Search the Newspapers Browse Newspapers by Date Articles Indexed by Topic About the Newspapers Valley of the Shadow Home

Franklin Repository: August 26, 1868 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

The Canvass in Franklin County
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper calls on all Republicans to donate their time and energy to the upcoming campaigns. The editors especially want volunteers to distribute campaign literature and compile lists of all Republicans and Democrats in the county. They also claim that Republicans lost in the last election because of lethargy and must avoid a similar result.

Full Text of Article:

As has already been stated in our columns, the Republican Committee of Franklin county met week before last in this place and organized. The delegations without exception at the late Convention reported good men, and it is matter for congratulation that no superior Committee has ever heretofore had confided to it the interests of the Republican organization of Franklin county. The body has been especially fortunate in the selection of its Chairman. We have no more sagacious, prudent, energetic and reliable gentleman than Samuel F. Greenawalt. For years he has done good work in the party's cause in this borough, especially in the South Ward. The bitter disappointment that the Democrats there have more than once of late been compelled to feel, has been mainly due to the energy and determination of such gentlemen as Mr. Greenawalt. Defeated at the polls for Treasurer last year because of the light vote that was cast by the Republicans, he is determined that no similar calamity shall overtake any of the gentlemen now upon the ticket.

But notwithstanding the excellence of the Committee to whom has been committed the conduct of the campaign, to make the canvass thorough and successful, the co-operation of every patriotic citizen is now needed. An appeal from the authorized source, whether for labor or money, should not go unheeded. Some can labor effectively in one department, some in another, and citizens ought so far as they are able allow those who are charged with the management of affairs to indicate the particular duty that each should perform. A hive of bees furnishes an illustration here. All work busily and to a common end, and yet each has his separate duty and appointed task. In the political hive some are wanted to distribute documents and newspapers, some to visit doubting Republicans (these are few, thanks to the justice of our cause) and repentant Democrats, some to canvass the districts and make out lists of voters, some to act as tally men at the polls, some to bring in the tardy voters, some to do the challenging and preserve the purity of the ballot-box, some to address the meetings, and all to attend the meetings, go to the polls and go--for the Democracy generally and all the time.

And here, without wishing to give offense, we would say a word to the gentlemen who are in the habit of addressing political meetings. It too often happens that coaxing and pressure are required to obtain the performance of a plain duty. That it is a duty we have not time to stop to argue nor do we think this necessary. The time does not suit one, the distance is too great for another, or a third prefers some other place than the one to which he is solicited to go. One peremptorily declines because he does not like to ride in the night air, whilst another engages positively to go--if his wife should be no worse after supper.--This is all wrong. Thoughtlessness, however, is at the bottom of it. A little reflection would convince the persons we are now addressing that it is their duty in so important a crisis as a national election to do all that may reasonably be required of them without supplementing with ifs and buts an acquiesce obtained by importunity and resorting to trifling excuses. We allude to no particular person or persons and are not sure that we ourselves do not belong to the class whose error we seek to correct. We would like all to feel the importance of our County Committee finding ready and willing workers in any department in which they may be required.

We are informed that the County Committee has requested each of its members to solicit from the members of the party in his election district funds for carrying on the campaign. It is scarcely necessary to remind the party that the traveling, canvassing, documents, newspapers, speeches, mass and township meetings, flags, banners, transparencies, music, tickets, etc., etc., of an exciting political campaign cost money and more money than many suppose. The candidates it is true should bear a liberal proportion of the expense and they usually do, but then they run the risk of defeat and generally have more or less personal outlay. The party at large that has a deep interest in the success of its cherished candidates and meas ought not and does not want to be relieved from assuming a proper responsibility in this regard. Until two years ago no effort that we are aware of had been made here to obtain funds for party purposes from the rural districts. Through the County Committee an appeal was then made and the people were waited upon at their homes. None were asked for much and all gave a little. The result is known. Governor Geary was triumphantly elected and Franklin county contributed her fair share to the victory, besides electing a Republican county ticket. The people are waiting to aid in every way they can in the present important canvass. Let them but be called upon and they will respond.

We presume that at its next meeting the County Committee will have before it complete lists of voters in every election district and take measures to have each voter visited personally and supplied with proper reading matter. We have heard of certain localities in which there is a demand for Republican newspapers on the part of Democrats. Many such have been supplied from private sources, but steps should be taken by the Committee to place in the hands of all the truth, and so large a quantity of documents and newspapers should be kept on hand as that any possible demand may be met. It is true that the ignorant and unthinking may spurn the truth when offered to them in this shape, but Republicans owe it to themselves, their neighbors and their country to propagate the principles of the party, and it is even possible that seed sown in this way although not at present taking root may some time produce an abundant harvest.

Probably no agency in a political campaign is of so much importance and so powerful as a correct enrollment and classification of all the voters in the several election districts. Where districts are very large, either territorially or as regards population, it answers a good purpose to subdivide into school districts or arbitrarily, as the case may be. The work should be made as light and divided among as many laborers as possible, care being taken to have the lists completed very early in the compaign. The work of enrollment and classification can be revised later in the campaign with profit, before and after which it may be made the basis of much other valuable effort. No army, not even an association or society, is considered well organized or efficient that has not a complete list of its membership. In military warfare it is considered essential too to know with greater or less precision the strength of the adversary. The operations of political parties have their offensive as well as their missionary characteristics, and a due regard to both requires that the strength of the enemy be duly estimated.

We had intended saying something in relation to public meetings, but to do this would swell this article to a greater length than we intended. Of course meetings will be called and Republicans will attend. Not alone by attending meetings themselves, however, can Republicans be active and evince a proper interest in their cause. Each individual should endeavor to take with him to the meetings one or more persons of opposite political convictions, thereby bringing such under the influence of the truth.

In short there is work for all to do, and it is our object now to impress our friends with the idea that it is the duty of each and all to labor diligently wherever and whenever he may be able, and especially, that our labors may be effective and systematic, to labor in the department to which each may be assigned by those charged temporarily with the management of affairs.

Are We to Have a Railroad to Waynesboro?
(Column 02)

Summary: The paper supports the construction of a railroad to Waynesboro. The editors assert such a railroad would decrease costs and taxes for the county and provide direct access to important cities like Baltimore.

Full Text of Article:

This question is often asked these days. There seems to be some doubt about it yet. Too much consideration cannot well be given to this question. True, meetings have been held, speeches, and very plain, intelligent and forcible reasons advanced in favor of this railroad, a committee was appointed to solicit subscriptions for stock, yet up to this time, this question has not been satisfactorily answered. One reason for this delay, no doubt, is that our people, town and country, have not yet been made to realize the great importance of this railroad. Of all the enterprises that have been brought before the people of this section, since the building of the Cumberland Valley railroad, this exceeds in general development, material advantage and prospective utility. Taxes in any form we deprecate, more so when they are levied on the products of the soil, or the actual result of labor and capital. As we are now, these products are made to pay tax for their transition to market. The best markets we have for all our products are situated on tide water. When that point is once reached, we can easily move from one point to another by cheap water transportation. To reach tide water we must go by rail. Of course the shortest route to the coast is our cheapest, because we have less tax to pay in the shape of tolls. Now what are our means of reaching tide water, as we are now situated? We have the old wagon road to Baltimore, that is no longer used. We have the Franklin road to Hagerstown, thence by wagons to Williamsport, thence by Chesapeake canal to Baltimore. We have then our great outlet, the Cumberland Valley railroad. By that road we now have communication to Baltimore, via Harrisburg, in about 140 miles. We have to Philadelphia, via Harrisburg, about 160 miles, and to New York, via Reading and Easton, about 260 miles. Thus, it is seen, that for all the products of our labor or soil, we must pay tolls on at least 110 miles before we can reach market or tide water. The Cumberland Valley railroad has control of all the railroads leaving this county. True, they are about extending the Franklin railroad to Williamsport, thus giving us the advantage of the Chesapeake canal, and also bringing us close to Cumberland coal. For this act of considerntion, that company deserve the thanks of this community, and we trust may be abundantly compensated. It is to be hoped they will not discriminate in their tolls in favor of the Pennsylvania Central railroad.

Now how is this road to Waynesboro to help our case? Just in this, that by the construction of that road, and the making of about four miles of road from Waynesboro, to connect the Western Maryland railroad, we would have a direct communication by rail to Baltimore, by some 85 to 90 miles. This is the consideration that is vital in favor of this road, and challenges our attention and earnest labor. And it is in this view that we say the projected road is the most important movement that has claimed the public attention for years. By this road we would pay tolls on but 90 miles, against 140 on any other road out of this valley, from Chambersburg to tide water. It is easily seen in this view, how all classes are benefitted. If the toll on a barrel of flour to Baltimore, via the Cumberland Valley railroad is, for example, 40 cents, on this road it would be 25 1/2 cents, a difference of 14 1/2 cents per barrel. This, allowing five bushes of wheat to make a barrel, would be 3 cents per bushel on grain.

In this view, the construction of this road would be a saving of $30 on every thousand bushels of wheat or corn we would have to sell, for be it remembered, that tolls are not regulated by the price of wheat, but a reduction in miles carried is a permanent reduction of tolls, as a consequence, lands must advance in price. In this view does it not become every farmer and citizen of Chambersburg, not only as a solemn duty to the community, but also as a matter of solid interest and gain, to make earnest labor for this, to us important enterprise. Should we not endeavor by every honorable effort to secure for ourselves at least two outlets for our produce and manufactures. The opportunity is now before us, let us seize it, and make the interest of the county at the same time our interest.

[No Title]
(Column 04)

Summary: The paper criticizes the language of the Democratic platform, which the editor said was written mainly by former secessionists and their sympathizers. The editors assert that if the Democrats were elected, the South would overthrow the reconstruction governments by force. The article quotes a speech by ex-senator John Carlisle, a moderate Unionist, to back up his claims.

Full Text of Article:

The Democratic managers are becoming seriously alarmed at the honest construction which their party leaders South are giving to the platform, and beg them not speak so freely as to its real meaning. These Southern fellows don't seem to know that the use of language is chiefly to conceal one's thought and they go to work with the utmost freedom to explain and make clear that which the Convention intentionally left obscure and doubtful. It is a merit which they possess and for which they should be properly credited, inasmuch as there is little else that can be said in their favor. Besides we should not forget that they save the Republican journals the necessity of developing the true meaning of the Democratic platform, and add to their own construction of it the force of Democratic authority.

One of the most outspoken of the number was a member of the committee on resolutions, and ought to be pretty good authority on the subject. His name is Wade Hampton. Our farmers will recollect him as a noted fancier in good horseflesh, who visited them in 1862. He was so well pleased with their stock of fine draught horses that he took the whole lot and shipped them to the Southern Confederacy.

When he returned from the New York Convention he spoke of its action to his constituents. He said he was a member of the committee on resolutions, that is, the platform. He told them that the two important features of the platform were repudiation and the denunciation of the reconstruction measures of Congress.--The first of these had been introduced into it by the friends of Mr. Pendleton, the last by himself. Here are his own words as to what occurred in the committee:

"I said I would take the resolutions if they would allow me to add but three words, which you will find embodied in the platform. I added this: 'and we declare that the reconstruction acts are revolutionary, unconstitutional and void.'--When I proposed that, every single member of the Committee, and the warmest men in it were the men of the North, came forward and said that they would carry it out to the end."

Wade Hampton further said, that if the Democrats succeeded in the the election, the State organizations of the South, those organized under the reconstruction acts, would fall. Now how can they fall? There are two ways possible, by the repeal of the reconstruction acts, and by the overthrow of the Government. Wade Hampton has too much intelligence not to know that so long as the Senate is Republican, which will necessarily be three or four years even under Democratic rule, the reconstruction acts cannot be repealed. He must mean then that these State governments shall fall by force of arms when Seymour and Blair are elected. Is this what the members of the Committee, and the warmest men in it were men from the North, came forward and said they would carry it out to the end?

So it seems! and so would the declarations and threats of a host of other Democrats and traitors both North and South compel us to believe. We do believe it, and conservative Union men throughout the whole North, who have been acting with the Democratic party since the war believe it too.

Hon. J. S. Carlisle, Ex-Senator from West Virginia, in a letter to the Baltimore American, denounces the Democratic party and its candidates for the reasons we have just assigned. During the rebellion Senator Carlisle was in favor of a vigorous prosecution of the war. Since its close he has labored with the Democratic party, and says, "I have never been, in the strict sense of the word, a party man. My chief object in public life has been the maintenance of the Union under the constitution."

Speaking of the Democratic party and its candidates, he says:

I had hoped and expected that the action of the New York Convention would have entitled its nominees to the support of conservative Union men. Had its members pledged themselves to the maintenance of the right of local self-government in the States, as secured by the Constitution, and nominated as their Presidential candidate, a man of undoubted Unionism, who believed in the right of the Government to protect itself and enforce its lawful authority, I should have voted for its nominees. This was not done. On the contrary, it is my opinion that Hendricks was defeated because he is not a believer in the right of secession. The war record of Hancock defeated dim. Mr. Vallandigham's patriotism nominated Seymour and crushed the aspirations of the Chief Justice. The friends of the "lost cause" triumphed over the Unionism of the Convention, and the strife of the battle field is to be renewed, to be fought out at the ballot box. As much as I am opposed to the radical legislation of the last six years, I am more opposed to disunion. So long as we are one people vicious legislation may be corrected, even constitutional amendments may be abolished, and constitutional liberty preserved; but once divided into separate States, unded different Governments, liberty and prosperity, peace and good government are lost forever. Grant will receive no support from Secessionists or their sympathizers; they are all to be found in the ranks of the party supporting Mr. Seymour. The conservatism of Republicanism nominated Grant. The radicalism of Democracy nominated Seymour.

Federal Hill Seminary
(Column 01)

Summary: The first session of the new Federal Hill Seminary for ladies will open on September 2nd. The principal, Mr. Foster, has finalized the faculty and courses of study. The paper declares that the new institution provides "what we have so long needed and desired--a first-class school." The editors urge Chambersburg citizens to support the school by putting their daughters "under Mr. Foster's care, where they can enjoy all the advantages to be had in other schools at a less expense, complete a thorough course of study, fit themselves for teaching or any other position in life, and thus while benefitting themselves, will benefit others by sustaining and encouraging an institution that will be an honor to our community." An omnibus will run during bad weather.
(Names in announcement: Foster)

The Franklin County Agricultural Fair Company
(Column 01)

Summary: The paper praises the efforts of the company in preparation for the fair, but suggests they install amphitheater seating on the grounds. The article notes that the fair will contain many unusual and unique attractions, including a medieval-style tournament.

James Watson, Deceased
(Column 01)

Summary: James Watson died in Chambersburg on August 23rd. He was a respected citizen who had served as county register and recorder and notary public. He was a good "Christian, a citizen, and a father of a family," and also savvy in business. "He was one of the sufferers by the great fire of 30th July, 1864, when Chambersburg was burned, and the terrible shock visibly shattered his sturdy constitution until then not much impaired by the weight of many years."
(Names in announcement: James Watson)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The Monumental Association held a successful promenade concert on the grounds of W. L. Chambers. The grounds were decorated with Chinese lanterns and torches, and a large crowd attended. Both Chambersburg Cornet bands performed. The event raised $150.
(Names in announcement: W. L. Chambers)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: The legislature passed an act requiring Recorders of Deeds to record the discharges of honorably discharged soldiers. This will save trouble for those men who lose their paperwork. Harry Strickler, county recorder, will provide the service in Franklin.
(Names in announcement: Harry Strickler)

Iron Ore
(Column 02)

Summary: Mr. Somers of Washington township discovered high-quality iron ore on his farm. An iron-master in Greencastle has agreed to pay $3.00 per ton for it. "The land on which it was found seems to abound with it, and with proper facility for transportation, Mr. S. might congratulate himself upon the discovery of this valuable metal."
(Names in announcement: Somers)

Daily Prayer Meeting
(Column 02)

Summary: A Union Prayer meeting will be held daily in the rooms of the Young Men's Christian Association beginning on September 1st.

Married
(Column 03)

Summary: E. L. Renfrew of Fayetteville and Miss Jane Hodgson of Pittsburgh were married on August 19th by the Rev. Mr. Roth.
(Names in announcement: E. L. Renfrew, Jane Hodgson, Rev. Roth)

Married
(Column 03)

Summary: S. P. Green, formerly of Chambersburg, and Miss Margaret J. Hurley were married on August 3rd in San Antonio, Texas, at St. Mary's Church by the Rev. Father Challand.
(Names in announcement: S. P. Green, Margaret J. Hurley, Rev. Challand)

Died
(Column 03)

Summary: Mary Bradley, infant daughter of Horace and Marion Bradley, died in Chambersburg on August 8th. She was 5 months old.
(Names in announcement: Mary Bradley, Horace Bradley, Marion Bradley)

Died
(Column 03)

Summary: Alberta Estella Melhorn, daughter of Amos and Ellen Melhorn, died in Chambersburg on August 21st. She was 1 year old.
(Names in announcement: Alberta Estella Melhorn, Amos Melhorn, Ellen Melhorn)

Died
(Column 03)

Summary: Emma C. Paxton, wife of John N. Paxton and daughter of P. W. Seibert, died in Chambersburg on August 21st after a short illness. She was 24 years old. W. S. Roney and John L. Black passed resolutions of sympathy and respect on behalf of Falling Spring Division No. 122, Sons of Temperance.
(Names in announcement: Emma C. Paxton, John N. Paxton, P. W. Seibert, W. S. Roney, John L. Black)