lating notes of undoubted value, equal to gold to an
amount equal to or greater than the increase of our population and
the increasing business for our growing country.

"There is another measure to which the Republican party is bound
by every obligation of honor and duty, and that is to grant to the
Union soldiers of the late war, their widows and orphans, liberal
pensions for their sacrifices and services in the preservation of
the Union. In the language of Lincoln, 'To bind up the nation's
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for
his widow and his orphan.' Impressed with this obligation, the
Republican party has gone as far as prudence will allow. We
appropriate $135,000,000 a year for this purpose. Though the sum
is large, it is not the measure of our obligation. The rising
generation who will bear this burden must remember the immeasurable
blessings they enjoy by the sacrifices and services of Union soldiers
in the preservation of the Union and in a strong republican government
and free institutions.

"There is another obligation which we, as Republicans, cannot ignore
without being false to our party pledges, and that is to use every
legal means to secure all citizens their constitutional rights and
privileges as such, without respect to race and color. Fortunately,
time is promoting this great duty, but it must never be forgotten
or neglected until every lawful voter shall freely exercise his
right to vote without discrimination or favor.

"This is not the time for a fuller discussion of the many political
questions which will enter into the canvass. The great tribunal
of the people must pass upon them in their assemblages. I hope we
will go back to the old-fashioned mass meetings in the beautiful
groves of our state, where old and young, women as well as men,
can gather together with their baskets well-filled, their minds
open to conviction, their hearts full of patriotism, to listen and
judge for themselves the path of duty, the lines of wisdom, the
proper choice between the parties claiming their suffrages.
Fortunately, there is now no bitterness between parties, nothing
that can justify abuse, or reproach, for we must all concede the
honesty and desire of members of all parties to do what is best
for the common good. We must not meet as farmers, mechanics, or
partisans, but as fellow-citizens and patriots, alike interested
in all measures of national or state legislation.