The Daily Argus

A CANTING HYPOCRITE
The paper called the Industrial Age, published in Chicago, professedly in the interest of the farmers, displays at its head the names of J. A. Noonan. S. M. Smith and C. E. Barney, as editors-all inflationists; men who use their influence to convince the farmers that counterfeit money is better than genuine money; that the more our currency is debased and depreciated the better it will be. They might as well undertake to convince an intelligent farmer that the more water he puts into his milk the more cream he will get; the more saw dust he puts into his Indian meal the fatter his hogs will get. But, however mistaken Messrs. Noonan and Smith may be on the currency question, we believe they, and the Age, were fairly and honestly desirous of the election of Gen. Elliott. We cannot say as much for Mr. Barney We believe him to be a canting hypocrite; an enemy of the Farmers' Movement in the pretended garb of a friend; a man whose efforts are devoted to the interests of the Republican party, and who sneaks into the Farmers' Movement only to help defeat its candidates. In the Industrial Age, of the 7th, we find, reprinted, a circular which this man Barney issued before election in Bureau county (where he resides.) It is headed "Farmers' Clubs in Bureau Co.," and the Age introduces it by saying:
We find the following circular in a Bureau county paper. It is a circular issued by our associate, Mr Barney, and is worthy of the attention of the reader:-
The closing paragraph of the circular is as follows :
In the last congress there were 219 members, eleven of whom were identified with the farmers: Is it any wonder our interests were disregarded? Whose fault is it? Are our numbers too small? We cast three-quarters the entire vote of the Northwest, own four fifths the property, pay more than seven-tenths of the taxes, and are swindled, derailed, and sold out by the men our votes elect to office, and are made the focus of all the frauds, rings, non-producers, cers, and dead beats in the land. If we may protect ourselves and do not, we deserve the end that awaits us and our vocation.
Brave words-and true. But what does the canting hypocrite (C. E Barney) who uttered them do ? He issued a letter opposing the election of Gen. Elliott, a farmer and the farmers' candidate for congress, and aided in the election of Henderson, a lawyer, lobbyist, and monopoly candidate. There wasn't a railroad company which had an inch of road in this district, or a national bank in the district, which did not stand ready to expend $500 to $1,000 each to secure the election of Tom Henderson; and many of them probably did expend that amount to aid him, and used all their efforts to elect him, And Barney played into their hands, while hypocritically pretending to be a friend of the farmers. And so did old John Bryant.
This Barney, a pretended farmer and pretended friend of farmers in view of their preponderance of numbers and power to elect their candidates, says to the farmers of this district, "If we may protect ourselves and do not, we deserve the end that awaits us and our vocation." The trouble about that matter is that through the treachery of such hypocrites as this Barney all farmers suffer alike. If only he and those who voted for Henderson were to suffer by the defeat of the farmers' candidate we should not so much regret it The farmers of this county and Putnam county were honest and true to their candidates. Those of Bureau, Henry and Lee. we are sorry to say, do not, by the returns, appear to have been honest and true to their candidates. If they alone were the ones to suffer by it, we would not care so much about it. If the farmers would protect themselves they must kick out such hypocritical and pretended friends as this man Barney, and stand up square for their candidates regardless of all old party associations.
From the returns it will be seen that R. H. Hinman is defeated by the dishonesty of Rock Island politicians. To be sure and secure the whole loaf for themselves, they "plumped" on Mr. Grenell, and thus made sure of his election, while Henry county voted honestly 1 for each candidate. If our Rock Island friends think there is no hereafter, they have done wisely : if not, otherwise. We shall have more to say on this subject hereafter, when the official vote is published. By all odds R. H. Hinman was the best man on the ticket. and we are sorry to see him defeated by the treachery of his party friends. He did not want the nomination, and aside from the feelings this perfidy produces, he is doubtless better satisfied to stay at home. But it was a mean, dastardly trick, notwithstanding.- Cambridge Chief.
It was not "the dishonesty of Rock Island and politicians," for those who have any claim to political intelligence protested against any scratching and did all they could to prevent it. Of course voters had a right to do as they pleased, and no one had any power to prevent them from doing so. The Argus regrets it, and its files all through the canvass will bear witness to its advice to vote square and straight The Chief says Henry county voted "honestly 1 on each candidate." But the figures show more than 200 more votes for Hinman than for Grenell in Henry county -which, of course. was just as "dishonest," "mean," "dastardly," "tricky," "perfidious." etc, etc., was it not? Then, as to "securing the whole loaf"—has any injustice been done? Not a bit. Did not Henry have the Representative for the past two years, in the person of Mr. Dunbar. of Geneseo ? If there was to be only one elected, it is not so very wrong for Rock Island to have it. Henry has not only had the Representative for the last two years, but has had the candidate for senator at both elections,—Mr. Higgins of Orion, two years ago, and Mr. Perry, of Geneseo, this time. And our county gave Mr. Perry a majority. Had Henry done as well he would have been elected. Rock Island county has had nothing, under the new constitution. until now. Henry county has nothing to complain of.
The greatest thing that worried us, when the returns were coming in. was the fear that the scratching would lose us one Representative. But the returns show that we could not have elected but one had the voting been even If there was to be only one it belonged to this county by every consideration of right and justice.
"If Charles Sumner had lived," says a Massachusetts Republican paper, "he would have voted the Democratic ticket this year."
Well, one night, not four weeks before he died. Mr. Sumner is reported to have said: "Now that the Democratic doctrine of states rights no longer includes the right of secession, it is the only idea that can successfully resist the tendencies of the party in power."