The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1873-10-30

The first thing military commanders
do, after a brief interval of rest from.
the confusion of a great battle, and be-
fore planning new operations, is to
call the muster-Folls and gain an exact
knowledge of their available forces
! Let us initiate this prudence, and ex-
anime what ground the Democratic
party has for future hopes. The fig
ures we shall have occasion to nse may
be verified by reference to. the census
of 1870 and to any authentic statement
of the election retusns for 1872. The
aggregate popular vote for the several
candidates for President last year was
as follows: 5a.sr
For Greeley 2 So as
Total popular vote. 645e. .TO7
The total population Of the States
/ Excluding the Territories, which do
not vote for President) in 1870 was
38, ,205, 5,2O8 from which it appears that
the actual voters were very nearly
one-sixth of the population.
The total negro population of the
! States Excluding the TerritoFies) in
| 1870 was 1886, ,106, and reckoning one
voter to six coloreG inhabitants, the
negro vote was, in round numbers,
SOC, 900. All the negro votes were
given to Grant. We have accordingly
the data for estimating the number of
Grants 9Ultite supporters
Grants total vote 597, ,T98
Deduct negro Eote.- s-.-..-'-..- -..---- s9SsO00
The a0hifs vote for Grant = :. ~ 7gf, ,7es
Let us now compare the white vote
for Grant with the white Democratic
vote: -a-9eo
Total Democratic vote. =. s7l9 914
White vote Tor Grant 2s9sl TVS
Democrats white majority ..s, ,!... sOIa1
This result is dednced from the act
Ual figures, on the suppositionthatth the
whole Democratic vote was 6polled
and that the ratio of negro voters to
negro population was the same as the.
ratio of white voters to white popula-
tion. Neither of these suppositions is
quite accurate. Hundreds of thou
sands of Democrats stayedIaway from
the polls, disgusted with Greeley's
nomination, and every negro voted
who was entitled to the elective, fran
chise. AT least 100000 should beadd-
ed 10 the Democratic, strength for. the
stay-at-home Democrats, and the
negro vote would be more truly esti-
mated by calling it one to five instead
of one to six, of the negro population.
Making these corrections, the relative
strength of parties as represented. by
white citizens would stand thus ::
Democratic white citizens ..s. 8 II, ,g14
w hlte vote Tor Grant 2y6l3O93
white Democratic majority ... ~ =. 5sss2i
The white Democratic majority of
the citizens Of the United States is
thus more than half of the whole negro
k@1x K1.o-n -
of the election returns without any,
Pectifications, the Democratic partg
had last qedr q clear naQ50fftg Of the.
echtte U0terS of the United States.
We now proceed to what the old
fashioned sermoniz9rs used TO call the
application, -
We may safely assume, without ex-
posing ourselves to the charge of being.
visionary or oVer-sanguine, that an
administration SO vulnerable as that
of General Garnt cannot escape for
midable and thoroughly organized op-
position. A powerful and growing
opposition party there is certain TO be,
and the only ground for difference of
opinion is whether that inevitable OPP
position shall be led by the Demoera-
tic party, or by some new party.
AS yet, only two new parties have
come into notice :-the Liberal Re-
publican party, and the Farmers
Oranges. The Liberal Republican.
party, which started last year, is al
ready defunct it cannot, to-day, COM.
mand 100000 separate votes in all the
States of the Union. Too evidently,
1T is not to be the nucleus of future
opposition. The Farmers Oranges
have great deal more Independent
strength but they are confined to six
to seven agricultural States, and the
issue they present is one of State, and.
not of national, politics. The rail-
roads, whose extertions they de-
nounce, are State corporations and
subject only to State control. It is
true, indeed, that the demand for
reduction of railroad charges leads
directly to an important national
question, and question which the
farmers viii more fully appreciate in
proportion as it is discussed tar
if. The enhanced cost Of building
and running railroads is the direct
consequence of our absurd protective
tariff, and the unanimous cry Of farm
ers for relief can be satisfied only by
cheap iron. But in arraying them
selves against the tariff, they will only
adopt one of the chief cardinal doc
trines of the Democratic party. They.
have not yet grown to this issue, but
when they adopt it Gas by logic and
necessary progress they must) they
will be merely an important wing Of
the Democracy. We may assume then
as certain, that there will be great
and formidable opposition, and that
neither the Libaral Republican party
nor the Farmers Oranges will be the
nucleus of that Opposition. There re-
mains, therefore, only the Democrats
party to form its basis. -
Since the recent splendid result in.
Ohio, the manifest logic of events Is
recognized except by a few journals
whose editors acquired all their politi-
cal standing by opposing The Demor
cratic party, and who recoil from such
a shock to their sense Of consistencya
as would be implied in supporting a
party which they have spent the best
wears of their life in denouncing. But
the success of the Democracy does
not lie in making proseIytes of self
constituted leaders of public opinion,
but in converting the people. The
Democracy learned, to their cost, last
year. that they might make a great
harvest of Republican leaders without
any perceptfble addition to the
strength of the party. We had Gree.
lev, and Brown, and Trumbull, and
Schurz, and Banks, and Sumner, and
Fenton, and FarnsWoRth, and a host
of other renowned Republican lead
ers and among the great Republican
journals, the Tribune, the Cincinnati
Commercial, the Chiclgo Tribune, the
Springfield Republican, the Sun, and.
others of lesser note; but we found