The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1872-05-03
[From the Oregon Iisrald.J
THE ISSUES OF THE AOUR.
BY EUGENE fEsNwlck LovERIDGE

To break, politically, with old
friends is anything but pleasant. To
come before the public in any way is
to render ones self a fair target for
criticism.
The author Of these hastily written
paragraphs proposes to outline, very
briefly, some OF those mental process
ses which have caused him TO believe
that only through a return to the
Democratic policy can the nation hope
for prosperity aud lasting peace
lie wishes, in this connection to pay
a tribute tohis old friends in the Re
publican party for that good which
they accomplished, and, to the memory
Of Abraham Lincoln, who to-day, If
living, would be the last TO endorse the
present Administration, that has sue
ceeded in making John Tyler's com
parat.vely respectable, and that of
Andrew Johuson's decorous.
The President of the United States
came into power under circumstances
ofpeculiar good fortune. A war-worn
country wanted peace. Whether
true or false, il was universally be-
licved by the Republican party that
to General Grant was due the con
quest Of the rebellion. 1t is entirely
true that there were far sighted meu
who had seen below the surface, and
whom the tinsel Of the Generals rep
utatiou could not blind to the essential
coarseness OF the man. That the ma
ton should revive the grade Of Gen
cral TO honor him was simply an evi-
dence of its gratitude, and that the
soldier should take presents was
merely a question Of taste.
What the General did before com
ing into office is only admissible as
taken in connection with, and as
throwing light upon. the action OF the
President. As respecting his subse-
qucnt actions, they are fair subjects
Tor criticism.
From his very first advent into the
Presidential chair, Sir. Grants entire
course OF action has been to foster
and deepen those materiaiistic tenden-
cies to which our age and country
was previously all too prone. 10
bend the suppiiaut hinges Of the knee
that Thrift might follow tawping," be
came the national watchworl. 1t be-
came very well understood that there
was but one road 10 Government IA
yor. Men who had been veterans in
the Republican cause were bounded
down like dogs if they refused TO fol-
low every beck Of the most contempt
ible Administration any Auglo-Saxon
commonwealth has ever known. Our
war vessels were used TO iniimidate
people with whom we were at
peace. aud assist in keeping thing
like Baez IN power Our policy to-
wards the South was the worst that
could have possibly been adopted, be-
ing neither vigorous enough to repress
wrong nor magDanimous enough to
re-establish Law and enforce right
In dealing with England we were at
one moment abusive aud 1t another
trnculcnt; aud even Spain could at
ford TO snub Is with impunity. Aien
like Charles Summer, Lyman Trum-
bull, Carl, Sehurz and scores of other
veterans, who were too broad Drained
and far-sighted TO say that black was
white, and too thoroughly American
TO be oblivious to national dishonor.
have been stigmatized by newspapers.
at the beck of this Administration
whose editors were either too corrupt
or too stupid to see what they were
doing. A virulent partisan tone,
that might be extenuated in the war
time, characterized their every utter
ance in times of peace Instead of
seeking to build up the people, check
the mad spirit OF speculation, and unite
the whole country, the practical re-
suits ofthe Administration policy have
been simply to foster every monopo-
~, to cringe to every corporation, and
obliterate every moral element of our
political lite.
The condition of our shipping in
terests should of itself unite the pee-
pie OF this section in hostility to par
" whose whole policy, ifpersevered in
long enough, would withdraw our
merchant vessels from the high seas.
But reforms can better be fought
inside the Republican party. So, un-
I'll recently, the writer had hoped, if
he could not believe. He is now sat
istled, as at present constituted, all
hopes of reform within it are but de-
lusions. That the voice of centraliza-
tion is its deep-seated cancer. That
its mission is accomplished, and that
the nation can afford that it should
pass away. That outside of the of
tice-holding rings it has no friends
among the people who think, and that
if the Democracy shall act with any
show of Cancellation and discretion
the triumph of thoroughly American
principles is secure, and the downfall
of the present Grant dynasty assured.
A DUMMY IN NUpr1AL CHAMBER
A laughable joke was played on the
unsophisticated pair married by JUS
tice McGrath, on Tuesday night, at
the Falls City brewery. The happy
couple just made one, fingered till a
late hour in the sitting-room and
thus gave an opportunity to some
mischeivous fellows to get up black
dummy, resembling a negro man and
place him in the bridal chamber.
The bride retired first and on enter
ing her room, found, as she thought,
black man standing by the bedside.
His intrusion reused her indignation
to the highest pitch, and she few at
the figure and knocked it down and
kicked it several times, and then.