Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1875-07-29
why the Republican Party Cannot
and Will Not Be Beaten.


,ical party was ever wholly overthrow
except when an issue that everybody could
see and feel was presented in antagonism
thereto What hope, therefore, have the
elements in conflict with the Republican
marty for SUGGEST What issue do they
present in conflict with the ruling idea of
the dominant political party Of the coun-
try. What has the dominant party done
t. forfeit the confidence Of the people?
These are queries which we purpose
scanning and answering:
1. What hope have the elements in con-
flict with the Republican party for sue
cess9 Surely none founded upon reason,
or aught save prejudice and lust for Office.
Some, when questioned as to what they
base their hopes upon, say that it is upon
frauds perpetrated by Republican officials
and with apparent earnestness inquire if
we deny that corruptionists have been re-
yealed within the official fold Of the Re
publican party. We answer, No" But,
coupled with our answer, comes the cues.
ton: "Who discovered and exposed the
corruptionsts ?" There has not been an
Administration, from that of Washington
down to Grant, under which corruption
has not shown its hideous head and con-
fronted the power that made it. But
Notwithstanding the fact that not
until the Republican party came into
power were opportunities for plum
der so manifold, the Government
has been, proportionately, more ex-
empt from loss under Republican au-
thority than while the Government was
administered by any other party. The
war and the condition Of things resulting
thcrefrom occasioned the creation and
maintenance of many more offices than
were ever before known to our political
system. The Republican party did not
generate the necessity for these offices.
Those opposed to the Republican party
did, however and the Administration fol-
lowing that of Buchanan confronted the
war and its attendant incidents as neces-
sity demanded AS a rule every corrup-
zionist developed in the Republican party
has been drawn into the light by the hand
of the party which clothed him with
power or opportunity to steal, and in a
majority of cases the Government has
been made whole and Pententiary doors
have swung open to receive the pcculators.
We take it that if a son commits theft Of
which his father has cognizance, and is
handed over to the authorities by said .
ity would not rightfully attach to the
name Of the family, however much dis
grace the son might have brought upon
himself and his own character. Fortu-
nate would it have been for many Repub-
had they never sought or accepted such
places. They owe their fall to themselves
and their exposure to the party whose
confidence they violated
2. What issue do they present in con-
flict with the ruling idea of the dominant
political party Of the country? None;
and it is fact known to every political
student that no party in this country was
ever overthrown save on sharp and clear
ly-defned issues antagonistc to such
party and in consonance with the senti-
ment of the people The reader need but
turn his minds eye back to three yeats
ago, when all the odds and ends were as
socaied with the Democratic party to
disintegrate the Republican organization,
but there being no principle to sustain
them, and no issue save that founded up.
on personal or political prejudice, the at
tempt was impotent, covering the parties
to the scheme with shame and confusion.
g. What has the dominant party done to
IA
all our reading from what falls from
tongue or pen of those in antagonism to
the Republican party we have failed to
note any substantiated charge of want of
lealty by the Republican party to its
pledges or to the best interests of the
country. Charges are not wanting against
representatives of the party, from the
President down to the most subordinate Of
his subordinates, but they are the offspring
of hate and malice bearing upon their
face the impress of tneir origin. 1t mat
tiers not that the national debt, which the
Democracy were wont to say could never
and would never be lifted, has been materi-
ally reduced, diminished to an extent
which demonstrates as we'll the Ca
pacity to pay it off as the will
and design of the party in power
to pay it, and this, too, while the work Of
unloading our people from the burdens
Of taxation has been going on. 1t matters
not that every pledge in harmony with the
platforms upon which representatives Of
the party were elected have been re-
deemed; still pencils are worn out, ink
wasted and breath exhausted in denounc-
Ing the men and party who and which de-
serve plaudits for preserving inviolate
their plighted faith. No, the Republican
party has done nothing to forfeit the con-
hdence of the people.
We argue from these premises that the
republican party cannot and will not be
defeated in 1876. Nor, indeed, do we be
lleye that its mission will be wholly full
nlled in 1880, nor until the life of pro-
lesSed and pronounced Republicans is as
sale IN the South rs that Of Democrats is
ana always has been at the North-and,
iiltFther, until the principles which under
ne The organization are accepted and H.
,HsGated by all the nations of the earth.
II took we'll nigh a century for the seed
sown by the fathers of the Republic to
spring forth, and it was only through the
A--nCN of the Rnnnhlican marty thnt IL