upon to Decide Whether the Laws Which Govern You Shall Be Made by Yourselves, Through Your Rep- resentatives, or Whether Cangress Shall Be Reduced to the Condition: of the French As- scsably, Which Makes Only $uch Laws as the Empex<r Sees Fit to Reconimand! You Are Called Upon to Declde Whegher ‘in the Fu- ture’ Congress Shall Be as it Has Been in the Past, the Law-Making Power, or Whether Andrew Johnson Shall Be Permitted to Usurp Its Functions and Combine n His Own Per- son the Legislative, Exeautive and Judicial Departments! You Are Galled Upon to De- cide Whether Rebels, Unfepentant, Insolent and Deflant, Shall Rule This: Country, or Whether the Power Shall Be/Cantinued in the Hands of Loyal Men. You Are Called Upon to Decide Whether the South Carolina Rebel Shall Have Two Votes to(the Loyal Man's One. Whether Negroes of the South Who Have No Volce in the Government Shall Be Counted in the Basis of Representation, Thus Glying Thirty Additional)Menibers of Con- gress and Thirty Votes i the Blectoral Col- lege as a Reward for: Rebéllion. You Are Called upon to Decide Whether Jeff Davis, Benjamin, Slideil and Mas Shall Take Seats in the Senate to Makp Lawe for You! Whether the Rebel Debt Shall Be Saddled on your Shoulders! And Whether or Not You Are to Be Taxed to Pay Pensions to Rebel Soldlers! Never WasjThere an Elec- tion so Important! Do You Appreclate Its Importance? Have' You Thought Peace or War Hangs in the Balance? Are You Doing Your Duty?” Those were indeed very exciting times. “As before stated, the attempt td overthrow the republican party was made by a combinaticn between the democrats, who were then almost as a un't in sympathy with the southern Tebels, and a lot of office holders in this state, who considered federal. patronage of more c:nsequence than they did loyalty to their party. They were styling themselves conservatives, and who ‘would -have thought in those days that these men would be lauded to the skies and pointed out as paragons of party loyalty in 1894, What s07t ¢f a combindtion was that? We will see a little bit, further on. The Omaha Republican of Sgptember 28, 1866, addressed itself to Messrs, Paddock and Mor- ton as follows: “Which congress do you propose to take seats in if elected? The one elected by the loyal pesple of the north or the one elected by the rebels of the south and their allies at the north, which Andrew. Johnson propos:s to recognize? Do not dodge this question. We hope the voters of Nebraska will ask an answer to this question every time they mect the above gentlemen. Now, the standing of Mr. Morton on the war Issues was best portrayed in an article con- tributed by William Dalley to the historical state reports, in which he gives extracts from the speech of Mr. Mort:n on May 9, 1863, betore the Councll Bluffs Democratic club, and afterwards published In the Ne- braska City News, Mr. Morton's home organ. “The speaker began by telling how be- wildered a common rustic is when he first enters Barnum's museum, and then added: S0 an unpracticed speaker who attempts today the investigation of the politics of the present administraticn, and endeavors to collect and put upon exhibition some of the p:litical monstrosities of abolition, s at once 16t and dumbfounded amidst the mag- nificence of the imbecility and the grandeur of the knavery which has filled that great curiosity shop of cdorruptfon at Washington City, cver which Mr. A, Lincoln—inimitable anecdoter of INinois—presider with a mirth and merriment as potent for: side-splitting as his arm and axe were ance for rail split- ting, or his present conduct of public affairs 1s for union splitting. { ““As the voice of God ¢alled umto Abraham of old, eaying unto him: ‘Abraham, take now thy son, thine only son Isaae, whom thou lovest, and get thee ulto the land of Moriah, and offer him there for a burnt offering,' o, during the fall elections In the great states of Illinols, @bfo, Indiana and New York, a volce—vax opull vox Dei— like the sound of many jwaters, has cried unto our Abrabam, saymg: ‘Take thou now thy well beloved frienfl and brother, Abolition, and get nm-]mn the boundaries of the constitution of thy fathers, and offer him there for a peaco offering’ But in vain! “Abraham of this generation is stiff- necked and heedeth not the reprimanding voice of a displeased people, He and his party proceed, emancipating and to emanci- pate, and if tonight God in’His infinite mercy and goodness should call the weary spirit of every black slave in all this broad land to come up higher, to pass from earth, and to float triumphant up through the stars and the shining worlds to heaven, Lincoln and his nigger-crazed cownsellors would awake tomcrrow and weep bliter tears be- cause there would be fio more niggers to tree, to feed, to clothe, and to;tax us for.”” (Laughter.) That was the utterabee of Mr. Morton In the year which saw Vicksburg surrender to the armies under Grant and Leo's disastrous defeat at Gettysburg, But here is something more strikivg. In the Plattsmouth Herald of October 5, 1866, and republished in the. Republican, Mr. Morton's views are given as follow STANDS ON HIS RECORD. ““Morton appears to be very obstinate.and will pay no attention to the voice of his ‘conservative friends.' He comes out ‘flat- footed' and ‘square toed' upon his record, and tells the people at Omaba in & public speeck that he has not moderated his wiews. He still adheres to the doctrine of the Cbicago platform, which declares; *‘That after four years of failure to restore the union by the experiment of war, during which, under the pretence of military necessity, or ‘war power higher than the constitution,' the consti- tution itselt has been disregarded in every part, common and public liberty and private right alike trodden down and the material prosperity of the country essentially im- paired, justice, humanity, liberty and the common_ welfare demand that immediate efforts be made for a cessation of hos- tilities, “He still adheres to his assertion in this clty that it Jeft Davis and Abraham Liacoln were hung upon the same tree, Lincoln would bear the the thieves did to Christ, ““He still adheres to the doctrine of having Price's disbanded ragamufiins ‘come up to the polls and vote down the blue coated end brass button_abolitionists. “He stiil belleves that volunteer soldiers in the union army should not be allowed to vote, “He stil believes and politically, Jeft Abraham Lincoln.' " 1 have read these extracts to you tonight, and have others here also that relate to an incident that happened In your town of Beatrice at that very time, with your present chairman, Mr. Nathan Blakeley, presiding— a very remarkable incident and encounter be- tween the republicans and so-called conserva- tive Johnsonites, which in itself is very in- teresting historical reading; but I have no Qisposition now to go into the detail, except- ing to peint a moral to the tale. The rea- son why I have recalled these chapters of polit'cal history is simply because my first advent in Nebraska, direct from the War department, in the fall of 1863, and in the fall of 1864 I cast my first vote—for P. W. Hitcheock, who was then the republican nom- inee for delegate to congress, and the other republican territorfal candidates. In that memorable fight in 1866, when the John- sonites tried to undo what was won at Ap- pomattox, 1 was so incensed that I ventured into print and penned my first editorials. They appeared in the Omala Repablican, I de- nounced the coalition of the copperheads with the Johnsonites and opposed with all the vigor that I could, not only in writing, but in active work in the campaign, the attempt to overthrow the republican party by that combination. Two years ago, when the legislature was in session, there was a caucus of republicans held, and forty-two republicans had actually pledged themselves to cast thelr votes for J. Sterling Morton for United States sen- ator. I appeared in the caucus and called the'r attention to the record which had been made here during the war and in 1866, and I broke up that combination; but during the late campaign many of these railroad re- publicans denounced me from one end of the state to the other, as a recreant republi- can and a traitor to the party, when they were willing to take »n ex-copperhead and make a United States senator of him! (Laughte: and applause.) They held me up to the scorn and contumely and hatred of loyal republicans, when I have stood up here in the early days and fought against the cohorts that sought to take the life of the republican party. Right here let me say that I have no disposition or desire to reflect upon ex-Senator Paddock. He has been an enter- prising citizen; he i a loyal friend to those who are his friends, and he has done a great deal for Nebraska, and I am willing {o éfedit him with eyerything that he hag done, but we could not keep politieal com- pany, and I will always refuse to be placed beneath him as a republican, when it comes to counting up the republicans of Nebraska, 1 simply point to this historical fact to show that we had certain leaders in this state who have been elevated by the republican party to the highest positions within its gift and whom I have been opposing In defense of true republicanism, and for this very reason I have been denovnced and maligned for years and years. My relations with Senator Paddock have never been unfriedly, but po- litically we could not pull together. I was a Grant republican of the stalwart brand. MEETING SOME CAMFAIGN LIES. In the recent campalgn the stock in trade of many of the stump speakers for the re- publican ticket was the charge that my sole alm in life has been to malign, traduce, villify and slander honest, honorable, high-minded, loyal republicans whom the party had at varous times selected as its standard bearers. Among others General Thayer, that poor old man who has run down in his dotage so that he does not know what is proper and right, to whom I had been an unselfish and un- flinching triend for years and years, whose battles I had fought when I had no thought of'recompense beyond the gratification that 1 was doing an old soldier justice in fighting his battles. He also was enlisted among the railroad mercenaries, and with his screeds were circulated a list of names of the men whom I am reputed or aid to have hounded to death. . These alleged victims are lauded to the skies, while I am placed In the position of a veritable cannibal, a fiend and scoundrel who ought to be banished from all decent and reputable society. That is exactly what these peoplo have been saying during the last cam- palgn, I have stood such vile calumny for a great many years, Tho infamous fabrication, for instance, that I had hounded Mr. Welch Into his grave, and after he had died I was not content merely with continuing to mal'gn him in The Bee, but that I had gone to his home in Cuming county to gloat over his corpse and insult his family. and his children. The fact is he had no children. (Laughter.) This outrageous libel, T have no doubt, found credence among thousands of Nebraskans, who have been taught by pald and profeesional traducers to look upon me as a monster of iniquity. Now, what are the facts? I hold in my hand right here every line that ever appeared in The Omaha Bee, and if it were printed word for word it would not make four col- umns in The Omaha Bee all told, The first editorial reference Welch appeared In The Bee on September , 1876, the day after his nom nation, under the caption, “The Republican Ticket:"" ““The republican party of Nebraska has met in convention and nominated as its standard bearers the candidates whose names appear at the head of our editorial columns “In placing these names at our masthead we cannot, however, refrain from entering our earnest protest against the disreputable means by which one of these candidates se- cured his nomination. For the first time in its eventful history the republican party of Nebraska has been the victim of a corrupt conspiracy, which placed the control of its nominating convention into the hands of the most notorious stock gambler on the Ameri- can continent. It is an indisputab'e fact that General Frank Weich Is indebted for his nomination to Jay Gould, the head of the most gigantic railroad corporation in America. Had the cholce of the republican party been untrammeled by bribery and intimidation General Welch would not have been the nominee of the republican conven- tion. Impelled by a sense of duty to the honest and unbought masses of the republi- can party we are compelled to denounce the course pursued by the reckless consplrators who procured the nomination of General Welch. “While denouncing the agencies by which General Welch secured TLfs nomination, we cheerfully accord to him many qualities that entitle him to popular esteem. Our re lations with bim have always been cordial and there s, therefore, no perional motive in our pronounced disapproval cf his noml- nation, It Las always been our policy to that ‘morally, Davis is socielly superior to Frank same relation to Davis that | to} speak fearlessly and candidly of public men | and public measures and we should certainly ‘ bo recreant to our duty by giving our silent | approval to the shameless manipulation of | the convention in the interest of Jay Gould.’ WHAT JOHN C. COWIN SAID. Now, right here, let me read to you Gen- eral John C. Cowin's remarks on the floor of the convention as they were reported by the press of that day “Mr. Cowin, being loudly called for, ad dressed the convention. He declared that | he entertained the kindliest feelings toward Mr. Welch, and that if a majority of the | convention shall declde Mr. Welch to be their choice, untrammeled by intimidating and corruptiog infiuence, fie would not only glve him his most cordial support, but would stump the state for him. Much as | he regretted it, he was compelled to call | the attention of the convention to the fact that the powerful corporation which had or- ganized the infamous credit mobilier had | thrown its coreupting Influence around this | coczention for the purpose of controlling its | action. Jay Gould, the head of this gigan- | tic moropoly, is sitting at the Grand Cen- tral hotel in Omaha, in constant and direct telegraphic communication with his subordi- nates who are here to manipulate the dele- gates of this convention. The credit mobilier lobby is ensnaring us with its demoralizing and ntimidating in- fluences, They have come here in full force. Jay Gould s here, represented by General Superintendent Clarke, General Passenger Agent Kimball ard scores of Union Pacific employes. They are here to stifle the honest voice of this convention and they are deter- mined to control this convention. General Cowin then charged that the delegation trom Douglas county ¢a *47s floor had been | elected by Jay Gould, through the intimida- tion of Union Paclfic_employes and other corrupting agencies. He cited some facts to substantiate this charge and entered his protest to the audacious attempt on the part of a gigantic monopoly to throttle the voice of the people.” Let me now read to you what other repub- lican newspapers had to say on that score, because some of these same newspapers last fall were bitter and vindictive in denunciation of the course pursued by The Bee. The Columbus Republican said: “That money was used to sccure Welch's nomination we could not positively state, but that delegates voted for him that desired to yote for the people’s man we are positive. This looks like intimidation."” The North Platte Republican, then edited by Judge Alonzo H. Church, who recently was commander of the Grand Army for Ne- braska, said: ‘Welch is doubtless the representative of Jay Gould and our back pay grabbing United States senator, but he is far from being the embodiment of the principles of the great body of Nebraska republicans. The throttle game played by Gould and Hitchcock to se- cure the nomination of Welch is likely to prove a boomerang which will return and smite those who projected it The Bloomington Guard, then edited by J. . Zediker, who has been so frantic against Rosewater in the past few months, had this to say: “Jay Gould, the Union Pacific railroad con- troller, was at Omaha last week and held the telegraph wires between that place and Lincoln for two hours during the balloting for congressman, in the interest of the Hitch- cock faction.” The Pawnee Republican, another of the re- cent champions of railroad republican color- bearers, said: The majority part of the lata republican state conventlon admit that the admission of the Michael delegation was a disgrace, but they say they had to admit it in order to secure the nomination of Frank Welch. If General Cowin. of Omaha decides to enter the fleld as an independent candidate for congress he can count on the Republican as one untrammeled republican newspaper in the state which will give him its undivided support.” The Hastings Journal, another stalwart re- publican paper, declared: “Frank Welch did not obtain the nomina- tion by fair means and no good republican is under obligation to support him. Had he been nominated by an untrammeled vote, and had he not deceived some of the delegates into voting for him by telling them that he was an antl-Hitchcock, we should feel under obligations to support him. We are satisfied that a majority of the people want a free and unfettered man in congress and will put ona there by electing the gallant soldier, General J. C. Cowin, to that position.” SOMETHING OF A REVOLT EVEN THEN. You will note there was quite a revolt in the republican lines at that time against the conduct of that convention. In those days a great many of the republican editors in this state were yet entirely free from those perniclous influences that have been exerted by corporations, and that are now holding down so many cf them to the grindstone because they are too poor to stand up and bave not the manhood to shake off the cor- porate yoke. Now, then, what happened after Mr. Welch had been elected? The only criticism made by The Bee upon him was simply that he had violated the pledges made by the repub- lican party in its platform by meddling with members of the legislature and trying to make them vofe for a man for United States senator whom the republicans them- selves had repudiated. On that score The Bee had simply pointed to the fact that Pres- ident Hayes had given out the plan of civil service reform and notificd all offic2 helders to keep their hands off, and that, inasmuch as Mr. Welch at that time was receiver of a United States land office, he had no right to desert his post of duty to lobby and inter- fere with members of the legislature, to the detriment of the republicans party. The files of The Omaha Bee show that for sixteen months after his election no reference was made to him. Then opened the campaign for the renomination in the summer of 1878, in which The Bee took position with more than nine-tenths of the republican papers against Mr. Welch. Let me read a few paragraphs: June 5, 1878: “What's the matter with Welch? Only two papers in the state have %0 far taken up the cudgels for him. One of them is the democratic News of Nebraska City, and the other the sorehead republican concern of Omaha. Even his former bosom frisnd, Bayha, maintans an ominous silence in the Wcst Point Republican, and his home paper at Norfolk has not a word to say for him June 19, 1878: “Out cf 110 Nebraska papers four have pronounced for the renomination of Welch, The conversion of the fourth Welch- man was brought about by the appointment of one of the publishers to the postmaster- ship at Brownville. This accounts for the milk in that cocoanut.” July #, 1878: “Tally one for Welch! Our cloquent’ congressman has been cordially en- dorsed by the Omaha Herald, which makes the fifth Nebraska paper in favor of his re nomination. Dr. Miller's endorsement was probably intended to reward Frank for his vote for Polk, the-confed. doorkeeper.” The Bee, September 4, 1578: “Why don't tho Omaha Republican renew its appeal for Welch to the boys in blue? Has that confed doorkeeper record dampened its enthuslasm? | It may, perhaps, be in order to furnish the | dates and facis in that record. On the 2d day of April, 1878, Mr. Welch voted against | the consideration of the committee's report proposing to oust Polk. On the 4th day of April he joined the confed. brigadicrs in res- olution to recommit the report of the com mittee. On the 6th of April, when the final question was voted on, viz.: ‘Shall the office of doorkeeper be declared vacant? Mr. Welch of Nebraska and Mr. Jorgerson of West Vir: ginla were the only republicans who voted nay. The vote was 139 yeas to 80 nays which shows that a great number of the | more honest democrats considered Polk's ad- | ministration rotten and disreputable.” The controversy about the renomination of Gongressman Welch was abruptly terminated | ple of Nebras] | the family o by the announcement on September 10 that he had suddenly died at his home, The next day, September 11, the following edie torial appeared “DEATH OF HON. FRANK W “The telegraph announces the sudden death of Hon. Frank Welch, Nébraska's present representative in congress, at his home in Norfolk, Mr. Welch had been seriously in- RLCH. | disposed for many months, and those who noted the marked change in his appearance since his return from Washington will hardly be surprised at the announcement. The peo- a will deeply sympathize with Mr. Welch, and in common With them we desire to express our regrots for his untimely taking off. Personally, Mr. Welch sessed of many admirablo acter, which insured for friendship of a large circle men “Among the Masonic fraternity honored him with the highest position within Its glft, that of grand master, his demise Will be sincerely and unusually mourned, “A more extended notice of his life and #ervices will appear in our next issue.' That notice was inserted in the next lssue in the form of a local report, and never an- other line appeared in The Omaha Bee about Mr. Welch. The fact is he lived in Wisner and not in Norfolk. The story about my following him to his home fs an infamous fabrication. 1In the first place [ had never up to that time been up the Elkhorn valley, and 1 have never set foot in Wisner up to this date. 1 Qid attend his funeral—or the gervice which the Masonic bodies had gotten up at Omaha, as 1 am a member of that order. No reference to him was ever made after his death, barring what I have read liere; yet from one man to another this slan- der has been cliculated all over the state, that T had hounded this man to his death. He died of heart disease, and I had no more to do with it than anybody in this audience. The same Is true in regard to ex-Senator Hitcheock, whom nearly every railroad organ and railroad striker reprisents as a victim of persecution at my hands. T have had to bear all this calumny for years. I have talked it over with his son and explained to him the relations between myself and the senator, but it seems that outside parties wanted to keep up a continuous Irritation of the sore and other parties want:d to set me bofere the people of this state as a blood- thirsty hyena, who has fattened on tearing down men who stood high In the counclls of the republican party. SOME HITCHCOCK HISTORY. Now, let us go right back, for I do not Propose to mince matters about the living or tho dead. I propose to explode this falsehood here tonight and give the people of the state (for this will-all be publish:d verbatim) the information as to our relations and the out- rage that Is being perpetrated by the slan- derers who have sought to place a stigma upon me. I voted for Mr. Hitcheock in 1864, when he was running on the union republican ticket for territorial delegate to congress. Mr. Hitchcock was sworn in on the 4th day of March, 1865. On the 16th of April, within seven weeks of that time, Abraham Linccln was assassinated, and Andrew Johnson be- came president of the United States. Mr. Hitchcock In due course of time espoused the cause of Andrew Johnson and became one of his ardent supporters. He had a bill passed through congress creating the office of surveyor gencral of Nebraska and Iowa, and had the same located' at Plattsmouth, and when his term as delegate to congress ex- pired, for the republicans would not renom- inate him, he was appointed by Andrew Johnson surveyor general of Nebraska and Towa, with headquarters at Plattsmouth. That office became the source and center of an immense amount of corruption. Many of you will doubtless remember the scandalous exposures that were made from time to time for years thercafter. The coterie of conservative republicans about whom I have been read'ng here tonight centered and clustered around all those big offices—the secretary's office, and that of the United States marshal, and the collector, and the surveyor general. When General Grant came into office In 1568 he, within a very few weeks, dismissed all tho:e Johnsonite officeholders, and among them was Mr. Hitch= cock. He remained out of offics then from that time on until March 4, and consorted with copperheads and Johnsonites until 1871, In 1870 we had a very excit'ng senatorial contest. Mr. Hitcheock was not a candidate, at least had not announced himself as a candidate, but the fight was purely betwéén Geheral Thayer and Governor Saunders. There were no other candidates apnounced. When the legislature met in Janbary, 1871, the republi- can caucus was brokén ups - I was a mem- ber of that legislaturé and. voted for General Thayer, and so did the large majority of tho republicans. The democrats solidly voted for P. W. Hitchcock, and with them that class of republicans who had been more or less affill- ated with the Johnsonite element. Immedi= ately after the election of Mr. Hitchcock, Mr, E. H. Rogers of Fremont publicly declared in the house of representatives in a speech: “We send this back to Ulysses §. Grant as a rebuke. It was well known at that time that General Grant favored General Thayer's re-clection, and it was also notorious that this democratic-Johnsonite coalition had been brought about and cemented together by a largo amount of boodle. One man went out of Omaha with a grip:ack In which there were $22,000, and shortly thereafter Dr, Miller, in his Omaba Herald, published a standing card demanding that congress Insti= tute an investigation Into that election, It will be remembered that at that time Kansas had dlected a Mr. Caldwell, the Leavenworth wagon manufacturer, against whom the same kind of charges were made, and Mr. Caldwell, rather than have the investgation proceed, had resigned. A WHEN THE BEE WAS BORN. v It was shortly after the election of Mr, Hitcheock that The Omaha Bee was estabe lished by me. From the beginning It in- voked the bitter and relentless hostility of the Johnsonite element and the federal ring organized under Hitcheock because it stood up for the straight republicans and the re- publican party. The old Omaha Republican was more or less mixed up with the Johne sonites, although It had fought them. One of its editors had been superintendent of Indian affairs, and in 1870 the Republican had refused point blank to support the re- publican legislative ticket in Douglas county, although it Involved the election of a United States senator. 8o, then, for five or #ix years, 1 had the brunt of the battle to fight in Douglas county, and I always had the backing of -all the good, straight, stals wart republicars. i was a delegate In nearly every republican convention up to°1876, and Including 1576, for 1 went to Columbus at the head of the deleg tion that sent the delegates to Clncinnati for Jame: Blaine, (Applause.) It was stated in one of the letters by General Thayer that I bad no standivg in the republican ranks those days, and that The Bee was & lla. The fact 1s The Bes was the only Omaha paper that fought the stralght res publican battles, and year In and year out fought against the class of guerillas that had been mak'ng combinations with the demos crats and trylng to defeat the republican party lusidiously through combination, by WAS A man pose traits of chare him the warm £ good and true which had