The Opelousas courier., 1875-07-17
g Independents Voters. y
Mobile RapistAr.1

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A great deal Of stress has been laid Of late
on the balance Of power that resides in the
hands of the independent voters By !" iu-
dependent voters are meant those who be-
long. to no party. Not counting the large
number of voters of the class who belong to
no party because they do nDt gake sufficient
interest in public affairs TO joia its ranks
study its principles, and labor for its success
We point to the distinguished German-Ameri-
can, Carl Schurz, as the highest sample of an
independent voter But this is not the
normal position of Mr. SehurE, for he was a
member of the Radical or Republican party,
and served it from the beginning of the war,
IN Its councils IN peace and its armies in the
field, down to the period when its policy of
Southern reconstruction was fully shaped and
put into practice. Mr.. Schurz was at that
time, then, what in his Delmonico speech he
terms o place man." Then We have the tes-
tiIn0ny of Mr.. Schurz's example that a man
may be a patriot and a statesman and still be
q party or "placeh man. 1n other words,
that all the courage and wisdom in public af-
fairs are not confined to the class of indie
pendent voters. We have never been able to
respond III our admiration to the high claim
of honor to the man who boasts that be !" be-
longs to no party People who sail under no
flag but their own on the high seas are gem
orally watched by the powers that carry their
own world-known .colors, as suspicious OF pi-
ratical intentions, and standing in need OF
passports. In political warfare armies are
kept in the field--they are called parties, and
they are organized bodies, who act together,
and who, TO act effectively, must be disciplined
bodies. Now this is all that there is III a
partys that so exeites the show of contempt
in some people. Parties are sneeringly spoken
of as !. held together by the cohesive power OF
public plunder.n Why not say !. By the cohe.
sive power of public principlea ah Suppose
there had been no Democratic party III exist.
ence the last ten years, what would have been
the political condition of theeP country to-day
Grant and corruption masters at Washingtoni !
the military spread all over the Southern
States; New York, Ohio and Indiana still un-
i der tine dominion of the MOrtons, Chambers
aud Williamses; q z third term,h followed by
buzzard In the eagles nest of Imperialism
u And all this not because mutltudeS of ciEI-
u zens" independent voters, If you please
would not have been alarmed and h0rritied at
the ruin of cur institutions, but because, with
4 out an organized force to rally upon, the de-
feat of the Grant tyranny had not been possi-
Bile. Well, then, was it an honor to brag iOt,
to have been neutral and do-notAlng
through all those days and years OF toll and
Il danger; or, to have been faithful and patient
worker In the ranks of the Democratic party,
Il to build up the defensive power TO throw be-
tween Ele liberties Of the country and their
fierce assailantsa Amy man can sit on the
fence without being much Of a hero. But it
requires no common grit to stand by party
of principles through good and through evil
report, aud to hold It's standard high while the
whole world is hnrying its supposed reinuins
and singing dirges over its untitled grave.
i The Democratic party of the United States
is entitled to the credit of the events OF the
II last and present years that have hfled the
breasts of = Independents as well as of DEM
4 0crats with the joy Of great deb lIVeranee IN
the past and of bright hopes to come. 10 be
sure, it was enabled to win so great q victory
& by the aid of the floating vote N the eonll-
try which gravitates from side to side aeeord-