The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1875-06-15

republican state committee al AlUAuN h5S
week, and the resolution ii adopted TO hold
State convention, have gwen fresh I'M
pulse to the recent gush and nonsense about
1.-THE Independent voter in certain journals
which slipped their party cables after tho
great Greeley defeat in 1872, and have since
been drifting about in search Of q new polti-
cal anchorage. These papers have faled, as
yet 10 comprehend the relations OF indie
pendent journalism to politics They have
not emancipated themselves from the old
notion that o public journal needs special
political constituency. They are acting like
back into the protecting shell. For year or
two they kept insisting that the democratic
party with which they had acted in the
Greeley campaign, should disband and
give place to new organization Of
which they would be the natural organs
pa ~ relations which they had been forced
into renouncing by the defeat Of a movement
which they intended and expected 70 lead.
They did not profess independent journalism
with deliberate torethought, from convection
/ that journals are more useful when free from
party trammels, bat because their abortive at
tempt to form q new party had sundered their
connection with the republicans, and the
sentiments in which they had educated their
readers did not permit them to Join the demo
Gratis. None Of the journals to which We
allude suffered any diminution Of prosperity
by their dsconnection from political parties,
and we have looked upon this hankering for
''lhe heshpots Of Egypt" with regret and
wonder. One of the most prominent Of them
went back, several months ago, into the re
publican party, and the others are still uneasy,
blindly cropping for some shred of party
which they may be thought to represent. The
liberal republican organization, which they
pioneered, having become virtually defunct,
they now assume to be the organs Of 1.-The in
dependent voter"
The Independent voter may be left to take
care Of himself without special wet nurse
If he pinned bis political faith on any Of these
new nondescript organs he would be as SER
vile as when he followed them as organs of
the republican party. Independence in poll
ties consists in following ones own judg-
ment Ii is as abject to be guided by an
organ as 10 accept the dictaHon Of party.
The really Independent voter is man who
"steers by his own compass" and it is ridicu-
lous for any newspaper to assume to be his
organ. II is still more ridiculous to
attempt 10 form the independent voters
into a party. Parties cannot exist without
organization and discipline they cannot
exist without some surrender Of private judg-
ment to the majority Of the organization.
The Independent voter is citizen who refuses
to be bound by party ties, and it is sheer abb
surdity for any journal to treat him as II he
belonged 70 pocket party and needed an
organ. The recent foolish gush about @the
Independent voter is the last dregs Of the
unsuccessful! movement to supplant tho dem
ocntic party by new political organization
Nobody who Is o competent judge Of present
tendencies has any doubt that the Presidential
contest Of 1876 viii be wnged between the old
democratic party and the republican party,
which has been SO long in power. Every
attempt to form a successful third party has
utterly broken down The liberal republican
party is thin ghost lowering over political
grave ready to vanish at tina first growing of
the cock. The farmers movement in the
West, which at one time seemed to portend
political revolution, has lost its aggressive
vigor 1t will hardly make ripple in the
elections Of the present year, and next year it
viii be utterly lost in the great Presidential
maelstrom. The republican party is too
much weakened TO afford another split and
the democratic party is too confident TO court
or encourage any separate movement. We
are on the eve Of square, old-fashioned
contest between the two great parties,
in which the Independent voter will
10 found on one side or the other.
His independence will be manifested
IN changing his party relations If he dishkes
the candidate or the platform Of the party
with which he has been accustomed to act
Practically, this is the only choice that Will
be left him, and it is mere thoughtless chatter
10 talk Of the next Presidential election as if
il were to he anything different from q strug-
gle between the two existing parties, OF as il
the independent voter would have any inhu-
ence in either Of he national conventions BY
which the issues Of that contest will b.
shaped The sooner the hcrmaphrodite
organs Which would like to be independent if
they knew how, dismiss such nonsense from
their columns he less they will confuse their
readers.
They betray their misconcepHon Of indie
pendent journalism by assuming that it re-
ouires, or will lead to, different method of
conducting political contests from that which
has heretofore existed. The HERALD has been
an independent journal for more than forty
years, and may claim to have some knowledge
Of the requisites Of independence. These forty
years have brought pretty constant sue
cnssion OF fierce political struggles, generally