Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 7, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 October 1884 — THE OHIO GERMANS. [ARTICLE]

THE OHIO GERMANS.

Why They Proved Loyal to the Republican Ticket. [Cincinnati special] While the position taken by the Germans in the Ohio election yesterday was in many respects phenomenal, it was not wholly unexpected, although the Republican gains were much greater than the most sanguine had dared hope for. Of the 50,0)0 German voters in the State Hamilton County contains nearly 20,000, 16.0C0 of whom) are in Cincinnati. It was here that the Democrats expected their great strength from the Germans, and the result of the efection shows how far off they were in their calculations. The German wards of this citv are the Third, Seventh, Tenth, Eleventh, Twelfth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth, Fifteenth, Twentyfirst, Twenty-third.Twenty-fourth.and Twentyfifth. Two years ago they gave Newman, Democratic candidate for Secretary of State, a majority of 6,100. while the Republican ticket received but 2,919. The Republicans this time have harried these wards by about 3,000, making a change of 9,000. The most curious part of all is that Johnson, the Republican candidate for Supreme Judge, who, it was said, would be slaughtered by the Germans because of his adverse decisions on the Pond and _ Scott laws, ran slightly ahead of Robinson in the German wards. On the other hand, Robinson, who, it was expected, would be badly scratched by the Germans, only ran behind ma ticket in his county 200 or some such matter. The fact that Johnson ran ahiad of Robinson can only be accounted for on the ground that the Democrats were making trades for Newman. There are several reasons why the Germans came back to the Republicans, bringing many Democratic Germans with them. The main cause was evidently liecause they felt a greater security in a Reoubllcan national administration, and were far-seeing enough to understand that Republican victory in Ohio in October meant the success of the national Republican ticket in November. Then their desertion from the Republican ranks in 1882, and its continuation in 1883. was intended as a punishment for the passage ot sumptuary laws by a Republican Legislature. It is possible, too. that this same spirit of retaliation prompted them to rebuke the Democracy for unfulfilled promises in the matter of repealing the Scott law by a Democratic Legislature last winter, and the subsequent failure to have a Democratic Supreme Court decide it unconstitutional. The Democrats, having broken faith with the Germans, lost their confidence, and the idea prevailed that nothing could be expected from the Democratic party in the future, but that rather the Germans were simply being used as tools to defeat a party that had always protected their interests. As the Scott law became tested they began to see that it was sound In its operation and really not a measure that would work to their disadvantage. Gradually it began to dawn upon them that it was the law they wanted, and protected rather than distressed. This feeling has gained in the last year to such an extent that now it is fair to believe that not one German out of twenty thinks the law is unjust. Another factor that has had much to do with the matter is this: The Democrats have taken great pains to associate the entire German population with the subject of lager beer and saloons. It is a matter of 1 act that the percentage of saloonkeepers among the Germans is very small. There are not over 1.5C0 German saloonkeepers in Hamilton County, while the German population amounts to 80,000. The Germans resent this slander against their fair name, and object to being regarded as willing to abandon all State Issues to the exclusion ot the single question of the lager beer interest. They have shown by their votes that they are ot different mind, and have risen superior to the one issue with which the Democrats have chosen to connect them. All these points have had their bearing and the effect As apparent. The return of nearly the solid German vote’to the Republican party has a significance that cannot escape the most careless observer. It means a return of Reoublican strength in Ohio that will give the State to Blaine by a majority of 35.000 or 40,000. It means' the complete detachment of the last Democratic support and the loss of a State power to a party whose sway at best was only temporary. It has imparted a courage to Republicans throughout the United States, the good effects of which cannot be overestimated. It means that it has thrown new vigorlnto the Republican leaders and given an impetus to the working of Republican organizations from the National Committee down to the smallest county Blaine and Logan club. It means that the cry will be re-echoed across the continent, “The Germans are with us.” and that the country will be swept by a Republican majority unprecedented in the annals of American politics. The Germans of Ohio have redeemed themselves. Their action here in Hamilton County is but a counterpart of what it throughout the State. 2

The day before the election, says the Chicago Tribune, the Democratic papers rehearsed in chorus the praises of the faithful Germans who were to vote the Democratic ticket in Ohio. The day after the election they howled at them in chorus. The Chicago 'limes, the senior Democratic orgaa, in its flaming headlines say s: The "Treacherous Germans cause a landslide in Hamilton and Montgomery Counties.” We commend the epithet to Germans everywhere as a sample of the estimation in which they are held by the Democratic leaders. How do they like it? The epithet, let them remember, is applied to them by Carter Harrison's organ. The Deinocrats put >4 00,000 into Ohio. Have they anything left.