The state rights democrat. [volume] (Albany, Linn County, Oregon) 1865-1900, 1874-12-04
OFFICIAL PAPER FOR OREGON
ssWHAT WILL THEY DO WITH THEIR
VICTORY

OFFICIAL PAPER tUR UkE6yN
nwnAT WILL THEY DO WITH THEIT
VICTORY sb
The above is the caption Of lead
ing editorial in last Saturdays States
man, in which the editor indulgef
the gravest apprehensions lest the
Democratic party, in the late victo-
ries won at the polls, should have
won an elephant. Timely warning
should never be spurned, though il
come from the enemy, and sympathy
for our misfortunes in gaining a vic
tory without wisdom to use its fruits,
or tact to even camp on the ground,
may not be despised; and we trust
Democrats will listen kindly to the
great volumes Of advice offered by
our Republican cotemporaries as to
how we can best appropriate the
fruits Of our victory; and to their
timely admonitions as to the many
obstacles and perplexing difficulties
that lie IN the way Of further progress
in other battles yet to be fought; and
the great danger in the meantime of
losing the ground so lately and so
gallantly won. jeli
If the Statesman editorial, to which
we have referred, be true in this
that "They have been so long de-
feated and scattered into mere bands,
each distinct band pursuing it's own
particular policy - the product Of
circumstances, accidental or local or
personal" &C., we think the late
Democratic victories should challenge
the admiration Of the world. II
Democrats were, as the Statesman
says, scattered into mere bands, "
there must have been o master mind
to marshal these "bands" and guide
them to victory; or, these "distinct
bands, pursuing its own particular
policy" must have felt o common i'm
pulse, and made common cause,
against common enemy and wheth-
er it were q master mind that gath
cred and controlled them in the con-
fict, or o deep-seated conviction
that there were great wrongs to be
corrected, it matters Motif the lat
ter, then a great deal of self-ipposed
discipline was observed - quite
enough we think to bring into solid
phalanx these scattered bands, and
maintain and defend the ground over
which they SO gallantly fought. /,
In enumerating the many imagin-
ary "bands," into which the States
man seems to think the Democracy
is divided, it says: "One section, or
rather, one class of Democrats, de-
manded the abrogation of the amend
ments to the constitution, and the
annullment Of. the reconstruction
laws" etc: If any such questions
were mooted in the late election
campaigns in the several States, it
escaped our notice, and if there is
aDy section" or "bandH Of Demo
Gratis who make such "demandP
we do not know where to locate
them. If the passage Of the recon-
struction acts by Congress could
have been prevented, it it would have
saved the South great suffering, but
the "annullruent" Of those acts now
would be productive Of no good, for
the so-oalled reconstruction nets did
not make State, nor would their
repeal render them any the less
States. The Democracy has never
been regarded as constitutional tink-
ers. They have rather been inclined
to suffer while evils were sufferable
than undertake TO right themselves
by doubtful means. Whilst we think
all Democrats, and many Republi-
cans will agree that the fourteenth
and fifteenth amendments to the fed
eral constitution were not legally
adopted, yet we think that the evils
of their adoption has culminated,
and if the Republicans can stand
them henceforth, we think the Dem.
ocratic party can, for after tho 4th Of
March, 1877, that party will be
charged with its administration un-
der the old Democratic rule Of strict
construction, and no obstacle will no
thrown in the way Of the Supreme
Court interpreting that instrument
determining all constitutional ques-
tions that may arise, r..
THAT QUEER LOOKING HEAD"