{
  "schema": "tga.work.v1",
  "identifier": "dresden:vol-9:chicago-speech",
  "slug": "chicago-speech",
  "title": "Chicago Speech",
  "subtitle": "Exposition Building, Chicago, 1876.",
  "excerpt": "A Hayes-campaign address at the Chicago Exposition Building to the largest single-speaker audience ever seen in the city.",
  "year": 1876,
  "volume": 9,
  "category": "Political",
  "author": {
    "name": "Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "wikidata": "Q360326",
    "viaf": "44331023"
  },
  "isPartOf": {
    "title": "The Works of Robert G. Ingersoll",
    "edition": "Dresden Edition",
    "publisher": "C. P. Farrell",
    "year": 1900
  },
  "license": "https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/",
  "url": "https://thegreatagnostic.com/works/chicago-speech/",
  "wordCount": 7967,
  "body": "• Col. Robert G. Ingersoll spoke last night at the\n    Exposition Building to the largest audience ever drawn by\n    one man In Chicago. From 6.30 o'clock the sidewalks fronting\n    along the building were jammed. At every entrance there were\n    hundreds, and half-an-hour later thousands were clamoring\n    for admittance. So great was the pressure the doors were\n    finally closed, and the entrances at either end cautiously\n    opened to admit the select who knew enough to apply In those\n    directions. Occasionally a rush was made for the main door,\n    and as the crowd came up against the huge barricade they\n    were swept back only for another effort. Wabash Avenue,\n    Monroe, Adams, Jackson, and Van Buren Streets were jammed\n    with ladies and gentlemen who swept into Michigan Avenue and\n    swelled the sea that surged around the building.\n    At 7.30 the doors were flung open and the people rushed in.\n    Seating accommodations supposed to be adequate to all\n    demands, had been provided, but in an Instant they were\n    filled, the aisles were jammed and around the sides of the\n    building poured a steady stream of humanity, Intent only\n    upon some coign of vantage, some place, where they could see\n    and where they could hear. Prom the fountain, beyond which\n    the building lay in shadow to the northern end, was a\n    swaying, surging mass of people.\n    Such another attendance of ladies has never been known at a\n    political meeting in Chicago. They came by the hundreds, and\n    the speaker looked down from his perch upon thousands of\n    fair upturned faces, stamped with the most intense interest\n    in his remarks.\n    The galleries were packed. The frame of the huge elevator\n    creaked, groaned, and swayed with the crowd roosting upon\n    it. The trusses bore their living weight. The gallery\n    railings bent and cracked. The roof was crowded, and the sky\n    lights teemed with heads. Here and there an adventurous\n    youth crept out on the girders and braces. Towards the\n    northern end of the building, on the west side, is a smaller\n    gallery, dark, and not particularly strong-looking. It was\n    fairly packed—packed like a sardine-box—with men and boys.\n    Up in the organ-loft around the sides of the organ,\n    everywhere that a human being could sit, stand or hang, was\n    pre-empted and filled.\n    It was a magnificent, outpouring, at east 50,000 In number,\n    a compliment alike to the principle it represented, and the\n    orator.—Chicago Tribune., October 21st, 1876.\n\nHayes Campaign\n\n1876.\n\nLADIES and Gentlemen:—Democrats and Republicans have a common interest\nin the United States. We have a common interest in the preservation of\ngood order. We have a common interest in the preservation of a common\ncountry. And I appeal to all, Democrats and Republicans, to endeavor\nto make a conscientious choice; to endeavor to select as President and\nVice-President of the United States the men and the parties, which, in\nyour judgment, will best preserve this nation, and preserve all that is\ndear to us either as Republicans or Democrats.\n\nThe Democratic party comes before you and asks that you will give this\nGovernment into its hands; and you have a right to investigate as to the\nreputation and character of the Democratic organization. The Democratic\nparty says, \"Let bygones be bygones.\" I never knew a man who did a\ndecent action that wanted it forgotten. I never knew a man who did some\ngreat and shining act of self-sacrifice and heroic devotion who did\nnot wish that act remembered. Not only so, but he expected his loving\nchildren would chisel the remembrance of it upon the marble that marked\nhis last resting place. But whenever a man does an infamous thing;\nwhenever a man commits some crime; whenever a man does that which\nmantles the cheeks of his children with shame; he is the man that says,\n\"Let bygones be bygones.\" The Democratic party admits that it has a\nrecord, but it says that any man that will look into it, any man that\nwill tell it, is not a gentleman. I do not know whether, according to\nthe Democratic standard, I am a gentleman or not; but I do say that in a\ncertain sense I am one of the historians of the Democratic party.\n\nI do not know that it is true that a man cannot give this record and be\na gentleman, but I admit that a gentleman hates to read this record;\na gentleman hates to give this record to the world; but I do it, not\nbecause I like to do it, but because I believe the best interests\nof this country demand that there shall be a history given of the\nDemocratic party.\n\nIn the first place, I claim that the Democratic party embraces within\nits filthy arms the worst elements in American society. I claim that\nevery enemy that this Government has had for twenty years has been and\nis a Democrat; every man in the Dominion of Canada that hates the great\nRepublic, would like to see Tilden and Hendricks successful. Every\ntitled thief in Great Britain would like to see Tilden and Hendricks the\nnext President and Vice-President of the United States.\n\nI say more; every State that seceded from this Union was a Democratic\nState. Every man who hated to see bloodhounds cease to be the\ninstrumentalities of a free government—every one was a Democrat. In\nshort, every enemy that this Government has had for twenty years, every\nenemy that liberty and progress has had in the United States for twenty\nyears, every hater of our flag, every despiser of our Nation, every man\nwho has been a disgrace to the great Republic for twenty years, has been\na Democrat. I do not say that they are all that way; but nearly all who\nare that way are Democrats.\n\nThe Democratic party is a political tramp with a yellow passport. This\npolitical tramp begs food and he carries in his pocket old dirty scraps\nof paper as a kind of certificate of character. On one of these papers\nhe will show you the ordinance of 1789; on another one of those papers\nhe will have a part of the Fugitive Slave Law; on another one some\nof the black laws that used to disgrace Illinois; on another Governor\nTilden's Letter to Kent; on another a certificate signed by Lyman\nTrumbull that the Republican party is not fit to associate with—that\ncertificate will be endorsed by Governor John M. Palmer and my friend\nJudge Doolittle. He will also have in his pocket an old wood-cut,\nsomewhat torn, representing Abraham Lincoln falling upon the neck of\nS. Corning Judd, and thanking him for saving the Union as\nCommander-in-Chief of the Sons of Liberty. This political tramp will\nalso have a letter dated Boston, Mass., saying: \"I hereby certify that\nfor fifty years I have regarded the bearer as a thief and robber, but\nI now look upon him as a reformer. Signed, Charles Francis Adams.\"\nFollowing this tramp will be a bloodhound; and when he asks for food,\nthe bloodhound will crouch for employment on his haunches, and the drool\nof anticipation will run from his loose and hanging lips. Study the\nexpression of that dog.\n\nTranslate it into English and it means \"Oh! I want to bite a nigger!\"\nAnd when the dog has that expression he bears a striking likeness to his\nmaster. The question is, Shall that tramp and that dog gain possession\nof the White House?\n\nThe Democratic party learns nothing; the Democratic party forgets\nnothing. The Democratic party does not know that the world has advanced\na solitary inch since 1860. Time is a Democratic dumb watch. It has not\ngiven a tick for sixteen years. The Democratic party does not know that\nwe, upon the great glittering highway of progress, have passed a single\nmile-stone for twenty years. The Democratic party is incapable of\nlearning. The Democratic party is incapable of anything but prejudice\nand hatred. Every man that is a Democrat is a Democrat because he hates\nsomething; every man that is a Republican is a Republican because he\nloves something.\n\nThe Democratic party is incapable of advancement; the only stock that\nit has in trade to-day is the old infamous doctrine of Democratic State\nRights. There never was a more infamous doctrine advanced on this\nearth, than the Democratic idea of State Rights. What is it? It has its\nfoundation in the idea that this is not a Nation; it has its foundation\nin the idea that this is simply a confederacy, that this great\nGovernment is simply a bargain, that this great splendid people have\nsimply made a trade, that the people of any one of the States are\nsovereign to the extent that they have the right to trample upon the\nrights of their fellow-citizens, and that the General Government cannot\ninterfere. The great Democratic heart is fired to-day, the Democratic\nbosom is bloated with indignation because of an order made by General\nGrant sending troops into the Southern States to defend the rights of\nAmerican citizens! Who objects to a soldier going? Nobody except a man\nwho wants to carry an election by fraud, by violence, by intimidation,\nby assassination, and by murder.\n\nThe Democratic party is willing to-day that Tilden and Hendricks should\nbe elected by violence; they are willing to-day to go into partnership\nwith assassination and murder; they are willing to-day that every man in\nthe Southern States, who is a friend of this Union, and who fought for\nour flag—that the rights of every one of these men should be trampled\nin the dust, provided that Tilden and Hendricks be elected President\nand Vice-President of this country. They tell us that a State line is\nsacred; that you never can cross it unless you want to do a mean thing;\nthat if you want to catch a fugitive slave you have the right to cross\nit; but if you wish to defend the rights of men, then it is a sacred\nline, and you cannot cross it. Such is the infamous doctrine of the\nDemocratic party. Who, I say, will be injured by sending soldiers into\nthe Southern States? No one in the world except the man who wants to\nprevent an honest citizen from casting a legal vote for the Government\nof his choice. For my part, I think more of the colored Union men of the\nSouth than I do of the white disunion men of the South. For my part, I\nthink more of a black friend than I do of a white enemy. For my part, I\nthink more of a friend black outside, and white in, than I do of a man\nwho is white outside and black inside. For my part, I think more of\nblack justice, of black charity, and of black patriotism, than I do of\nwhite cruelty, than I do of white treachery and treason. As a matter\nof fact, all that is done in the South to-day, of use, is done by the\ncolored man. The colored man raises everything that is raised in the\nSouth, except hell. And I say here to-night that I think one hundred\ntimes more of the good, honest, industrious black man of the South than\nI do of all the white men together that do not love this Government, and\nI think more of the black man of the South than I do of the white man of\nthe North who sympathizes with the white wretch that wishes to trample\nupon the rights of that black man.\n\nI believe that this is a Government, first, not only of power, but that\nit is the right of this Government to march all the soldiers in the\nUnited States into any sovereign State of this Union to defend the\nrights of every American citizen in that State. If it is the duty of the\nGovernment to defend you in time of war, when you were compelled to go\ninto the army, how much more is it the duty of the Government to defend\nin time of peace the man who, in time of war, voluntarily and gladly\nrushed to the rescue and defence of his country; and yet the Democratic\ndoctrine is that you are to answer the call of the Nation, but the\nNation will be deaf to your cry, unless the Governor of your State makes\nrequest of your Government. Suppose the Governors and every man trample\nupon your rights, is the Nation then to let you be trampled upon? Will\nthe Nation hear only the cry of the oppressor, or will it heed the cry\nof the oppressed? I believe we should have a Government that can hear\nthe faintest wail, the faintest cry for justice from the lips of the\nhumblest citizen beneath the flag. But the Democratic doctrine is that\nthis Government can protect its citizens only when they are away from\nhome. This may account for so many Democrats going to Canada during the\nwar. I believe that the Government must protect you, not only abroad but\nmust protect you at home; and that is the greatest question before the\nAmerican people to-day.\n\nI had thought that human impudence had reached its limit ages and ages\nago. I had believed that some time in the history of the world impudence\nhad reached its height, and so believed until I read the congratulatory\naddress of Abram S. Hewitt, Chairman of the National Executive\nDemocratic Committee, wherein he congratulates the negroes of the South\non what he calls a Democratic victory in the State of Indiana. If human\nimpudence can go beyond this, all I have to say is, it never has. What\ndoes he say to the Southern people, to the colored people? He says to\nthem in substance: \"The reason the white people trample upon you is\nbecause the white people are weak. Give the white people more strength,\nput the white people in authority, and, although they murder you now\nwhen they are weak, when they are strong they will let you alone. Yes;\nthe only trouble with our Southern white brethren is that they are in\nthe minority, and they kill you now, and the only way to save your lives\nis to put your enemy in the majority.\" That is the doctrine of Abram S.\nHewitt, and he congratulates the colored people of the South upon the\nDemocratic victory in Indiana. There is going to be a great crop of\nhawks next season—let us congratulate the doves. That is it. The\nburglars have whipped the police—let us congratulate the bank. That\nis it. The wolves have killed off almost all the shepherds—let us\ncongratulate the sheep.\n\nIn my judgment, the black people have suffered enough. They have\nbeen slaves for two hundred years, and more than all, they have been\ncompelled to keep the company of the men that owned them. Think of that!\nThink of being compelled to keep the society of the man who is stealing\nfrom you! Think of being compelled to live with the man that sold your\nwife! Think of being compelled to live with the man that stole your\nchild from the cradle before your very eyes! Think of being compelled\nto live with the thief of your life, and spend your days with the white\nrobber, and be under his control! The black people have suffered enough.\nFor two hundred years they were owned and bought and sold and branded\nlike cattle. For two hundred years every human tie was rent and torn\nasunder by the bloody, brutal hands of avarice and might. They have\nsuffered enough. During the war the black people were our friends not\nonly, but whenever they were entrusted with the family, with the wives\nand children of their masters, they were true to them. They stayed at\nhome and protected the wife and child of the master while he went into\nthe field and fought for the right to sell the wife and the right to\nwhip and steal the child of the very black man that was protecting him.\nThe black people, I say, have suffered enough, and for that reason I am\nin favor of the Government protecting them in every Southern State, if\nit takes another war to do it. We can never compromise with the South\nat the expense of our friends. We never can be friends with the men that\nstarved and shot our brothers. We can never be friends with the men\nthat waged the most cruel war in the world; not for liberty, but for\nthe right to deprive other men of their liberty. We never can be their\nfriends until they are the friends of our friends, until they treat the\nblack man justly; until they treat the white Union man respectfully;\nuntil Republicanism ceases to be a crime; until to vote the Republican\nticket ceases to make you a political and social outcast. We want no\nfriendship with the enemies of our country. The next question is, who\nshall have possession of this country—the men that saved it,—or the\nmen that sought to destroy it? The Southern people lit the fires of\ncivil war. They who set the conflagration must be satisfied with the\nashes left. The men that saved this country must rule it. The men\nthat saved the flag must carry it. This Government is not far from\ndestruction when it crowns with its highest honor in time of peace, the\nman that was false to it in time of war. This Nation is not far from\nthe precipice of annihilation and destruction when it gives its highest\nhonor to a man false, false to the country when everything we held\ndear trembled in the balance of war, when everything was left to the\narbitrament of the sword.\n\nThe next question prominently before the people—though I think the\ngreat question is, whether citizens shall be protected at home—the\nnext question I say, is the financial question. With that there is no\ntrouble. We had to borrow money, and we have to pay it. That is all\nthere is of that, and we are going to pay it just as soon as we make\nthe money to pay it with, and we are going to make the money out of\nprosperity.\n\nWe have to dig it out of the earth. You cannot make a dollar by law. You\ncannot redeem a cent by statute. You cannot pay one solitary farthing by\nall the resolutions, by all the speeches ever made beneath the sun.\n\nIf the greenback doctrine is right, that evidence of national\nindebtedness is wealth, if that is their idea, why not go another step\nand make every individual note a legal tender? Why not pass a law that\nevery man shall take every other man's note? Then I swear we would have\nmoney in plenty. No, my friends, a promise to pay a dollar is not a\ndollar, no matter if that promise is made by the greatest and most\npowerful nation on the globe. A promise is not a performance. An\nagreement is not an accomplishment and there never will come a time when\na promise to pay a dollar is as good as the dollar, unless everybody\nknows that you have the dollar and will pay it whenever they ask for it.\nWe want no more inflation. We want simply to pay our debts as fast as\nthe prosperity of the country allows it and no faster. Every speculator\nthat was caught with property on his hands upon which he owed more\nthan the property was worth, wanted the game to go on a little longer.\nWhoever heard of a man playing poker that wanted to quit when he was\na loser? He wants to have a fresh deal. He wants another hand, and he\ndon't want any man that is ahead to jump the game. It is so with the\nspeculators in this country. They bought land, they bought houses, they\nbought goods, and when the crisis and crash came, they were caught with\nthe property on their hands, and they want another inflation, they\nwant another tide to rise that will again sweep this driftwood into the\nmiddle of the great financial stream. That is all. Every lot in this\ncity that was worth five thousand and that is now worth two thousand—do\nyou know what is the matter with that lot? It has been redeeming. It has\nbeen resuming. That is what is the matter with that lot. Every man that\nowned property that has now fallen fifty per cent., that property has\nbeen resuming; and if you could have another inflation to-morrow, the\nday that the bubble burst would find thousands of speculators who paid\nas much for property as property was worth, and they would ask for\nanother tide of affairs in men. They would ask for another inflation.\nWhat for? To let them out and put somebody else in.\n\nWe want no more inflation. We want the simple honest payment of the\ndebt, and to pay out of the prosperity of this country. But, says the\ngreenback man, \"We never had as good times as when we had plenty of\ngreenbacks.\"\n\nSuppose a farmer would buy a farm for ten thousand dollars and give\nhis note. He would buy carriages, horses, wagons and agricultural\nimplements, and give his note. He would send Mary, Jane and Lucy to\nschool. He would buy them pianos, and send them to college, and would\ngive his note, and the next year he would again give his note for the\ninterest, and the next year again his note, and finally they would come\nto him and say, \"We must settle up; we have taken your notes as long as\nwe can; we want money.\" \"Why,\" he would say to the gentleman, \"I never\nhad as good a time in my life as while I have been giving those notes.\nI never had a farm until the man gave it to me for my note. My children\nhave been clothed as well as anybody's. We have had carriages; we have\nhad fine horses; and our house has been filled with music, and laughter,\nand dancing; and why not keep on taking those notes?\" So it is with the\ngreenback man; he says, \"When we were running in debt we had a jolly\ntime—let us keep it up.\" But, my friends, there must come a time when\ninflation would reach that point when all the Goverment notes in the\nworld would not buy a pin; when all the Government notes in the world\nwould not be worth as much as the last year's Democratic platform. I\nhave no fear that these debts will not be paid. I have no fear that\nevery solitary greenback dollar will not be redeemed; but, my friends,\nwe shall have some trouble doing it. Why? Because the debt is a great\ndeal larger than it should have been. In the first place, there should\nhave been po debt. If it had not been for the Southern Democracy there\nwould have been no war. If it had not been for the Northern Democracy\nthe war would not have lasted one year.\n\nThere was a man tried in court for having murdered his father and\nmother. He was found guilty, and the judge asked him, \"What have you to\nsay that sentence of death shall not be pronounced on you?\" \"Nothing in\nthe world Judge,\" said he, \"only I hope your Honor will take pity on me\nand remember that I am a poor orphan.\"\n\nI have no doubt that this debt will be paid. We have the honor to pay\nit, and we do not pay it on account of the avarice or greed of the\nbondholder. An honest man does not pay money to a creditor simply\nbecause the creditor wants it. The honest man pays at the command of his\nhonor and not at the demand of the creditor.\n\nThe United States will pay its debts, not because the creditor demands,\nbut because we owe it.\n\nThe United States will liquidate every debt at the command of its honor,\nand every cent will be paid. War is destruction, war is loss, and all\nthe property destroyed, and the time that is lost, put together, amount\nto what we call a national debt. When in peace we shall have made as\nmuch net profit as there was wealth lost in the war, then we shall be a\nsolvent people. The greenback will be redeemed, we expect to redeem\nit on the first day of January, 1879. We may fail; we will fail if the\nprosperity of the country fails; but we intend to try to do it, and if\nwe fail, we will fail as a soldier fails to take a fort, high upon the\nrampart, with the flag of resumption in our hands. We will not say that\nwe cannot pay the debt because there is a date fixed when the debt is to\nbe paid. I have had to borrow money myself; I have had to give my note,\nand I recollect distinctly that every man I ever did give my note to\ninsisted that somewhere in that note there should be some vague hint\nas to the cycle, as to the geological period, as to the time, as to\nthe century and date when I expected to pay those little notes. I never\nunderstood that having a time fixed would prevent my being industrious;\nthat it would interfere with my honesty; or with my activity, or with my\ndesire to discharge that debt. And if any man in this great country owed\nyou one thousand dollars, due you the first day of next January, and he\nshould come to you and say: \"I want to pay you that debt, but you must\ntake that date out of that note.\" \"Why?\" you would say. \"Why,\" he would\nreply in the language of Tilden, \"I have to make wise preparation.\"\n\"Well,\" you would say, \"why don't you do it?\" \"Oh,\" he says, \"I cannot\ndo it while you have that date in that note.\" \"Another thing,\" he says,\n\"I have to get me a central reservoir of coin.\" And do you know I have\nalways thought I would like to see the Democratic party around a central\nreservoir of coin.\n\nSuppose this debtor would also tell you, \"I want the date out of that\nnote, because I have to come at it by a very slow and gradual process.\"\n\"Well,\" you would say, \"I do not care how slow or how gradual you are,\nprovided that you get around by the time the note is due.\"\n\nWhat would you think of a man that wanted the date out of the note? You\nwould think he was a mixture of rascal and Democrat. That is what you\nwould think.\n\nNow, my friends, the Democratic party (if you may call it a party)\nbrings forward as its candidate Samuel J. Tilden, of New York. I am\nopposed to him, first, because he is an old bachelor. In a country like\nours, depending for its prosperity and glory upon an increase of the\npopulation, to elect an old bachelor is a suicidal policy. Any man that\nwill live in this country for sixty years, surrounded by beautiful women\nwith rosy lips and dimpled cheeks, in every dimple lurking a Cupid, with\npearly teeth and sparkling eyes—any man that will push them all aside\nand be satisfied with the embraces of the Democratic party, does not\neven know the value of time. I am opposed to Samuel J. Tilden, because\nhe is a Democrat; because he belongs to the Democratic party of the city\nof New York; the worst party ever organized in any civilized country.\n\nNo man should be President of this Nation who denies that it is a\nNation. Samuel J. Tilden denounced the war as an outrage. No man should\nbe President of this country that denounced a war waged in its defence\nas an outrage. To elect such a man would be an outrage.\n\nSamuel J. Tilden said that the flag stands for a contract; that it\nstands for a confederation; that it stands for a bargain. But the great,\nsplendid Republican party says, \"No! That flag stands for a great,\nhoping, aspiring, sublime Nation, not for a confederacy.\"\n\nI am opposed, I say, to the election of Samuel J. Tilden for another\nreason. If he is elected he will be controlled by his party, and his\nparty will be controlled by the Southern stockholders in that party.\nThey own nineteen-twentieths of the stock, and they will dictate the\npolicy of the Democratic Corporation.\n\nNo Northern Democrat has the manliness to stand up before a Southern\nDemocrat. Every Democrat, nearly, has a face of dough, and the Southern\nDemocrat will swap his ears, change his nose, cut his mouth the other\nway of the leather, so that his own mother would not know him, in\nfifteen minutes. If Samuel J. Tilden is elected President of the\nUnited States, he will be controlled by the Democratic party, and the\nDemocratic party will be controlled by the Southern Democracy—that is\nto say, the late rebels; that is to say, the men that tried to destroy\nthe Government; that is to say, the men who are sorry they did not\ndestroy the Government; that is to say, the enemies of every friend of\nthis Union; that is to say, the murderers and the assassins of Union men\nliving in the Southern country.\n\nLet me say another thing. If Mr. Tilden does not act in accordance with\nthe Southern Democratic command, the Southern Democracy will not allow\na single life to stand between them and the absolute control of this\ncountry. Hendricks will then be their man. I say that it would be an\noutrage to give this country into the control of men who endeavored to\ndestroy it, to give this country into the control of the Southern rebels\nand haters of Union men.\n\nAnd on the other hand, the Republican party has put forward Rutherford\nB. Hayes. He is an honest man. The Democrats will say, \"That is\nnothing.\" Well, let them try it. Rutherford B. Hayes has a good\ncharacter.\n\nRutherford B. Hayes, when this war commenced, did not say with Tilden,\n\"It is an outrage.\" He did not say with Tilden, \"I never will contribute\nto the prosecution of this war.\" But he did say this, \"I would go into\nthis war if I knew I would be killed in the course of it, rather than\nto live through it and take no part in it.\" During the war Rutherford\nB. Hayes received many wounds in his flesh, but not one scratch upon his\nhonor. Samuel J. Tilden received many wounds upon his honor, but not\none scratch on his flesh. Rutherford B. Hayes is a firm man; not an\nobstinate man, but a firm man; and I draw this distinction: A firm man\nwill do what he believes to be right, because he wants to do right. He\nwill stand firm because he believes it to be right; but an obstinate\nman wants his own way, whether it is right or whether it is wrong.\nRutherford B. Hayes is firm in the right, and obstinate only when he\nknows he is in the right. If you want to vote for a man who fought for\nyou, vote for Rutherford B. Hayes. If you want to vote for a man\nthat carried our flag through the storm of shot and shell, vote for\nRutherford B. Hayes. If you believe patriotism to be a virtue, vote for\nRutherford B. Hayes. If you believe this country wants heroes, vote for\nRutherford B. Hayes. If you want a man who turned against his country in\ntime of war, vote for Samuel J. Tilden. If you believe the war waged for\nthe salvation of our Nation was an outrage, vote for Samuel J. Tilden.\nIf you believe it is better to stay at home and curse the brave men in\nthe field, fighting for the sacred rights of man, vote for Samuel J.\nTilden. If you want to pay a premium upon treason, if you want to pay a\npremium upon hypocrisy, if you want to pay a premium upon chicanery,\nif you want to pay a premium upon sympathizing with the enemies of your\ncountry, vote for Samuel J. Tilden.\n\nIf you believe that patriotism is right, if you believe the brave\ndefender of liberty is better than the assassin of freedom, vote for\nRutherford B. Hayes.\n\nI am proud that I belong to the Republican party. It is the only party\nthat has not begged pardon for doing right. It is the only party that\nhas said: \"There shall be no distinction on account of race, on account\nof color, on account of previous condition.\" It is the only party that\never had a platform broad enough for all humanity to stand upon.\n\nIt is the first decent party that ever lived. The Republican party made\nthe first free government that was ever made. The Republican party made\nthe first decent constitution that any nation ever had. The Republican\nparty gave to the sky the first pure flag that was ever kissed by the\nwaves of air. The Republican party is the first party that ever said:\n\"Every man is entitled to liberty,\" not because he is white, not because\nhe is black, not because he is rich, not because he is poor, but because\nhe is a man.\n\nThe Republican party is the first party that knew enough to know that\nhumanity is more than skin deep. It is the first party that said,\n\"Government should be for all, as the light, as the air, is for all.\"\n\nAnd it is the first party that had the sense to say, \"What air is to the\nlungs, what light is to the eyes, what love is to the heart, liberty is\nto the soul of man.\" The Republican party is the first party that ever\nwas in favor of absolute free labor, the first party in favor of giving\nto every man, without distinction of race or color, the fruits of the\nlabor of his hands. The Republican party said, \"Free labor will give us\nwealth, free thought will give us truth.\" The Republican party is the\nfirst party that said to every man, \"Think for yourself, and express\nthat thought.\" I am a free man. I belong to the Republican party. This\nis a free country. I will think my thought. I will speak my thought or\ndie. I say the Republican party is for free labor.\n\nFree labor has invented all the machines that ever added to the power,\nadded to the wealth, added to the leisure, added to the civilization of\nmankind. Every convenience, everything of use, everything of beauty in\nthe world, we owe to free labor and to free thought. Free labor, free\nthought!\n\nScience took the thunderbolt from the gods, and in the electric spark,\nfreedom, with thought, with intelligence and with love, sweeps under all\nthe waves of the sea; science, free thought, took a tear from the cheek\nof unpaid labor, converted it into steam, and created the giant that\nturns, with tireless arms, the countless wheels of toil.\n\nThe Republican party, I say, believes in free labor. Every solitary\nthing, every solitary improvement made in the United States has been\nmade by the Republican party. Every reform accomplished was inaugurated,\nand was accomplished by the great, grand, glorious Republican party.\n\nThe Republican party does not say: \"Let bygones be bygones.\" The\nRepublican party is proud of the past and confident of the future. The\nRepublican party brings its record before you and implores you to read\nevery page, every paragraph, every line and every shining word. On the\nfirst page you will find it written: \"Slavery has cursed American soil\nlong enough;\" on the same page you will find it written: \"Slavery\nshall go no farther.\" On the same page you will find it written: \"The\nbloodhounds shall not drip their gore upon another inch of American\nsoil.\" On the second page you will find it written: \"This is a Nation,\nnot a Confederacy; every State belongs to every citizen, and no State\nhas a right to take territory belonging to any citizens in the United\nStates and set up a separate Government.\" On the third page you will\nfind the grandest declaration ever made in this country: \"Slavery shall\nbe extirpated from the American soil.\" On the next page: \"The Rebellion\nshall be put down.\" On the next page: \"The Rebellion has been put down.\"\nOn the next page: \"Slavery has been extirpated from the American soil.\"\nOn the next page: \"The freedmen shall not be vagrants; they shall be\ncitizens.\" On the next page: \"They are citizens.\" On the next page: \"The\nballot shall be put in their hands;\" and now we will write on the next\npage: \"Every citizen that has a ballot in his hand, by the gods! shall\nhave a right to cast that ballot.\" That in short, that in brief, is the\nhistory of the Republican party. The Republican party says, and it means\nwhat it says: \"This shall be a free country forever; every man in it\ntwenty-one years of age shall have the right to vote for the Government\nof his choice, and if any man endeavors to interfere with that right,\nthe Government of the United States will see to it that the right of\nevery American citizen is protected at the polls.\"\n\nNow, my friends, there is one thing that troubles the average Democrat,\nand that is the idea that somehow, in some way, the negro will get to be\nthe better man. It is the trouble in the South to-day. And I say to my\nSouthern friends (and I admit that there are a great many good men in\nthe South, but the bad men are in an overwhelming majority; the great\nmass of the population is vicious, violent, virulent and malignant; the\ngreat mass of the population is cruel, revengeful, idle, hateful,) and\nI tell that population: \"If you do not go to work, the negro, by his\npatient industry, will pass you.\" In the long run, the nation that is\nhonest, the people who are industrious, will pass the people who are\ndishonest, and the people who are idle, no matter how grand an ancestry\nthey may have had, and so I say, Mr. Northern Democrat, look out!\n\nThe superior man is the man that loves his fellow-man; the superior man\nis the useful man; the superior man is the kind man, the man who lifts\nup his down-trodden brothers; and the greater the load of human sorrow\nand human want you can get in your arms, the easier you can climb\nthe great hill of fame. The superior man is the man who loves his\nfellow-man. And let me say right here, the good men, the superior\nmen, the grand men are brothers the world over, no matter what their\ncomplexion may be; centuries may separate them, yet they are hand in\nhand; and all the good, and all the grand, and all the superior men,\nshoulder to shoulder, heart to heart, are fighting the great battle for\nthe progress of mankind.\n\nI pity the man, I execrate and hate the man who has only to boast that\nhe is white. Whenever I am reduced to that necessity, I believe shame\nwill make me red instead of white. I believe another thing. If I cannot\nhoe my row, I will not steal corn from the fellow that hoes his row. If\nI belong to the superior race, I will be so superior that I can make my\nliving without stealing from the inferior. I am perfectly willing that\nany Democrat in the world that can, shall pass me. I have never seen one\nyet, except when I looked over my shoulder. But if they can pass I shall\nbe delighted.\n\nWhenever we stand in the presence of genius, we take off our hats.\nWhenever we stand in the presence of the great, we do involuntary homage\nin spite of ourselves. Any one who can go by is welcome, any one in the\nworld; but until somebody does go by, of the Democratic persuasion,\nI shall not trouble myself about the fact that may be, in some future\ntime, they may get by. The Democrats are afraid of being passed, because\nthey are being passed.\n\nNo man ever was, no man ever will be, the superior of the man whom he\nrobs. No man ever was, no man ever will be, the superior of the man he\nsteals from. I had rather be a slave than a slave-master. I had rather\nbe stolen from than be a thief. I had rather be the wronged than the\nwrong-doer. And allow me to say again to impress it forever upon every\nman that hears me, you will always be the inferior of the man you wrong.\nEvery race is inferior to the race it tramples upon and robs. There\nnever was a man that could trample upon human rights and be superior\nto the man upon whom he trampled. And let me say another thing: No\ngovernment can stand upon the crushed rights of one single human being;\nand any compromise that we make with the South, if we make it at the\nexpense of our friends, will carry in its own bosom the seeds of its\nown death and destruction, and cannot stand. A government founded upon\nanything except liberty and justice cannot and ought not to stand. All\nthe wrecks on either side of the stream of time, all the wrecks of the\ngreat cities and nations that have passed away—all are a warning that\nno nation founded upon injustice can stand. From sand-enshrouded Egypt,\nfrom the marble wilderness of Athens, from every fallen, crumbling stone\nof the once mighty Rome, comes as it were a wail, comes as it were the\ncry, \"No nation founded upon injustice can permanently stand.\" We must\nfound this Nation anew. We must fight our fight. We must cling to our\nold party until there is freedom of speech in every part of the United\nStates. We must cling to the old party until I can speak in every State\nof the South as every Southerner can speak in every State of the North.\nWe must vote the grand old Republican ticket until there is the same\nliberty in every Southern State that there is in every Northern, Eastern\nand Western State. We must stand by the party until every Southern man\nwill admit that this country belongs to every citizen of the United\nStates as much as to the man that is born in that country. One more\nthing. I do not want any man that ever fought for this country to vote\nthe Democratic ticket. You will swap your respectability for disgrace.\nThere are thousands of you—great, grand, splendid men—that have fought\ngrandly for this Union, and now I beseech of you, I beg of you, do not\ngive respectability to the enemies and haters of your country. Do not\ndo it. Do not vote with the Democratic party, of the North. Sometimes\nI think a rebel sympathizer in the North worse than a rebel, and I will\ntell you why. The rebel was carried into the rebellion by public opinion\nat home,—his father, his mother, his sweetheart, his brother, and\neverybody he knew; and there was a kind of wind, a kind of tornado, a\nkind of whirlwind that took him into the army. He went on the rebel side\nwith his State. The Northern Democrat went against his own State; went\nagainst his own Government; and went against public opinion at home. The\nNorthern Democrat rowed up stream against wind and tide. The Southern\nrebel went with the current; the Northern rebel rowed against the\ncurrent from pure, simple cussedness.\n\nAnd I beg every man that ever fought for the Union, every man that ever\nbared his breast to a storm of shot and shell, that the old flag might\nfloat over every inch of American soil redeemed from the clutch of\ntreason; I beg him, I implore him, do not go with the Democratic party.\nAnd to every young man within the sound of my voice I say, do not tie\nyour bright and shining prospects to that old corpse of Democracy. You\nwill get tired of dragging it around. Do not cast your first vote\nwith the enemies of your country. Do not cast your first vote with the\nDemocratic party that was glad when the Union army was defeated. Do not\ncast your vote with that party whose cheeks flushed with the roses of\njoy when the old flag was trailed in disaster upon the field of battle.\nRemember, my friends, that that party did every mean thing it could,\nevery dishonest and treasonable thing it could. Recollect that that\nparty did all it could to divide this Nation, and destroy this country.\n\nFor myself I have no fear; Hayes and Wheeler will be the next President\nand Vice-President of the United States of America. Let me beg of\nyou—let me implore you—let me beseech you, every man, to come out on\nelection day. Every man, do your duty; every man do his duty with regard\nto the State ticket of the great and glorious State of Illinois.\n\nThis year we need Republicans; this year we need men that will vote for\nthe party; and I tell you that a Republican this year, no matter what\nyou have against him, no matter whether you like him or do not like him,\nis better for the country, no matter how much you hate him, he is better\nfor the country than any Democrat Nature can make, or ever has made.\n\nWe must, in this supreme election, we must at this supreme moment, vote\nonly for the men who are in favor of keeping this Government in\nthe power, in the custody, in the control of the great, the sublime\nRepublican party.\n\nLadies and gentlemen, if I were insensible to the honor you have done me\nby this magnificent meeting—the most magnificent I ever saw on earth—a\nmeeting such as only the marvelous City of Pluck could produce; if I\nwere insensible of the honor, I would be made of stone. I shall remember\nit with delight; I shall remember it with thankfulness all the days of\nmy life. And I ask in return of every Republican here to remember all\nthe days of his life, every sacrifice made by this nation for liberty;\nevery sacrifice made by every private soldier, every sacrifice made by\nevery patriotic man and patriotic woman.\n\nI do not ask you to remember in revenge, but I ask you never, never to\nforget. As the world swings through the constellations year after year,\nI want the memory, I want the patriotic memory of this country to sit\nby the grave of every Union soldier, and, while her eyes are filled with\ntears, to crown him again and again with the crown of everlasting\nhonor. I thank you, I thank you, ladies and gentlemen, a thousand times.\nGood-night.\n    Note:—There was no full report made of this speech, the\n    above are simply extracts.\n"
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