Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 September 1884 — The Ge[?]esis of a Biunder. [ARTICLE]

The Ge[?]esis of a Biunder.

‘•How did we mAke this awful blunder, just when we had a I’tesiidenti.il victory within reach? ’ A ery solemn and sad was the Democratic friend who madp this inquiry. He had just laixl down a paper containing the names of over one hundred Democrats who were outspoken for Mr. Blaine, in a. town where the largest Democratic vote ever cast was about four hundred. The answer was easy, if not tneouraging. The‘Democrats made this “awful blunder ’ because they were more anxious to win than to do right. They did not know what Cleveland was. nor did they gre .tly eni-p. The Pharisees had per.sunded the convention that they—wmtMsurely carry New Y'ork for Cleveland, and that was enough. Had lie been in every respect worse than he is, shell a convention would still have thrust aside all the < xperienced and distin-guished-statesmen of the party, and put.up Cleveland for the sake ot success. Mr. Curtis was r ght: “The Democratic party was very liiiligry, and very thir-ty.’’ There was a feeling that the malted holiness of the so-called' Independents would prevent any inquiry as to the personal* fitness of the man they so warmly praised. When Mr. Purcell, or General Butler, or Mr. Kelley stated reasons why Mr. Cleveland ought not to be nominated, the ready reply was: “Nothing will count against a man indorsed by Mr. Curtis and the religious newspapers.’ Having faith that the objections would not hirrt, the convention did net Care whetb.er they wbre well founded. It was in the mood to. vote for the arch enemy of mankind, with hoofs and horns exposed to view, if only he could be elected. Nor did it at all occur to the Demoura' ia ConvenJion that i| Ay as an infamous Unng to nominate a (iovernor by means of the votes of criminals whom he had refused to punislr."No other thing", in the whole pitiful history, showed more clearly the degraded moral tone ot the party than its absolute indifference to a spectacle so shameless. If the better men regretted it, they consoled themselves with the thought: “It will do no harm: Curtis and the religious papers will support him. " N o matter ■what the transaction was, it was all right if it would Will. But these are mere “surface indications:” the exhaustless vein of unmitigated folly lay deeper. The party wanted to dodge the tariff question, and really believe I that it could. To that end, the necessity was to put up a man who had ma le no record on the question. The hope was that by raising a false issue ot “reform," the counuy could be » heated. It Ims been said that thieves always take more trouble 'o get a living than honest men. The Democratic party has been trying to steal a victory ever since Abraham Lincoln was first pleoied. In this case, it hopeci to steal a victory by shouting for “Reform.” It is always foolish to seek anything by deceiving the people. To suppose that the “Reform'’ variety of cheat would succeed if tried a tnird time, against the cleanest Administration known for many years, was especially foolish. But it was supreme and unspeakable folly to suppose that the Morrison bill of May would be forgotten in July.

Issues between parties are like poets, “born, not made. - ’ Let any man go out among the voters ot his neighborn hood, and see what they are in earnest about. He will hear thb chaff of the campaign, as usual, about all sorts, of miLor matters. But the thoug it that sways nine men out of ten is about their indiirtry and its defense. Talk pf other things, and crowds will cheer or laugh; talk of the protection of their indt’siry, and there comes the set, determined look that means mischief to denlag- giies who tiy to cheat them. 'The one issue that can never be dodged is the one about which the grea est number of men feel most deeply. AVueu the Democrats and their freetrade allies concluded io cheat the peo- 1 pie if they could, they forgot that the Morris m bill bad closed hundreds of ftirnaceS amlnniTls and mines. They forgot that thousands more were working part time only, mid that nearly the whole working population had .sustained loss of wages in some form because the Democratic party had made war on the protective tariff. They forgot that the tariff question comes home to each worker every Saturday when he gets his wages, and to a great niady every meal-time, when they see only scanty food for wives and children. The theorists. the demagogues, and the British ■ free-traders, who caused incalculable . mischief by assailing the tariff, hoped ■ »o escape the epnsoqUcnees by a j twnw at holiness. ■ tbulr tfiituro bes* w»mpli»i».’ '[A' l IA.