Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1874-04-07
THE EVENING NEWS.
GOLD HILL, i, TUESDAY. APRIL 7. 1874
REPUBLICAN PRINCIPLES AND DEM
OCRATIC NEGATIONs.


The Nevada Tribune Is In search
not like Coelebs Of q wlfe-but OF In
formation. 1t propounds the query,
What Is Rspubllcanlsm, and does 1t
differ from Democracy II so, how?
We propose to answer the question to
the best OF our ability, promising that
In a hastily written editorial errers
may creep In.
Republicanl.m and Democracy In
their broadest sense are Identical. In
other words, a true Republic Is also a
true Democracy. A government which
has for its basis a written constitution
and whose people have ssvsrally and
collectively the nomination and cleo
ton Of their rulers. or rather agents.
IL both q Republic and = Democracy.
These terms have been applied indis-
criminately to organizations OF men
for the purposes Of ,self-goverment from
the institution Of the frat republican
city Of Greece up to the present time.
Generally, or taken In the broadest
sense Of the terms, We say Republican
ism and Democracy are convertible
expressions, carrying tho same prln-
ciples and conveying an Identical idea
Of an organized system Of independent
electoral government. But we have
no doubt the Tribune more especially
desires to 10 told the difference be-
tween the Republican and Democratic
theory As applied to present parties
and political Issues. by a comparison
OF the two National platforms adopted
In 1872. but little can be Cleaned
as they were both framed n
adopted by members Of the Re-
publican party. They therefore
embody the views Of different factions
OF that party. True, the Democrats
formally accepted both the nominees
and platform Of tho Cincinnati Con-
yention. but it was dsne under protest
aud as the result shows, never In good
faith accepted by the Democratic rank
and file. We must, therefore, look to
the present attitude Of the DEM
ocratic party rs taken by Its exponen,s
In Congress. who are supposed to rep
resent both Democratic policy and
principle.
There are three great questions now
before the people Of the United States.
First, finance; second, transportation;
third, civil service reform. The Re-
publican party |, pledged to speedy
specie payments, aud tho Democratic
party claims TO be so also. Until a
law Il passed and signed by the Pres
ident, which dcfers thi, result By In
ilating tho currency, It must be con-
sidercd as a principle Of thu Repub-
lican party. Nevertheless, we iind In the
House Of Representatives., that fully
three-fifths Of the Democratic members
recently voted for a vast expansion OF
the gresnback circulation. Regarding
the transportation question. how do
the Democratic members stand? Bya
reference to the recent vote upon Me-
Crary's bill We lind that but five DEM
ccrats In the Lower House were In
Its favor. And yet this Dill offers
the only solution Of tho transpor-
tation problem by placing freights
and fares directly under the super
vision Of the General Government.
Tho Democracy, while bowling for
cheaper transportation and gnashing
their teeth against monopolles, refuse
support to the only method OF accom-
plishing the ends sought. They cry
Capitalization and usurpa;ion. They
have no. yet forgotten Calhoun. The
Republicans believe tho General Gov
crnment supreme In Its province, and
empowered by the Constitution to reg
ulats commerce between States,
whether on railroads or lakes aud riv-
ere. The Democracy by their votes
tor. as We said, they have no party
~platform,) do not. The Republican
party Is pledged to civil service re-
form. Its practices In this particular,
as exempllied In recent appointments,
we are not now discussing. But We
find the Democratic party perslstsntly
opposing every effort to this end. We
ilnd them In deliberate caucus at the
beginning Of the session choosing Fer
nando Wood. a bitter enemy OF the
movement and a salary-grabber. as
candidate for Speaker. We find them
aiding the Butler element In Massa-
chusetts to violate both letter and spirit
Of the civil service by uniting to con-
firm one Simmons. We flnd them In
the Senate opposing en- masse n ne"
election la Louisiana. and thus pre-
venting those Republicans who be-
lieve in decent government from car
rylng out their wishes. The Demo-
cratic party Of to-day has but one
principle, to-wit: opposition to the
sins" aud 10 any and every effort to
benefit the people which can by any
possibility inure to the credit OF tho
Republican party. We have briefly
sketched the three prominent ques-
tons before the people, and the
attitude ut the present time OF the
Republican and Democratic parties
thereon. We have not discussed them
fully, but have said enough to point
out soma differences which are vital
and irreconcllable. The Republican
party In principle Il Mp to the de-
mands Of the people. For the selec-
tion Of agents to carry out those prin-
ciples the people are responsible. The
Democratic party In principle Iif we
except the single u of stupid oppo-