The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1868-08-14
For Whom Should the Young Men


For Whom Should the Young AESn
Votei
[FrUm the N. Y. Post.J
! What ticket should the you6g msn Of the
country support "A large number Of young
men win cast their 6rst vote for President at
this next election. DOuBtless they want to.
support that ticket whose election shall most
benefit the country. They do not wish to do
that Of which they WiH have TO repent here
after. General Sherman said once that he
voted for Buchanan, and had been sorry for
it ever stree; and General Sherman is not
the only one who entertains such regrets. q.
To the young men We have few words to
say. Everybody knows that before a very
long time passes, there must come about q
reorganization Of parties. Those who have
studied most thougbtfuliy the political and
industrial condition of the country are per-
suaded that many importaut interests arei
neglected, and that The country suffers in
different ways becapls this reorganization
of parties has been 50 long delayed and
! that it will continue to suffer until parties
are iormsd upon the real questions of the
day-which are taxation and finance.
In the present caUvzzsu neither Of thsse im-
portsnt questions takes the lead. The dem
Ocratic FaFty had the power, i its leaders
had possessed the necessary wisdom, to
make these questions prominent. 1t had
only to accept accomplished facts, to take
for granted the reconstruction Of the southern
States, and to fling out Of the arena Of -pOli-
tics all the old questions, which preceded
and grew out Of the war and to announce
policy of equal civil and political rights,
aud with this a policy of justice, wisdom
and good faith, upon the questions Of taxa
ton internal and external the currency and
the debt. F-t4 sS
But the democratic leaders have neither
the courage nor the wisdom to place theu-
selves in the advance they cannot or viii
not see that the attitude of protest, which
they have held for so many years, is not
the attitude Of victorioos party. They
prOtesteds in 1856, against the spread Of
liberal opinion on the slavery question
and were beaten. They protested in 1864
against the war for the Union, and demand
ed an immediate cessation of, hOstilities-an
we're still more badly beaten. In 1868, they
still protest-against reconstruction at the
moment lis accomplished IN nearly every
state against the debt, when the people
have made up their minds to pay it honest
ly; against the negroes voting. when they
have voted in every southern state.
Now in ths first place, tits plain that'so
long IS the democratic party thus disputes
the validity of accomplished facts, SO long
as its sole policy is 10 go back, TO carry the
country back over old tracks, to undo what
mas bsen done, to begin again the turmoil
through which VIC have just painfully pass
ed-just SO long is any true progress i'm
possible. The old questions must be put
aside before the new ones can come up for
argument. 1t is the democrstic party, there
fore, which bars the way to progress and
when it is swept out of the way then only
can We come 10 that discussion of other
questions most important to The whole coun-
try, which is so necessary and imperative.
1t is, therefore, for the general interest and
welfare that the democratic party should
be beaten in the coming election for thus
only can these questions which it attempts
to revive be put aside forever. The party
protested against emancipation until it was
beaten in 1864 but that defeat settled the
question, and put the slavery question out
of our politics for ever So, in 1868, a
defeat of the democrats will compel even
them to accept the reconstrt tctioB, now al
ready accomplished, and suffer the country
to pay attention 10 other and more important
matters.
But this is not ali. There was a time
when the democratic party was the party of
progress, the party of sound ideas, of gener-
GUS INSTINCTS, tl6e Partg of Justice, of human
brotherhood, of equal rights, Of freedom.
Then its leaders had courage, they were ag-
gressive, they were not afraid to attack
wrong wherever they found it, or to main
tain the right whereyer-it led them. If it
were that now; if it had in il even any of
the old leaven of righteousness, it might be
we'll to support it, and keep il from destruc-
ton. But it has not single good demo-
cratic quality remsining; ii is the party Of
hate, of inhuman prejudice it has planted
itself on injustice and dishonor. During
the war it was ready to surrender the Union;
since the war it is ready to disgrace the ma
tion by repudiating the debt. 1t denies
justice, and bOastfully appeals to the baser
passions Of the multitnde. e ss e..
Is that party With which the young men
of the nation, generous, full Of ardor, loving
liberty, having faith in mankind, believing
also in the irresistible progress of this great
Union in intelligence, virtue and wealth,
canjoip? Here, for instance, is this question
Of paying the debt, which is treated by the
democratic party as though this nation were
a bankrupt debtor, ruined in substance,
without health, or strength, or future. But
Il Whdk yOuuE llhu DcAtcFC1 buASs uU u
them does not feel his heart inspired With
the faith that tie American people stand
Just upon the threshold of long and glori-
Gus careerf Who of them, with warm
blood in his veins, does not scorn to tarnish
the honor of this growing nation by wrong
ing its creditors? Who of them does not
know that the pressure which seems 50
severe nov 10 the men without faith or hope,
will pass aways SO completely and rapidly
that our children will no more comprehend
it than we comprehend the dark days after
the Revolution, and will no more forgive US
for faintheartedness than we forgive the
fainthearts Of the aDte-rsvolutioDary days.
There appears to be no hope of an honor
able future, or indeed of any future, for the
present democratic party. It's leaders are
possessed by ideas which are not in cOnso-
nance with the spirit of the age. They
must, in the nature of things, linger out
their days in an attitude of vain but bitter
protest against facts and events. They are
the true reactionaries, who, in the rough
speech OF western man, ''gO about treadiDg
on the coat-tails of progress, and crying out
! Whoa whoa!" They have shown themselves
during seven or eight most important years.
unable to catch up with events; and their
position is that Of a mau running after a
railroad train, and Tainly fingiug up his
hands in rage with the flying locomotive.