The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-10-20
ELECTION CoMMENr

~ ofAAH6NCA0 AtoPuO4iCdl cutus uD IN
its saucy way: The best citizens every
where, without regard to politics, will be
glad to hear that one of the republicans is
Mr.. Foster. Gen. Garfield also pulls
through, but his majority is cut down two
thirds. The general will do we'll to re-
gard himself as spared monument. ~
and TO bend all his energies toward re-
gaining that public confidence with which
} he has so strangely trifed. His hand
some and suave colleague Of the Cleveland
district, Mr.. Parsons, is fairly buried n nder
a majority of nearly or quite 5000. So much
for too warm interest in doubtful con-
tracts, and, generally, a too commercial view
OF the duties OF representative. The les
son Is even more timely and impressive
than that administered the other day in Yer
mont; let us hope that il may be Needed
by the survivors. There is no question
that local issues, notably the stemperapcer
one, have counted for good deal in bring
ing about this Ohio result. There is no
question, either, that t is loud call to the
party in power. Recollectiug the hopelesslv
rotten platform OF the successful democracy.
hard money people will find the reioiciups
OF such journals as the New York World
aud Boston Post little puzzling until
they bethink themselves that the World
aud Post are organs. Later advices from
Indiana indicate a democratic majority on
State ticket of rising 10000. with eight dem
ocratlc congressman out of ia gain OF
| hve.i lin this State, as in Ohio, and pretty
much everywhere else, this year, the indie
pendent voter seems to have been abroad in
great force, and decidedly fractions tenn.
per.
The New York Times thus explains it:
We do not think the financial question had
a great deal to do with the result in Ohio.
1t was not pressed very hard on either
aida ha
platform on the subject, and the republicans
were not very jealous for theirs. In Indi.
ana the democrats were mostly heartily in
| favor of reputation, but the republi
cans were not very heartily opposed to it. SO
lar as we can judge from the reports OF the
discussions which have reached us. In each
State the most prominent candidate for Con-
gress on the democratic ticket, Kerr, in In
diana, and Payne, in Ohio, repudiated the
question, therefore, did not directly
affect the canvass. Indirectly, how
ever, 1t has powerful effect. The country
IS suffering from commercial depression.
There is great deal of vague apprehension
and discomfort in the public mind. With a
lively sense of the discomforts of the situa-
tion, there is no clear conception of the |
remedy. This condition of public feeling
is unfsvorable to the party in, power. |
II produces critical temper, ana
A0uAs H'"ubB nOTo or less lust. |
Things which in "good times" would 90 un-
noticed are pounced upon and growled over. |
IL may be party treason, but we are bound |
to say that the republican party is not pre- |
pared so well as it might be to withstand
the operation of this mood of the public. /
There are too many points on which the !
public, IL so disposed, can fasten criticism. |
The party has taken good deal of |
credit TO itself of late for kicking out its
scoundrels and exposing the misdeeds that |
have been done in its name, and the credit
has not been undeserved. But the opera
ton Is not one that inspires confidence. The
cantankerous and obstinate public is in
Glued to think that where such things are
brought to the surface there is more of the
same sort underneath. This impression
could only be removed by making the pro-
cess of publication so thorough that no one
could question its complete efficacy.
The Herald gives the republican party
some advice: The republicans ought
to learn some wisdom from the
visible decline of their party strength.
1t is not too late for them to retrieve their
losses if they will reform certain leading
features of their policy. They can not affJrd
to repeat nor to persist in their blum
ders in the Southern States. There must be
no more of the unwarranted intermeddlinp
by which Kellogg was made governor Of
Congress must give that 81 ate J
a fair election as soon rs it assemblies. and
The president and his superserviceable at
torney general must leave the local c
affairs OF the South to local manage ,
ment The administration must re- !,
lieve itself, so far as it legally can, from
all responsibility for what is done in the G
South. 1t must shift the responsibility to Z
The shoulders of the Southern people. Had ,
McEnery been inaugurated as governor of |,
Louisiana in January, 1873, as he would
have been If the president had not inter. =
tered, there would either have been no =
in that State or they :
would have been chargeable to a demo :
cratic State government. 1t is impossible :
% govern State we'll against the wishes of :
he best classes OF its people. 1t was sheer =
-ashness for the republican party to under !,
AXE such an experiment. 1t would have !
eft Louisiana in democratic hands '
han to have incurred responsibility :
or such a state of things as has =
existed under Kellogg. The same principle =
5 applicable to the other Southern States a
They can be better governed at home than :
hey can be from Washington. and if thew q
ire to be ill-governed the republican party o
lad better acquit itself of all responsibility :.
I Congress, when it meets, will do prompt ~
ustice 10 louisiana; if the president will ?,
eject DIS southern appointees from the best IL
lasses OF the eople; If he will take re- -
pectable Southern man who understands =,
md sympathizes with his section into the " ~
sbinei; if he will hereafter have just as 1t - -
le to do as legally possible in local South =,
IN affairs, the republican party can recover =,
ost ground and elect the next president, IL - -
nominates new aud good candidate. -
The Fort Wayne Gazette has the follow II
'g: Indiana and Ohio have been lost TO the tt
epublicans, principally owing, as we be- II
eve. TO the ill-timed efforts of the temper
nee crusaders. who have done more
, .iijure their cause than they can
ndo in ten years to come. We are salts ii
ed that majority OF the republicans in
Indiana disapproved of the "temper-
nee planks" in the Sta Q platforms. MANY
oted against the tickets from that reason.
lille thousands voted for the ticket under
rotest iTt 80