Martinsburg weekly independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1873-1875, 1874-09-05
COMMON sENSEIN POLITICS
WANTED.

lea addresses and partisan appeals?
1t is not possible that they are SO
utterly ignorant of what is going
on around them as to believe it eff
fects any body Of any party except
to excite a smile at the broad bur
lesque of the whole business. That
show is all over and the audience
dismissed they must know that;
and no one cares to stand and wit
ness the antics of the supernuma-
ries on a stage illuminated by tai
low dips. And yet these managing
men Of both parties kesp issuing
addresses, and shouting the old
war cries, and repeating the worn
out phrases of past campaigns in a
solcmnly serious way, as though it
all meant as much to them as it
ever did,and they honestly believ-
ed the stuff would affect the people
at whose heads they throw it. Is
it from the force of habit they do
this, or Is it because there is moth
ing else to be said and they keep it
up to attract attention like the
!" Going!" "going!" of the auc-
tioneer? Witness the address
es" we have had pouring in from
all quarters for the last month
Republican Addresses, Democrat
ic Addresses, from Congressional
Committees, from State Commit
tees. on Organization and all sorts
Of parties and all sorts of Commit
rnI nh al
Bunch them all together, hash
them up, sift them down, con
dense them, go over them with
microscope, distil them down to
the last essence, and what do you
get? Nothing under heaven but
wind. A sound and Jury, nothiDg
beside. You can not made out
from all of them what any party
believes in or any party denies.
Addresses, resolutions, platforms
and all, they are almost without
exception vague, contradictory,
meaningless.
Please save your breath, gentle
men The people whom yuare
bombarding with flatulence do
not care the toss ola copper what
you say or how you say Il. The
great public never was in so calm
and impartial mood, never so lit
tie liable to excitement or SO we'll
out of reach of rhetorical buster.
Your Republican Committees may
point with pride to the record of
the past ; the people hold their
noses over the stencil Of the pres
ent, have no index fingers left for
pointing, and the past they are
proud of is obscured by two or
three years in which they take no
pride at all. Your Democratic
Committees may arraign the OPP
position for corruption and dis
honesty with all the force Of fig
ures and the solemuity OF ia lis;
the people know well enough that
Democrats as we'll as Republicans
in Credit Mobilier that both par
ties voted for the Salary Grab and
pocketed the plumber in sh 0rt, that
for the Democrat party with all
it's record. its influence, and its
tendencies, to talk about restoring
honest administration by giving
it power is the most object non
sense The people are not fools
or blind. They know well enough
and all the gustiness of orators
the pl titudes of platforms, and
the hollownesS of resolutions can
not deceive them-that neither of
the two parties can pick out of the
hurry burIy Of pending questions
one single issue upon which it is
at one with itself, or upon which
within the limited and select cir
Gle Of i representative men in
either branch of Congress there
are not wide divergences ana dead
Y disagreements. And they know
too, that while there are good and
bad men in both parties and neil
Their is wholly corrupt, neither can
he wholly trusted. The people
have learned many things in the
last two years, and not the least of
all of them the fact that men who
manage parties and conduct cam
paigns sacrifice honesty TO success;
in other words, that they put parA
tisanship above principle and truth
and honor.
And yet we recognize the fact
that the people. Invested of parti-
sanship as never before, more ju-
dicial in their disposition, and bet
ter prepared to weigh the evidence
have only two parties to decide
between. and that their judgment
must be for one or the other of
these. We are confident that we
interpret public sentiment correct
ly when We say the people have
no confidence il. either party, as a
party. In either of the alterna-
tives before them they forsee diff
ficulties and DANCER. TO strength