New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-03-30

ricks are giving place gradually to the
crisp cracking orders to committees to
close up and get out every vote,
and be very particular about the aged and
infrm voter and send wagon for him; and
the pleasing little interchange of courtesles
which q little while ago began with the ex-
preston of regret that so excellent person
in all the relations of life should consent to
represent so Infamous a party, has settled
down to the rapid and rafting volleys of
small caps and italics in which an old and
respectable party is commiserated upon bav-
ing been drawn into the support of a self
convicted pirate AMI assassin. Three or four
days of this with the political stump a1ame
meantime with the fervid oratOry Of some of
the roaring-est of the "ring tailed roarers" OF
the Administration camp will bring the peo-
| pie of the State abreast with the ballOt-box
and to the handling of "tho weapon. frmer
"set and better than the bayonet."
| To the intelligent, conscientious voter, the
roar of the stump is but rant and the parti-
sanship of the press foolishness. He views
the field, and the attitude of the parties upon
| it, and Judges pretty much for himself what
| his duty is. 1t is not an easy thing to do.
! Much easier, indeed. to turn over thinking to
a caucus and responsibility to party; to
answer "Here" to the party roll-call. and
| vote when called on, not the candidates on
| the ticket, but the label at its top. That's
economy of thought and care, and all that
| the devils best weapon, and the cOuntrys
worst enemy. Bat the intelligent, independ
ent voter-whom we shall have to thank by
and by for saving the country, if it is saved,
oh far
| it-has no easy task before him in deciding the
line of his duty in the approaching election in
Connecticut. There are hundreds of conscien-
tious Republicans in the State who do not ap-
prove the policy of the Administration or the
tendencies exhibited by the party during the
past four OF five years They criticisc with
great freedom the follies and worse than folies
of Grants administration they see, and they
| condemn its faults and its weakness, and they
| denounce with unsparing severity both the men
who have assumed leadership in the party and
| the policy they have inaugurated. They shrink
from giving the Administration such an in
dorsement as woul be contained in vote for
| the ticket aad platform of the Republicans,
which in every feature is essentially an
approval sweeping and unqleStionins of
all the Administration has done and all that it
| is. They cannot conscicntiously approve the
platform or ticket; they cannot honestly cx-
press any confidence in the party and lis man
ayers. They see or think they see that to
carry Connecticut on the Ncw-Hlven platform
is to revive the third term ambition OF the
President. Last year they voted the Demo
cratic ticket.
| But this year-there's the rub One year OF
Democratic rule gave thom-welI, some OF
them have read the speech mldo in the
Senate tho other evening by the gentleman
whom tho Democratic Legislature elected
| United States Senator-and they do not like
| it. 1t lacks wisdom, 1t lacks conference, 1t
| lacks breadth, it lacks craftsmanship, it lacks
| everything but memory. And these thought
| full CONSCIENTIOUS men are puzzled what to
do. The Republican party had come to be
so corrupt and bad through tho management
of bad men that they thought it would be
safe to use the Opposition to rebuke it and
bring it to its senses. But they fad they have
brought into power party that does no
better. Here and there it m les good nom
ination from motives of policy, but where it
has power it is too often controlled by the
worst elements in society, it too often
dUOpJS Dll DOllClcS, anu puto IVA wa" va"
men. They show the party instinct in New
Haven, where now as always they oppose
the admission of students as electors,
from no principle whatever except an
innate dread of the influence of edu-
Gated men, and well-grounded con-
yction that in an Institution of learning the
majority would be sure to be against them
The same instinct teaches them to oppose
all tests of Intelligence as qualifications for
the electors privilege. and by the same token
they arc found Systematically and habituaIly
in opposition to whatever laws of registration
arc effective for the preservation of the purity
| of the ballot-box. So, to-, they dcclalm
| against the use of money in elections, and
| term after term re-eect Mr. BIrnum to Con-
cress for 10 other earthly reason than be-
cause he is wealthy, AID liberal with funds for
election purposes. The Independent voter
looking at both parties AMI their records finds
little encouragement If the Republicans have
heen corrupt and weak, their opponents, with
the opportunity given them, have not proved
a marked improvement. Neither party seems
worthy Of confidence as a party. The best
thing to do is what THE TRIBUNE has 50 often
recommended and of late his come to be so
much the fashion-Scratch judiciously.
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