The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1868-10-15
Our Hope for the Future.


II we oan believe the unofficial returns pub
lished-yet we lost 1t under such ciroum-
stances as to give us renewed assurance of the
stability and growing power Of the great Re-
publican party in our midst It does not need
mathematical investigation to deduoe from the
returns much reason for Republican congratu-
lation. It is noticed, in the first place, that
there was an enormous increase in the Repub
Ncan vote-an increase mostgratifying. Thus,
last year our vote was a trife over 1000;
this year it gives gain of 10000 votes. The
highest Republican vote ever polled in Ph'la-
delphia was $4,000. This year we
gain 1000 over that number. There
is in this great grounds for
rejoicing. We have gained, and that
largely; and gained, too, in a class of citizens
who are not of the migratory or vagrant order.
Thus our majorities come from respectable
sections of the city. We do not mean from
the rich wards, for the Seventh, Eighth,
and Ninth, where the greatest wealth OF the
city resides, show decrease; but from those
portions where the honest and well-to-do me-
chanio builds his own house and lives in it.
from the sections where the storekeepsr, and
the book keeper, and the clerk has a residence,
and lives In comfort and amid respect. 1t is
from the Sixteenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth,
and Twentieth wards, and the Twenty-sixth
and Twenty-third, that we have these gains.
1t may be replied that the Democracy also
have their gains; that they increase over last
years vote 1900. This is true; but from what
quarters do their accessions come From the
Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth wards.
Now, where are these wards situated? Do
they comprise either the respectability, or the
honesty, or the wealth of the city, Not at all.
They are the river wards, to great extent.
They are east of Seventh street, aud take in
the sailor boarding houses, the slop-shops,
the low houses, the rum mills, and all the
,pestilential dens of our great metropolis.
They comprise those portions of the city which
il 1t should please Providence to blot out from
the limits Of our corporation, and make them
Sodom and Gomorrah, the good people of
Philadelphia would bow in CRATE ul reverence
for their loss. They compose Bedford street,
and Shippen street, and all the "Five Points,
of the Quaker City, which breed iniquity,
foster sin, and shelter crime. 1t is from such
as these that the Democratic gains come up.
1t is from such as these that the great 'tparty
of the people" gain their accessions. And
whyf Because the importation of roughs and
the duplication of votes can be successfully
carried on in them, which, if they were at
tempted elsewhere, would either send the
daring spirit to the penitentiary or to
roter's grave. In the past we see grounds
for future hopefulness. The class who were
pure remain with us permanently, and remain
true to their faith. They neither fear the
policemen nor do they waver with defeat. The
class which the Democracy governs dread the
arrival of an officer, and in case of the forma-
tion Of q proper Metropolitan Police Commit
tee, we have reason to believe that the rascals
may find Philadelphia too warm for their
abiding-plaoe.
The fact that while we have gained largely
in all our own wards the Democracy have
also gained more largely in theirs, is sug-
gestive Of a true line of policy which has not
as yet been adopted. 1t ia to devote great
deal more attention to the Democratic wards
and let our own run themselves. Now, il some
great and powerful organization as the
Union League--was to take in hand the
Fourth ward and send into il thousand
policemen, with orders to keep the peace at
all hazards, and aid the few scattered
Republicans in their noble efforts, we would
soon see how the 1900 majority would
be reduced to 1000, and the iniquitous frauds
so successfully perpetrated heretofore be for
ever prevented. The gallant men who are
Republicans, and live in the lower wards,
deserve some such encouragement. All honor
to them Like the handful of Christians In
Rome, like the band of faithful Israelites in
Babylon, they hold steadfast to their faith
without wavering: they fought the good fight
in the face of certain defeat and pos
sible attack, and deserve a most cor
dial recognition at our hands. To be
Republican in the Fourth ward
Is not like being Republican in the Tenth
We therefore think that in November it
would be well to turn the attention of our
authorities exclusively to these sinks OF
iniquity-these hotbeds of fraud. In what We
have said we see good cause for hope. The
day of fraud is past, to certain extent. Had
the Supreme Court swindle been known but
two weeks earlier, Philadelphia would have
been ours to-day. Forewarned by exposure
there, we can in the future detect fraud; but
its shapes are as various as those of the fabu-
lous Pr0teus.
THE fact is well established that the south.
ax, ,.ortion of this citv waa visitad IN alactior