New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1875-07-06
OHIO SAN-CULOTTES.

Ohio becomes the keystone Statc, t"e ohh
sylvania, resigned. Still voting in October,
Ohio and Indiana will have powerful inn
ence upon the result of a Presidential contest
i'm other States, and that influence VIII be the
greater, III tho contest now approaching
because of the peculiar attitude of clements
and forces in Ohio. Thus the struggle In that
State this year, because it will indicate which
party may carry Ohio in October, 1916, ana
by what methods, is everywhere recognized as
one of extraordinary Importance. Democratic
defeat, following the majority OF nearly l,ooo
for that party last year, Will strongly ehcour-
age the reform element OF the Republican
party, and admonish the Democrats that they
cannot afford to countenance initiation or re-
pudiation. Republican defeat in State once
so strong in its attachment to that party and
by Democracy so little deserving of conf
dencc, would not only give great strength to
the most dangerous Democratic element, but
might cause such generalization and dis
heartenmcnt among its opponents as to make
the national contest one of great peril.
Ohio is State peculiarly fitted to be the
theater of this preliminary contest. In Its
diyersfcaton of industries III its relations OF
capital to labor, in its central location ana
close connection with States of the East ana
of the West, in its division of nationalties,
races, and crceds, and in its balance OF party
forces, it very fairly represents the country.
II was strongly Republican, as the country has
been; it has become Democratic, not by any
positive increase Of Democratic votes Ill the
partisan sense, but by the aid Of Liberal
voters and the refusal of many Republicans
to vote at all. Mr.. Delano, conspicuous
leader in that rotten Administration which the
people condemned last Fall, is from that state,
and has largely influenced the Republican
party there in former years, and when the
peoplc of Ohio declared that they preferred
even the Bourbonism of Gov. Allen to such
Rcpublicanism as DcanO represents, no rebuke
could be more emphatic.
The clements opposed to the Rcpublicanism
of Delano are also fifty represented. The
Democracy of Cnyah0ga and Richland Coun-
ties bravcly and clearly proclaimed the princi-
pies for which the very best Democratic cle-
ment contends. They were defeated in the
Convention. The rampant Communism which
invites those who have saved little to rob
those who have saved much, and the ranking
disloyalty which seeks 10 ayenge itself upon
those who gave freely of their earnings and
savings for the suppression OF rebellion, joined
hands to make a platform which is disgrace
to the party and the state The Liberals and
the Independents, who hold the balance OF
power are asked to brand themselves as re-
pudiatols alike of the solemn pledges of the
Government to its creditors and Of the pledges
which they made to the people in their plat
forms of 1872 and 1874.
In 1872, first by the Liberals at Cincinnati,
and afterward by the Democrats at Baltimore,
the following resolutions were adopted:
The public credit must BE- sacredly maintained, ana
we defouncc reputation in every form and giise
speedy return to specie payment is demanded alike
by highest considerations of commercial morality and
honest government.
These declarations were not without a we'll
understood meaning, for the preceding Demo
cratic National Convention had uttered precisely
contrary doctrines, had gone before the people
with them, and had been overwhelmingly de
featcd. 1t had declared that Government
bonds ought to be taxed equally with other
property that the Five-Twcnty bonds ought
to be paid in "lawful money! and that there
should be cone currency for the producer and
" the bondholder." 1t was the intent and we'll
known object Of the platform adopted at Gin
cinnati and Baltimore in 1872 to pledge the
parties there acting not to attempt by
these or any other methods, to renew
that warfare upon the public creditors
which the Democrats in 1868 had made,
but to sustain the public credit, and press
forward to speedy resumption of specie
payments. No honest man, having given the
pledge made Ivy the Liberals and the Democrats
of 1872, can deny that he is in honor bound not
,.l,t
L" of at least one half of the customs duties in
"legal tenders" For this would be direct
rcpudiation of that compact with the public
creditors by which the Government bound itself
TO collect its customs duties in coin. and to
apply the sums thus received to the payment
of interest on the bonds and to a sinking fund
for the eXtinguiShment of the principal. No
honest man, having declared in 1872 that
"a speedy return TO specie payments Is de-
"manded alike by the highest considerations
" of commercial morality and honest govern
"ment," can excuse himself i'll supporting ii
party which dcnOunces the first step i'll that
direction made by the late Congress.
The Liberals and Independents Of Ohio are
neither tricky dcmagogucs nor slaves of party,
but sincere men who have shown themselves
ready to fight for their convictions They did
not mean to cheat the country when they
uttered the pledges of 1872, and they will not
give aid or encouragement to new warfare
upon the public credit and the public credit
ors. Other questions can be settled when the
Presidential election comes. Fortunately. the
Republicans of Ohio have had the good sense
to put the third term issue out of the way.
The immediate danger Is that, in time of
industrial disorder and financial embarrass
ment, reckless demagOgues may be encouraged