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THE

HONEST AMERICAN VOTER'S

LITTLE CATECHISM

FOR

1880.


BY

BLYTHE HARDING.


Copyrighted, 1880.


NEW YORK:

John Polhemus, Publisher, 102 Nassau Street.




PREFACE.


I was invited the other day to take down, as Stenographer, what
purported to be a discussion upon some general political topics, and
more especially on the forthcoming presidential election. One of the
disputants entrenched himself in what, I believe, scholars call the
Socratic method, that is, he _pumped_ his supposed antagonist dry.
Whether the world at large may think the dialogue as funny as I did
myself, I can form no opinion. It is to solve this question that I
give it to the public.

BLYTHE HARDING.

NEW YORK, _August 31st, 1880_.




THE DIALOGUE.


What is a republic?

--A state, or Union of states, in which the people holds supreme
power.

How does the people exercise this power?

--Through men elected for this purpose.

What are these men called?

--Senators and members of Congress or Congressmen.

Is there a head or chief in a republic?

--Certainly.

What is he called?

--The President.

Must the President be elected?

--Yes, by the people.

Who declares the voice of the people in this matter?

--The electors of the different states, appointed to do it by the
people.

Is it necessary that the whole people should agree on one man in order
to elect him?

--No; it only needs a majority of the nation, voting through the
electors.

Do the votes of the electors generally follow the voice of the people
in the different states?

--They ought to follow it.

Are the electors considered bound to vote as the majority of the
people in their different states direct?

--Undoubtedly they are.

Then it is fair to say that the vote of a majority of the electors
show which way the majority of the people voted?

--That's a simple question. Why, of course!

What are the duties of the President?

--To mind the business of the nation, and his own, too.

Anything else?

--Isn't that enough?

Well, but what is that business?

--The business of the nation?

Yes.

--He makes treaties, weeds out old political hacks, and sends them
on embassies where they cannot annoy him, and have nothing to do;
appoints Judges of the Supreme Court like Joe Bradley, when he wants
to play eight-to-seven, commands the army and navy, gets fifty
thousand dollars a year, takes all the presents he can get, lives
in the White House, and does a kind of general housekeeping business
for the country.

I was not talking of Grant. Let that go. Does he do anything else?

--Yes; if he comes from Ohio, he fills nearly every place he's got
to give away with lean, hungry Ohio men, so that you can get a "whiff"
of that state all over Washington, and in a good many other places
too, any time of the day or night.

Really I don't understand you. All our Presidents do not come from
Ohio or Illinois!

--Thank God they don't.

Just tell me what the Senators have to do?

--To prevent Congressmen from making fools of themselves.

Anything else?

--Yes; to keep an eye on the "jobs" Congressmen are always trying
to put through.

What are the duties of Congressmen?

--God knows! I don't think they do themselves.

What should you think?

--From the way they go on, I should say: to make a grab whenever
they can.

Who is now President of the United States?

--Samuel J. Tilden.

That is a mistake. The present President of the United States is
Rutherford B. Hayes.

--He is, is he? Yes, just about as much as I'm owner of Central Park,
when I sit down on a bench there.

What do you mean?

--I mean to say a man can't be President of this country unless he
is elected, and Hayes was never elected.

Who was elected then?

--Why, Samuel J. Tilden, to be sure!

Then how did Hayes get in?

--He had some "statesmen" working for him, who kept the right man
out and pushed him in.

Do you really mean that?

--As certain as death.

Very strange! Who were these "statesmen;" I suppose you mean his
friends?

--Friends, indeed! Yes, like wolves are to