New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-08-07
| without exception vague, contradictory, mean


ingless.
Please save your breath, gentlemen. The
people whom you are bombarding with natu-
lence do not care the toss OF copper wna'
you say or how you say it, The great puo'ic
was never in so calm and lmpartlai hoou,
never 80 little liable to excitement or 80 well
out of the reach of rhetorical buster. Your
Republican Committees may point with pride
IN the record of the past the people, holding
their noses over the stencil of the present,
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 arralgn
the opposition for corruption ana dishoheSty
with all the force of figures and the soiemnity
of facts. the people know well enough that
Democrats as well as Republicans dabbled IN
Credit Mobilier that both parties voted for
the Salary Grab and pocketed the plumber
in short. that for the Democratic party, with
all its record, its influence, and It's tendencies
to talk about restoring honest administration
nv giving If power is the most AFFECT nom
sense. The people are not fools or blind.
They know well enough-and all the gustlncss
of orators. the plattudes of platforms, and
the hollowness of resolutions cannot deceive
tbem-that neither of the two parties can
nick out of the -burly of pending ques-
tions one single issue upon when IL Is al one
with itself, or upon which within the limited
and select circle of its representative men IN
either branch of Congress there are not wide
diyergences and deadly disagrecmcnts And
they know, too, that while there are good and
bad men in both parties and neither Is wholly
corrupt, neither can be wholly trusted. The
people have learned many things in the past
two wears, and not the least of all of them
the fact that the men who manage parties and
conduct campaigns as a rule sacrlhce honesty
to success !; in other words, that they put par
tisanship above principle aad truth ana honor
And vet we recognize the fact that the pe0
pie Invested Of partisanshiD as never before,
more judicial in their disposition, and better
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 correctly when we say the
people have no confidence in either party as
q party In either of the alternatives before
them they fOresee difficulties and danger. 70
strengthen the party in power. already TOO
strong for its own safety or the c0untry5
good would be only an encouragement to the
bold bad men who have the organization IN
their hands, and a perpetuation OF the rule oil
corruption. To bring back the Democratic
party to power they see would be, if possible,
more hazardous still, since there is nothing IN
its record to give any assurance OF wise leSlS-
4 a Oh,
an impulse of disgust at the exposures of the
past two years, they have in two or three
States intrdsted the Democracy with power.
The result of the experiment has been TO
deepen the conviction that it is a party which
neither forgets nor learns, and to satisfy the
people that the best, the only use to which 1t
can be put, is as rod Of punishment, to keep
the other side honest and on lis good behavior.
And so the country sits with elbows on its
knees, between the managing politicians of
the two great parties. Tne object of the
managers is only too plain-tO use the people.
The people have come to understand it, and
to see that their only safety is to use the
politicians, instead of being used by tn EN-.
Principles and policies are in a muddlc and
mess, and there are no party lines, except be-
tween the ins and the outs. The people will
have to choose in the first place between men.
applying their own and not party tests and
in the next place between parties, so as to
keep a more even balance between them, and
neither one so strong that it can afford to be
careless or dishonest.
And as for these noisy Committees, perhaps
it is not for us to advise; but we take leave
to suggest that all the believing about past
records and party associations, the appeals to
organize and swell the columns, and all the
worn-out clap-trap of past politics, are a very
silly waste of time and breath. Stop talking,
and lead out your best and ablest men. The
people care nothing for your parties or your
promises. They want honest government and
common sense. They have stopped reading
promises and are looking for men.