Show j r 4 r GEN HANCOCKS straightforward t womanly letter concerning southern L L Claims fairly knocks the underpinning 1 t from republican howlers Rebel iJi claims southern war claims etc have furnished the chief theme i i 5 for republican stump speakers This yell was their principal stock in trade I They opened their harangues with it I and sandwiched it between meaningless meaning-less utterances and wound up with p a deafening shout that if the democrats demo-crats obtained control of the govern r men t the treasury would be depleted by the payment of rebel claims i I S against the nation There was absolutely S S abso-lutely nothing in the cry though itt J it-t was the beat campaign areas S area-s meat that the radicals could bringS bring-S S f S forward The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution provides that S Neither the United States nor any S S Elate shall assume or pay any debt orS 1 or-S IVir pblijjatlon incurred in aid of insnrrec I S t liSPfor rebellion against the United States or any claim for the loss orS 4 or-S s tvr emancipation i of any slave but all such debts obligations and claims S f i v shall be held illegal and void InS In-S i 4 View of this it 13 an insult to the majority JI ma-jority of the people of the United S I t States to intimate that the southern t acclaims would cr could be paid It i I r cells in question the loyalty honesty t 4 i and patrittum of ell the people and J hints that the Constitution isa worth 4 tt less document binding on nobody Hancock fought the rebellion and for 5 S theTUnion as bravely as ary man and no one had the right S 4 S io ask him whether he would violate S rihe Constitution The people had a 5 S much better right to demand of Grant t a positive denial that he would be 4 proclaimed emperor in the event of S L j his reelection than to ask General Hancock to say whether he was in l1 S j favor of the payment of rebal t 5 claims But Hancock has answered the impudent inquiries and done it 1 t in euch6 way that there can u I be no mistaking his meaning Ho 4 4 5 will not be a party to the payment of 5 I any of i f these claims and will veto any legislation for that purpose should OJngress be Billy enough or disloyal 3 ft enough attempt f EO rank a violation ofhe Constitution lo view of the use that1 the republicans were making of the southern war claim cry in frightening the ignorant voters Han i cocks letter is good and timely though it it i a shame that he should have been atked to write it The republicans II I I re-publicans who have stolen more money from the public treasury during dur-ing the twenty years that it hag been under their control than would pay all the southern claim for emancipated i emanci-pated slaves and all will now have to invent some other bugaboo for campaign cam-paign purposes The old one is gone and with it passes away about he only thing that the plundering party I has heretofore been nble to utilize |