The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1874-09-19

seek I'd 1ONent Dy every possible
trick. Like their Confederate allie,
Of " lang syne," they are quite ready
to strip the Union dead Of their Fed.
eral uniorm, and place the same Oh
the backs Of their own guerrillas, In
order to enable the latter to arrange
anbuscades and surprises with more
ease and safety.
| What is to be guarded against il
whether or not there is aught but
treachery involved in Democratic
pretenses OF sympathy with those who
claim that the Republican party is
not sufficiently progressive to satisfy
their views or the necessities of the
country. AS we take note of such
discomfort, it arises from causes far
other than such as the Democracy
can handle. The general drift Of all
the discussion on transportation,
monopolies, and legislation, tariff and
revenue, &c, &c.,-the whole brood,
in fact, of economic issues which have
grown out OF the new conditions con-
sequent upon the rise and progress of
a complex and scientific order of pro-
duction and wealth making-and of
the remedies which are demanded to
correct evils that arise from such con-
ditions, are altogether of a different
character from those which have
shaped the views, traditions, and
policy, or animate the present hopes
OF the Democratic party. 1t is said,
sarcastically, Of the American that
"no people forget yesterday" 50
readily /; but it is not possible that
that the half century of Democratic
rule is obliterated from the average
mind. The Granger the Farmers
Club " orators, the managers of cheap
! transportation associations, the would
he organizers of the working pro-
ducers of the land, on issnes such as
we have named and indicated, do not
surely expect to find support from a
party which is obliged fundamentally
to repudiate the idea of all national
interference which must accept the
doctrine of taisse- fare, or repudiate
its own principles. Not a very diff
ficult thing to do, we hear some sar-
donic reader exclaim. But epigram-
lnatic rejoinder is not our present cue
We desire to point out the obvious
fact that the Democratic polity pre-
cludes that party from any fair dis
cussion of the issues under consider
alton. Its polity is shaped upon
ideas born of communities living and
thriving i'll circumstances altogether
different from those which foster such
q brood Of legislative and admins
tr.tive complexities as are involved
in the pOliticO- economic issues of our
Industrial and inventive civilization.
The Greek cities and small States,
with their simple and direct demands
for and assumptions of sovereignty are
the prototype. The Swiss cantons of
to-day and the free cities of middle
ages are the illustrate ms, while every
middle aged Democrat in this country,
who has any ideas beyond Office aud
plunder, undoubtedly believes that
the beneficial elimination of his po-
litical theory was found in the pub
lie character and primitive politics of
the slaveholding and agricultural
Sta tes at the zenith of their pride and
place. Can the men who look for
such changes in legislation as will
practically assert the sovereignty of
the people over the railroads, for in
stance, expect to find it in the rehab-
illitation ola party governed by such
traditions? Is there any sensible
man that does not believe that its
triumph will be but hindIance
rather than q benefit These ques-
tions answer themselves. Besides,
the Democracy have made no pre-
tense at discussing these matters.
They have only criticised the Re-
publicans for so doing.
Now, as to that party's position on
these crowding issues. Who will as
sert that it is unfriend1y9
Most of the, issues alluded to are
new ones in the political arena. Many
of them involve questions not here
tofore brought into that domain. They
can only claim admission or consid-
Grafton upon the theory that progress
Of industrial machinery and the aggre-
CATION of power acquired through the
control thereof create forces whose
unrestricted exercise by individuals.
personal OR corporate, makes such in
ilvduals dangerous alike to citizen and
States. The thoughtful man will at
once say that it is the mark of wisdom
to go slow in such directions. 1t is an
almost unknown domain, which poll
ticians and statesmen are asked to
explore. The expedient thing to do
in politics is to consider well the fun
damental ideas and the following his
tory of the several organizations, and
support that one which has shown it's
readiness to accept, consider, and dis
cuss all new questions, and to place
in it's platforms and actions that por-
ton which commends itself as in the
line of liberty, law, and progress.
Will any candid person deny that the
Republican party has not always
stood ready to accept and sustain
whatever so commends itself? 4
great party is not a school Of doctrin-
naires, it is a practical compromise.
1t is not an academy to teach the