And yet they all went to church in honour of Lord Provost M'Donald. Otherwise, I presume, they would not have gone at all. The Social Democrats were defeated. An opponent passing under the windows of their Committee Room an hour after the result of the poll was declared, on hearing the jubilant speeches and enthusiastic cheering of the Socialists, was constrained to remark to a companion, that the Social Democrats receive a defeat better than their enemies do a victory. And he was right.
Some defeats are better than victories.
A defeat endured as the result of contest conducted in a fair and honourable manner is a thousand times more creditable to the defeated party than a victory gained by all the mean and unscrupulous arts of the wirepullers. The Social Democrats were defeated. A great advance, truly. It is to be hoped that next year the Ward will not be troubled with the presence of another bogus Unionist candidate. But hundreds of men, who would otherwise have voted Socialist, cast their votes reluctantly for Mr Mitchell as the candidate most likely to ensure the defeat of the Tory.