The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1873-09-19
THE ISSUE.

Both political parties have now their full
tickets in the field for State and county Off
GERS and preparations are being made for an
active campaign. Without attempting to
disparage the personal qualifications of the
Republican candidates, we can, nevertheless,
point with satisfaction to the Democratic
ticket as one in every respect worthy of pub
tic confidence and support. The contest,
however, has broader range and deeper
significance than q mere personal choice be-
tween rival candidates The candidates of
each party should not be considered as indi-
viduals, but as representatives of certain po-
litical principles, arrayed against each other
int struggle for supremacy. 1t should there
fore be the duty Of every voter to lay aside
personal prejudice, and examining critically
the claims of the two parties cast his vote
for that side whose principles commend them
selves to him as best calculated to secure the
ends for which this government was institu
ted
Comparing the two parties in the light of
history it would appear to us to be an easy
task for any unprecedented man to decide at
once that his best interests as a citizen, for the
present and for the future, are bound up with
the Democratic party. Its history is the
history of the American Union, and it was
through the recognition of Democratic prin-
cples alone that the country rose to n height
ofprosperity unexamplcd in any country in so
short a time. For nearly three. quarters of a
century while the affairs of the country were
managed by Democrats the people were pros
porous and contented. Our flag was respect
ed abroad, and the rule of law founded upon
the consent of the governed was obeycd Mt
home. Taxes were not felt to be burden,
because they were equally distributed among
the rich and poor, and were levied only for
the legitimate uses of the government A
citizen felt then that he had some personal
rights that no one on earth could deprive him
of-and this feeling encouraged sense of
the dignity of frcemen that made the Amcri
can soldier invinciblc in the face of foreign
foes.
In those better days Credit Mobiler swim
dies and Congressional salary grabs were UNI
known, and it was matter the greatest re-
probation for a public officer to use his po-
sition as mine from which to extract wealth
for himself or his relatives.
With the advent of the Republican party
to power and the consequent carrying out of
system of political principles entirely OPP
posed to those by which, under Democratic
rule, the country had so long prospered, n
great and notable change has come over the
land. A spirit of discomfort and depression
has taken hold of the people; instead of dig
nifty and purity in high public places the pub
lie honor is bartered away for fast horses and
cottages by the sea onerous taxes are laid
upon the people at large, while those who
invest their surplus in government bonds are
exempted from public dues upon such surplus
Each day sees the rich growing richer and
the poor poorer. The cause for all this is
easy to discover; it is the fatal influence of
the odous doctrines Of the Republican party
that produces this result "By their fruits We
shall know them" and judging the Repub.
lican party by the bitter fruits of the past
twelve years, we are unable to see how the
people of Hartford can lend their aid to a par
ty whose doctrines, wherever carried out,
have proved so lurtful to the best interests
of tie people