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Valley Spirit: June 1, 1870 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

Edwin M. Stanton. Letter From Jeremiah S. Black to United States Senator Henry Wilson
(Column 02)

Summary: Jeremiah S. Black defends the Buchanan administration from charges of gross mismanagement of the secession crisis, and takes issue with depictions of Edwin Stanton as a strong Republican and supporter of abolition. Buchanan, he argues, acted out of reverence for the constitution in holding that he had no power to make war upon the South. He never flinched from asserting the government's rights to uphold the law, however. Stanton remained a good Democrat even if he was a loyal supporter of the president who appointed him.

Origin of Article: The Galaxy

More Legislation Against White Men
(Column 01)

Summary: Attacks Congress for considering a bill the editor believes is meant to discourage immigrants from becoming citizens. Calls it an attack on white men for the purpose of elevating the power of black men. Asks immigrants if they will stand for this and urges them to vote Democratic.

Full Text of Article:

The present Congress seems capable of perpetrating any sort of infamy upon white men. It has now under consideration, with every likelihood that it will pass, a bill which might properly be termed "a bill to discourage naturalization." It proposes to take the power of naturalization from the State Courts altogether, and lodge it exclusively in the United States Courts. If this bill becomes a law, a foreigner cannot be naturalized in Franklin county. He will be obliged to go to Philadelphia to procure his naturalization papers. What a great expense, and to what inconvenience will this put those who have lived in this country long enough to become citizens! Then, too, the bill provides that the person naturalized shall not vote until six months after he has received his naturalization papers. This is done to discourage foreigners from being naturalized.

These obstacles are thrown in the way of white men. If the skin of the German, or Irishman, were black, no such stringent act would be passed. But these Radicals hate foreigners, because the masses vote the Democratic ticket.

We appeal to our fellow-citizens of foreign birth. Are you willing to support a party which legislates against you in this manner? Your friends may desire to come to America. If they do come, and reside in the rural districts, they will not be allowed to do as you have done. They can not go to their nearest county Court, and file their intentions to become citizens. They must travel two or three hundred miles to do it. And when their time comes to procure their papers, they must travel the same weary distances, take their witnesses with them, and bear this great expense. All this is done so that persons of foreign birth will become discouraged and prefer not to procure papers at all. The consequence will be that black men will have so much more power and their votes are counted sure for the Radical party.

White men, foreign-born and native Americans, think of this scheme to make the votes of black men more effective, and crush the party that devised, and is seeking to carry it out.

More of Cessna's Dirty Work
(Column 01)

Summary: Denounces Cessna's work in Congress on the Committee of Elections. Claims he fraudulently declares defeated candidates as winners in contested elections in order to secure Republican victories. Gives several examples and urges the 16th Congressional District of Pennsylvania to oust him in the next election.

Full Text of Article:

Mr. Cessna, from the Committee of Elections, made a report in the South Carolina contested election case of Wallace against Simpson declaring that A.S. Wallace was duly elected and was entitled to the seat.--He moved the previous question, which was seconded, and then the resolution was adopted.--Congressional Proceedings, May 27th.

Of course. That is just the kind of dirty work for which Cessna is preeminently fitted. Nothing seems to delight him more than to be dabbling in a contested election case: and he prefers to be concerned for the fellow who has been beaten at the polls. He imagines that his constituents will consider him a sharp and shrewd lawyer, if he succeeds in securing the office for the minority candidates. But his constituents here have since discovered the resources which the honorable member has at his command. He had gained an unenviable by his manipulation of contested election cases before he went to Congress.--He helped to swindle Senator Duncan out of his seat in 1865. He assisted in ousting Senator Shugart and tried hard to unseat Senator McIntyre. It was his prolific that suggested to Mr Scull the idea of prompting to cheat Senator Findlay out of his seat, which project happily miscarried. When he went to Congress, he found that his skill as a political juggler had preceded him. The suggestion was at once made, "put Cessna on the Committee on Contested Election Cases. He won't let a Democrat in under any circumstances." And he has fulfilled the prediction to the letter. A majority of 10,000 has proved insufficient to keep a Democrat in, when Cessna's Christian conscience said "turn him out." He gravely gives his opinion, too, that, under such circumstances, there should not be a new election, but that the defeated candidate ought to be declared elected and advanced to a seat. Accordingly, as Judge Woodward said the other day at Reading, in every contested election case, the Democrat has been turned, or kept out, and the Radical put, or kept in, and this without regard to the majority the Democrat may have had.

In this very case, Simpson was elected by an overwhelming majority. We forget the exact figures but it was in the neighborhood of four thousand. It seemed that, owing to some disability, he was unable to take the oath. Then comes this dirty little political trickster with a report, declaring Wallace, the defeated candidate, duly elected and entitled to the seat, and moved the previous question. Thus he put the gag into the mouths of Democrats and honest Radicals, who would have denounced the outrage, so that this iniquitous proceeding should not be ventilated. This is the man, conservative white men of the 16th Congressional District, who will obtain a renomination at the hands of the Radical Congressional Conference, and who will ask you for your suffrages. The man whose conscience is so sacred as to allow him to perpetrate such an informal outrage, is not worthy of the confidence and support of an honest constituency. Get ready to flagellate him most unmercifully.

They Ought to be Represented
(Column 02)

Summary: Calculates the number of votes blacks will bring to the Republican party and challenges them to insist on representation at the Republican conventions because of that voting strength. Probably hopes to show the hypocrisy of the Republican party if they fail to let in black representatives.
(Names in announcement: John Cessna, Henry Monks, Ashford Collins, Elijah Hammett, Joseph R. Winters, Alexander Lewis, Moses Anderson)

Full Text of Article:

The names of two hundred and twenty-eight negroes have been furnished to John Cessna as making up the number of colored voters in the Borough of Chambersburg. The total number of votes cast in this Borough for Governor last October, was 1103. Add to this number the 223 negro votes, and we have an aggregate for this Fall's election of 1331 votes. The negro vote is therefore a little over the one-sixth of the whole vote.

But again: The vote for Geary in the Borough was 579. The 228 negro votes will all be cast for the Radical candidates. Assuming that the 579 white voters will "stick" (which is not at all probable, and will make our argument stronger for the black man) the Radical vote would then be 807. The negro vote would therefore be more than one-fourth of the Radical vote of the Borough.

The Radical County Committee has been called to meet on the 4th instant, to fix the time for holding a County Convention. In that Convention, the Borough will be entitled to thirteen delegates. The negro vote, being the one-fourth of the Radical vote, ought to be entitled to at least three colored delegates from the Borough in the Convention.

Casting, as the negroes will, one-sixth of the whole vote of the Borough, they are clearly entitled on that basis, to two delegates of their color in the Convention.

In Antrim and Montgomery townships, the negroes will cast a pretty large vote. They ought to consider in their meetings whether they will demand representation according to their proportion of the Radical vote, or according to their proportion of the whole vote. There is no reason why they ought not to demand it according to their proportion of the Radical vote, inasmuch as the white representation in the convention is based on the strength of the Radical vote in the several election districts.

Such men as Henry Monks, Ashford Collins, Elijah Hammett, Joseph R. Winters, Alexander Lewis and Moses Anderson, and others we might name, ought to see to it that they are allowed their full representation in the next Radical Convention. Their brethren all through the South have had this privilege accorded to them as one of the least of their privileges, and the party that is to get the solid negro vote, ought not to dare to refuse it here.

You are Right
(Column 03)

Summary: Prints another article from an anonymous writer calling himself WHITE MAN. This writer praises the paper for standing up for white supremacy, urges all Democrats not to back away from it even if they are defeated in elections. Insists whites and blacks must be separate and nothing should be done to change that.

Full Text of Article:

ANTRIM TOWNSHIP, May 28th, 1870.

Messrs. Editors:--The stand you have so ably taken in behalf of "the white man's party" is the platform of all Democrats in our section of the county, as it no doubt is everywhere else. And strange as it may seem it is only since the announcement by the authorities that the requisite number of States had ratified the thing called the "fifteenth amendment" and the subsequent negro jubilee in token of their joy of the event, that a large portion of Republicans have waked up to the real sense of this new order of affairs. Many of these, we have the most positive proof for asserting, are throwing off the yoke they too long bore and joining hands with us. Your motto, that white men alone ought to rule America, is the true one even if we should not at once succeed. If our party were to court for any negro votes, many Democrats would not vote at all, while the position we have assumed is sure to unite us as one man, and command the support of such Republicans as are absolutely opposed to negro suffrage; especially will this be so when it comes to the point, that our schools and churches and graveyards and juries and other places will be indiscriminately filled with whites and negroes. Let us, therefore, not be discouraged; the weight of this negroism will itself destroy the means by which it calculates to accomplish its most cherished objects. The bold extremes to which it is driving its measures so hastily, is the undoubted precursor of the ultimate overthrow of all its infernal schemes to equalize and amalgamate the whites and blacks of this country.

The distinction which God and nature have irrevocably fixed between us and them will not soon give way to the accursed doctrine of training us and our offspring up for the companionship of the sooty African. We want him below us or above us, not with us. Giving him the ballot is a heavy tread on a tender spot in the body politic, but the intrusion will not stop here of its own accord. We must do what we can to stay it. We must resort to the laws of self preservation. We must lend no assistance to radicalism under any guise, by contributing to the education of the "freedmen," so called. We must make no clubs to break our own heads with. A "learned nigger" will be a "learned" enemy in the hands of radicalism. The two are allied to each other in the bonds of politics, therefore it behooves us to be aware of mistaken sympathies. Our cause will admit of no avoidable mistake.

Yours,
WHITE MAN.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The Radical County Committee will meet in Chambersburg to fix a date for their convention.

Odd Fellows Picnic
(Column 01)

Summary: Columbus Lodge, No. 75, will hold a picnic at Brown's Mill on June 16th.

Internal Revenue
(Column 01)

Summary: George J. Balaley, Deputy Collector of the Internal Revenue for Franklin, will receive taxes on income and special taxes on business between June 14th and 18th. He will hold office in Hoke's Building, Chambersburg.
(Names in announcement: George J. Balaley)

Change in the Repository Office
(Column 01)

Summary: S. Wilson Hays has sold his interest in the Franklin Repository to Mr. H. S. Stoner who recently assumed management of the business department of the paper. The editors of the Spirit regret to see Hays "drop out of the editorial fraternity" but anticipate good relations with Stoner.
(Names in announcement: S. Wilson Hays, H. S. Stoner)

Let Them Learn
(Column 02)

Summary: Comes out in favor of educating blacks, just wants them in separate schools from whites. Since they can vote and hold office now, they should at least know how to read, the paper argues.

Full Text of Article:

Our correspondent from Antrim is right in his views in the main, but we do not agree with him in his position as to not educating the negro. We are in favor of educating him--not, however, in the same schools as the whites. Let the negroes be taught in separate schools, and taught to the utmost of their ability to learn. If they are to have a voice in the selection of officers to administer the government, it is by all means advisable that they should be able to read the constitution, and, especially, their tickets, so that their Radical guardians may not cheat them too badly.

Mercersburg Classis
(Column 02)

Summary: The Thirtieth Annual Meeting of the Mercersburg Classis of the Reformed Church of the United States was held in Schellsburg on May 19th. A number of local clergy delivered addresses.
(Names in announcement: Rev. P. S. Davis, Rev. S. N. Callender)

Decoration Day
(Column 02)

Summary: Reports on the Decoration Day festivities. Gives the names of the groups involved in the procession and speeches made at the graveyards.
(Names in announcement: Rev. I. N. Hays)

Full Text of Article:

Monday was the day set apart for the purpose of doing honor to our soldier dead. The ceremony of strewing flowers upon the graves of those who fell in battle, or died in the service of their country, is a beautiful one, and our citizens generally relinquished business in the afternoon to participate in its observance. Arrangements had been made to begin at 3 o'clock P. M., but on Monday morning, the Silver Cornet Band notified the Committee of Arrangements that they would not furnish the music for the occasion. The Committee then secured the services of the Fayetteville Band but it was found impossible for it to attend before 5 o'clock, and the procession did not form, therefore, until that time. The "Housum Zouaves," Knights of Pythias and Odd Fellows, together with a large body of citizen soldiers, made up the procession. They visited the several graveyards and the Cemetery. At the latter place an excellent address, very appropriate to the occasion, was delivered by Rev. I.N. Hays.

During the forenoon, the children kept pouring into Repository Hall, bearing in their hands the choicest flowers in abundance, and these were strewed upon soldiers' graves in the graveyards and cemetery.

The Appointment of Assessor
(Column 03)

Summary: Prints a letter from the former Assessor of Chambersburg defending the County Commissioner Board's decision to appoint a Republican as the new Assessor. Took offense at the article printed in the Spirit the week before and comes to the defense of the Democrats on the Board for their decision, explains exactly what happened.
(Names in announcement: Henry C. Koontz, George Foreman, John Doebler)

Full Text of Article:

To the Editors of the Valley Spirit:

GENTLEMEN:--As an article in your issue of the 25th instant does great injustice to the Democratic members of the Board of County Commissioners, I desire the use of your columns to say a word by way of explanation. When the new Board of Commissioners was organized, on the first Monday of February, 1870, they elected Henry C. Koontz clerk. He was a strong Democrat. George Foreman, who went out of the office, was a Republican, and had filled the office with satisfaction to all parties. I had been elected as a Republican, Assessor for the Borough of Chambersburg, and feeling anxious to do something for George Foreman, I called upon the Commissioners and proposed to resign, provided they would appoint George Foreman Assessor for the Borough in my place. Upon this condition I resigned, and would have resigned upon no other. As this arrangement was perfectly fair all around, and made no change in the political complexion of the Assessor, the Commissioners assented, and the appointment of Geo. Foreman was made. In this it is difficult to see anything of which the Democratic party should complain of William Shinefield and J. H. Brumbaugh, old and tried Democrats.
JOHN DOEBLER.

Married
(Column 05)

Summary: Theodore Mowen of St. Thomas and Miss Annie Shoup of Cashtown were married on May 26th by the Rev. John Fohl at his residence.
(Names in announcement: Theodore Mowen, Annie Shoup, Rev. John Fohl)

Died
(Column 05)

Summary: Mrs. Rebecca Stull died in Quincy on May 12th. She was 36 years old.
(Names in announcement: Rebecca Stull)

Died
(Column 05)

Summary: Benjamin Rock died in Mt. Alto on May 21st. He was 21 years old.
(Names in announcement: Benjamin Rock)

Died
(Column 05)

Summary: Margaret McClure died in Chambersburg on May 5th. She was 78 years old.
(Names in announcement: Margaret McClure)

Died
(Column 05)

Summary: John Kunkle died in St. Thomas on May 20th. He was 80 years old.
(Names in announcement: John Kunkle)