The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-06-16
DEMOCRATIC ISSUES.
From Che N. Y. Times.

laJlOn, III IQe DenOCrdJlC COunCllS. NudJ
shall be the issues of the party in the fall
campaign? is a question which the more
thoughtful of the Democratic journals are dis
cussing with good temper and great earnest
ness. Here and there a disposition to adhere
to the old platform is manifested. The lesson
of the Presidential contest conveys to these
leaders no warning, no moral. They main
tain that Democratic issues are eternal, and
that sooner or later they must triumph. The
devotion to exploded ideas manifested by
Alexander III. Stephens has imitators in the
North and West. The number of these blind
worshipers is evidently diminishing; but they
are visible in Ohio, despite Vallandigham's
conversion to common sense and i'll Pennsyl-
vania, where strong undercurrent in favor
of Hancock's nomination for the Governorship
has suddenly come to light.
The expediency men have cultivated Micaw-
bers spirit, and patiently waited for something
to turn up. The World confessed their posi-
ton when it declared that the Democratic
aspect of the next canvass largely depends
upon the conduct of General Grants admins
tration. A series of blunders at Washington,
financial furry or Southern commotion as re-
suits Of Executive action, Treasury deficit,
whether arising from falling revenue or excess
of expenditures over appropriations, would
be godsend to the builders of Democratic
platforms. The World has tried hard to
are imminent, and the anticipation of
their occurrence has for the moment
seemed to smooth the uphill path of
the Democracy But hope and desire are
not self-realizing and as yet the prospect of
profit from administrative errors is slim in
deed. Disappointments there have been in
the matter of appointments, and the general
movement of the new administration may
have been less brilliant than some of the
most ardent of its supporters originally ex-
pected. But it has already accomplished
much in the shape of economy and unpre-
tending, practical reform; and its whole
action, though quiet, promises to be enduring
and effective Increased fidelity in the col
lection of revenue, retrenchment in every
branch of the public service, and a rigid de
termination to avert deficiency bills by
limiting expenditures within the appropria-
tions, are characteristics which the country
will not fail to appreciate. Extravaganza
and dishonesty are being checked and cured,
and the general course of the Government is
sensible and safe. The World and its friends
will therefore have to abandon the idea of
help from this quarter, or from ultraism and
error in the Republican policy. The only
chance has appeared to be in the proposed
adoption of the Alabama claims as a Republi-
can issue: but this danger the good sense of
the Republican party has averted. Mr.. Curtin,
the Philadelphia dinner, ON Saturday, spoke
without touching the subject; and his silence
indicates the hopelessness of relief for the
Democracy from that source. The Republican
party does not contemplate suicide for the
special benefit of its opponents.
In Ohio and Indiana we observe an incli-
nation to make the fifteenth amendment a
ground of contention. FROM the support of
political equality, regardless of color, the Re-
nf oe Cto+o
cannot escape if they would. They are COM
mitted to it irrevocably as a party, and JUS
tice, as we'll as consistency, requires that they
shall give it no lukewarm support. princi-
pie which follows emancipation as legiti-
matey as enfranchsement follows naturali-
zation, and which is the chief cornerstone
of the Reconstruction acts cannot anywhere
be excluded from the Republican platform
The undetermined question is, whether the
Democrats, forgetting nothing and learning
nothing, will make a virtue of resistance to
negro suffrage; and on the answer, in some
degree, depends the complexion of the Ohio
| contest. The Democratic press in the larger
cities has thrown down the gauntlet, and
avowed a purpose to make the contest con-
tingent upon color. In the fact of opposition
to colored votes. as evinced by the Demo
cratic journals of Cleveland and Cincinnati,
we have the only known clue to the Demo
|
in Pennsylvania will probably move in the
same direction.
Further West, Democrats more correctly
appreciate the significance of recent changes
and the folly of attempting to renew the
struggle on the issues of last November. The
necessity of acquiring fresh support impels
them to urge upon the party a revision of its
stereotyped creed, and an abandonment OF
its bitter, unrelenting policy The logic EN-
ployed for the occasion is clear and conclu
sive. g On the old ground'-so the sugges-
tion luns-'it is idle to expect accessions; be-
fore these can be had the party must throw
overheard its offensive dogmas and its blind
pilots, and so adapt it's programme to the
| course of events as to remove the issues of the
war from the field of controversy" From
amidst the darkness of the Indiana Demo
craey this view has come more than once re-.
Gently; and we trace it in greater strength
and distinctness in the better atmosphere al
Wisconsin, and amid the inyigorating breezes
of the Pacific. California Democrats are pro
pounding plans and propositions into which
color does not enter They profess readi
ness to wage the coming contest without men.
tioning the negro. They have come to the
conclusion that pride of race and prejudices,
born of a system that has perished, are sorry
elements in a campaign to be decided by in
telligence and patriotic spirit For them both
] Chinaman and negro have lost their terrorsi