The evening Argus. [volume] (Rock Island, Ill.) 1861-1871, 1868-02-27

The daily accessions to our already nu-
merous German population, gives constant
~ increasing prominence to the influence of
this people upon the moral, religious and
political status of our country. The Ger
man is an intelligent industrious and thrift
ty race. As a class, our German immigrants
are generally well educated and naturally
shrewd in business and industrious in labor.
These qualities, in country where nature
and enlightened legislation, unite in giving
the largest scope to the exercise of genius
and enterprise, enables, in a brief period,
the poorest fortune seeker upon our shores TO
achieve position of influence in our body
| polite
In religious point Of view the German
| element exercises no distinct appeciable in
| fuence upon our country. 1t is in our So
| cial ana political world that the potency of
| their distinctive traits makes itself largely
| felt. They are essentially a social peo-
| pie, and in some sense their festivities and
modes of enjoyment are peculiar to them
| selves-purely national. They are Liberals
| in the true sense, society and politics. In
| this respect they are the exact antitbesis of
what is denominated the puritanical element
| in our country. The Germans believe in
| the largest liberty of conscience. of speech
| and social enjoyment. The Puritans, on the
| other hand, believe IN enforcing their pecul-
lar tenents, in the form of "thus God saith, -
by the severest penalties. Nevertheless, m
accountable as it may seem, these two an
tagenissic elements in our social fabric have
been, for the space of ten years, united in
| the closest bonds of political fellowship.
| Up to the year 1856 the Germans in this
country, with few exceptions, voted the dem
ocratic ticket. At the time the republican
party succeeded in creating serious disaffec-
ton in their ranks upon the question of nd
mitting slavery into the federal territories
War resulted from this agitation, and the
anti-siayery instincts of the Germans led
them TO rush into it by tens of thousands
where they continued to do brave service
until the surrender of Lee. OF course il
was literally impossible that the democratic
party should regain its lost favor with the
Germans during the tendency of such a
struggle, involving as it did the final Issue
of freedom or servitude for the blacks But
now that slavery is dead, and the smoke u
the battle lifted from the field, our old time
German democrats begin to realize that they
have no sympathy IN common with the sci
fish and corrupt Puritanical crew who con
stitute the SO called radical party. The Ger
mans are radicals in the literal sense-radi
| cal Qeu1DCTHtS, WHO utllSNG III FHO3Cal liDGr
ty But they will not adhere long to the
crude and crazy radicalism of the republi
can party That is radicalism which once
organized under the name of know nothing
ism for thepurpose of DISTINGUISHING all men
of foreign birth. 1t is now engaged in effort,
to disfranchlse white men and confer the bal
lot upon the blacks. It is to-day engaged
in nearly all of the eastern and some Of tn.
western states in enacting and enforcing
penal laws against the radical liberty of ev
cry man to buy and sell liquors. The dem
5 ocratic party in former times, with the assis
lance of the Germans, defeated these meas
ures, and from the indications Of the recen
3 elections, they viii soon do it again from
f Maine to California. In short, the Germnn
e are not in favor of paying double tax tina
the rich bondholder may be exempted from
e all the burdens of government. They ar
8 not in favo- paying taxes to enable the Freed
!. mans Bureau to employ Yankee schoo
masters to teach the negroes to vote Purita
9 tickets-the high-tariff, prohibitory liquo
d law, bondholders' ticket--and they will con
II sequently speedily return to the folds of th
% good old hberty-loving democratic party
whose motto has always been, equal right
'e for all uuder q white mans government
., Carlinrille Spectator.