Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1870-12-08
The DUTY or the Hour.

naturally mislnterpreted Dy the
Democratic press. The Republican
party contains the largest portion OF
the people who do not blindly follow
leaders, and whose party allegiance
founded upon principle, is observanl
and discriminating. Those, there
fore, who believe with Us that, under
the circumstances of the country
continued Republican ascendency j:
essential TO the national welfare
will not hesitate 10 censure what
seems 10 he unwisc in the national
Administration, knowing that the
condition Of continued Republican
power is the approval Of the intelli
! gencc Of the people.
| The present difficulty is theapathy
of the Republican party. Its organ
ization. as the late elections show, is
virtually unbroken, and the just
national suspicion Of the Democratic
party, founded upon its past history
and its present attitude and spirit, is
plainly undis:urbed. But the Re-
publican position Is one of passive
resistance merely, and its immense
power in that attitude shows how
great its real force is if fully devel-
oped. That development is the
immediate problem, and IL Congress
and the Administration are sagacious
it is not even a difficult problem.
The first step, Of course, is to ascer-
tain the reason of the apathy. And
is it not evident?
There are great many Republi-
cans who ask: "What is the difference
between the two parties? What prin-
ciple divides them?" And there are
others who declare that both are
equally corrupt, and that the meth.
DDS Of the Republicans are little
better than those Of their adversaries.
There are still others who, with the
Chicago Tribune, insist that all the
old questions are settled, and that
there Is really no present issue but
what Is called revenue reform. Those
who ask the first question do not
care to vote, or they vote Indifferent
ly as personal feeling dictates. Yet,
II they would reason, they might be
asked why, If the parties are divided
by no principle, they might not be
wisely divided by their general
character and the doctrine Of chances:
But, practically, the man who fees
that both parties are alike is utterly
apathetic, and votes either way.
The second class is of the same kind
and they both swell "the stay.at.
home vote"
The third are merely allies of the
Democracy, and they have yet &c
show their reasons for believing that
a sincere revenue reform would bt
carried by that party. The Chicago
Tribune, indeed, proposes to form /
new party. But that is, possibly
only upon tho theory that both 0
the present parties dissolve. Ant
even supposing there were many
Republicans who would follow tina
journal out Of theirparty, does 1t sup
pose that in presence Of Republican
disintegration the Democratic party
would dishand? 1t certainly woult
not; and the World, therefore, says
not that there must be new party
but that the Chicago Tribune and it
friends must join the Democracy.
If, then, the cause of Republica,
apathy is the feeling that there is NJ
serious difference between the par
ties, 1t Is because that difference i
obscured by Republican manage
lnent, and the remedy lies in making
the difference plain. The great peri
Of our political situation ut this mo
inent is corruption. Why spent
efforts to elect frce-trade or a pro
tective Congress when money viii
decide the contest? Why talk abou
the fruit upon the tree in the autumn
when the roots are rotten in tn,
spring? The first and most impera
tive duty of every American citizen
before any specific financial reform
is to stay the corruption, which viii
baefn any Administration and which
produces the apathy Of which w
speak. And what is the position o
parties upon this point:
The national law to protect thu
purity Of Congressional elections
against which the Democratic party
threw Its whole force, il a step In the
true directi0n--a step taken by th<
Republican party. If that were fol
lowed by a radical, searching reform
Of the whole system of the civil
oopx,ion 0hn1tchinO thu dnn1Orohl6