Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-08-27
a osmoeratie staIesman.


Democratic Statesman.
The present Democratic candidate for
Governor in OHIO deserves attention as
a unique specimen of an extinct variety
of American politician. The civil war
brought out a new class of public men,
| in the Democratic as well as the Republi-
can Party. Here and there throughout
the country one may meet with patri-
arch. whose early days were spent IN
| vvor-binInl admiration of John Randolph,
! Felix Grundy, Tristram Burgess, Thom-
ne Fl. Benton, or ONE other eminent
! public leader long since gathered TO his
rest Among the businesses of the Blue
| Ridge, or in the scattered hamlets of New
England, or the seedy cid towns of neg
| lected portions OF the west, we NAV find
| political relic who hangs to life and his
old-time prejudices with wonderful tena-
city, and who believes, as he did in John
Tylers time, that "the country has gone
to the dogs, Sir. "a tourist relates how
he found one of these rare remains of
past age in decayed seaport OF New
England. He was a centenarian, with
eight years to spare; had fought IN the
War of 1912; and he still thought mat
Alexander Hamilton was dangerous
aristocrat, that the Boston money-klngs
had ruined ship building, and that it was
/ a shame that the North and South should
| have fought for the niger"
Quite as unique as this aged person,
who was probably called "Copperhead"
| in other times, is Gov. William Allen, of
! Ohio. 1t is not true that Gov. Allen was
"Cow Boy" in the American Revolu
ton. For, though he is of that intractable
metal from which the Cow Boys were
made, he was then too young 10 act as
one. But his politics are as old as the
Revolution. He has the same dread of
the shadoWy money power which he Tor
his gIandfather) had during the early days
of the Republic. We all know how the
fierce De emocracie" of these unsettled
times took alarm at every semblsnce OF
aristOcracy or the power of riches Gov.
Allen was scared in his youth by. one OF
these spectres, and he has never recover
ed from his fright. His dream is not of
"the man on horseback" of Caleb Cush-
ing, but the man with cellar full of gold
who shall be able and willing TO buy the
people and subvert their liberties This
was the vision of great many Am eIican
politicians in 1858, when the hard times
were charged to the money kings" who
were supposed TO be rolling in wealth
while the country starved and industries
languished. Gov. Allen went to sleep
more than thirty years ago, when vast
number of our voters were as yet unborn
He retired to his farm, where, in a sort of
luxurious agricultural cas- e, he may have
hibernated until the time for his depart
ure should come. Some of 1.-The boys"
of the Ohio Democracy, with dim tIadi-
tons of the picturesque Yigor which "Old
Bill Allen" used to give 10 the canvass,
drew the old man from his snug retreat.
he was nominated for Governor: it was
time Of distrust and complaint. To the
surprise of everybody but himself he was
elected: In him the Democratic Party Of
1898 was mater ialized. The Virginia and
Kentucky resolutions rose up and walked |
about the earth when this twice-dead |
man appeared in life again. He gets up, |
as he laid do WI, with violent pref udice |
against the phantom of money power, and |
with a strong partiality for an inflated |
currency. To be sure, in Jaekson's time |
be hurrahed over the removal of the de- |
posits from the United States Bank, and |
was a "bullionist" with Benton. But |
then, as now, he was bent on fighting |
that imaginary enemy Monopoly, just as
Don Quixote fought the windmill. What !
ever inc0nsi stency there is about his at. |
titude in 1888 and in 1875, Gov. Allen |
charges TO the degenerate age, not to |
himself The times have changed, but he |
has not.
Evidently this recovery of the Rip Van |
Wlnkle Of ChilIcothe is no Joke to the |
Ohio Democracy, VIII atever they may |
have at first intended, the terrible old |
man is very much in earnest; he proposes |
TO stay above ground. Slavery has been |
abolished, the tariff question has been |
putin abeYance, and various other issues |
have been disposed of since he buried |
himself. The finance question, which |
means imitation with him. claims his atten- !
ton On his return to life. The party man.
ayers, having put certain utterances on
the subject into their platform, are not |
anxious that anything more should be
said. Not only is this venerable man de-
termined to be Governor again, but he
has sublime faith in his future as the
next Democratic President of the United
States. His neph ew, Senator Thurman,
and two or three other such young
sprigs" as Hendricks and Pendleton, he
considers are out of the race now. There
will be time enough for them when he
has run, the course and won the prize.
and new issues are before the people
Just now, with the p latform that Jeffer-
son wrote freshly in his mind, Allen be-
ieVes himself the only likely candidate.
The Democracy may look on with the
same dismay with which they would see
a mad bull charging around in the tall
grass of the Western Reserve, but they
may be sure that this curious specimen of
an almost prehistoric age has not out I
lived political ambition. If he awoke in
the comfortable seclusion where he has
spent his later years, it was doubtless
With VeXation that he saw the Younger l.
generation of Democrats forgetf1l of the
teachings Of Jefferson and the early faith
ers. He has come back TO life to serve at
once as warning and leader.