Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1871-09-12
The Democratic Outlook.
[From lhe N.w Yors rrlbane. ]

| 49, ~ . NSAJ NNAtNC pOiititai uoat
any where, but certainly ,the most
deadly-lively scene just now within
range is a Democratic canvass in
any one of the States where con.
test IS going on. There is something
CHASTITY 10 the semblance of life
which the Democracy pits on 10 the
field this year it is as though man
who is really in mocibund condition
should insist upon getting out of bed
and dancing jig it is septuagena-
rlan flirting with his chambermaid,
with one foot in his grave. The fun
is desperate and the struggle with the
inevitable is bitter but, for all that,
the subject is in the article Of death
In Ohio, for instance, whore the
much-vaunted New Departure was
first taSen, nothing has come Of the
trick but disaster and defeat. The
candidate for Governor met with a
cold reception from his own party
when he first entered the canvass.
As he went on with his absurd single
speech, disappointing the expecta-
tons of his friends and disgusting
the people who were drawn to hear
him, it became evident that his NOM
ination was failure. He was quiet
ly shelved and is heard of no more ;
whether no is a candidate none seem
TO know. His withdrawal under
any pretext is virtual defeat, and no
man can be found courageous enough
TO take mp the standard he has laid
down. The action of the Ohio Dem
ocrstic Convention in accepting as
! legal the Constitutional Amendments
which had been steadily denounced
with the latest breath OF the party,
was not acceptable TO the old file
leaders of that organization. And
in the State where the Democracy
was to have commenced a now exist
ence and a new career, the candidate
is failure and the platform an utter
wreck. A similar halfrhearted sup
port of the Now Departure resolu-
tious has distracted the Democracy
Of Iowa, where n formidable quarrel
has been hushed up by keeping the
sulky ones at home where they silent
ly nurse their wrath. The same may
be said of California, where such old
warehouses" as Bolts and Weller ut
terly refused to absorb the new
tangled doctrines of the latter-day
Democracy and abhor their weak
candidate, declaring that he is only
an oflice-huntcr and mere Jumping
jack in politics. The Wisconsin De
mccracy hare been forced, in their Mild
despair, to PIT f0rvard as their erpo,
nem and baaaor-bedrer the forlorn fg-
IRE of James r. DoolittIe This man,
,cho but a fe,o gears ago ,0as a Repqb-
licdn, Is no,o a representative Demo-
craft What sort Of Democracy IS that
Of Wisconsin, tChich is proud to clam
as its highest type such a king Of Shreds
and patches as this His nomiha-
ton only shoes the desperate shifts to
Vhjch the party is reduced ,oben a ne,0
conuert-d JotnsoniSed Republican,
is seized upon as the only drqiLdble
material far the purpose Of conducting
a campaign. II indicates just such .
blind reaching out for relief as We
have seen in North Carolina, where
the Democracy, discouraged at the
apathy of the people and the gradual
acceptance of prosperous peace, fur
thor complicated the party by an at
tempt to forcibly remodel the State
Constitution, but was met By a pop,
ular verdict which effectnally destroy
ed that revolutionary means of re-
gaining lost ascendency.
1t was not to be expected that the
party which opposed the war for the
Union could long survive its success
full conclusion. Held together by the
cohesive power of expected divisions
of party spoils, it has outived the
logical period for its demise, but not
for long Becoming q party of mere
negations, it has nothing but opposi-
ton and destruction TO offer the
country. Itproposes oDlyto abolish,
repeal, repudlate, and anDul it offers
no substitute for what it seeks TO
destroy. 1t is the anarchist which
would destroy order, but reveals no
future condition of betterment-only
confusion, chaos, nothingness.
Such party cannot, In the nature
of things, long maintain even spas
modic existence. In all truth and
sobernoss, we cannot sec what posi-
bic mission the Democratic party
has TO fulfill in the country. Party
organization for the sake only of SO.
curing and dividing the public Offices
cannot long exist. And to this com.
plexion the once proud old Demo
cratic party has come at last. The
| great thefts of Tammany in New
York are an earnest of what would
DO done wherever the Democracy
can secure power. 1t is public plum
der, not principle, which binds to-
gsther the dominant party in New
York and, whether Gov. Hoffman't
freebooters fleece the merchants ir
the Bay, or the man who boasts O
owning the Legislature of New York
binds the City hand and foot, it il
reckoned legitimate policy by Dem
ocractic tacticians. 1t does not seen
in reason that a party SO organized
and conducted should long exist
But it needs all the hard blows tina
Republicans can deliver upon it t
bring down TO the dust of defeat thi
preposterous sham, which has nj
, longer any excuse for being. We d.
not see what is to keep this misnam
ed band ofconspirators much longe
alive. Only the lethargy of its nat
ural foes viii permit its further sue
cess in the nation.
0~-.sparthaon - tho oldest chic