Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1876-08-24
The Main Issue.

The financial record of Congress is
closed. Mr.. Tilden and his friends
may protest and argue until doomsday.
The fact will remain that the Demo.
cratic party of 1876 is committed to re.
pudiation. On that point :he House
has taken care to make record which
leaves no room to doubt. Mr.. Tilden's
friends at first resisted boldly. For a
little while unprejudiced observers
were encouraged to hope that, with
such leader, and such rare talent in
organizing and directing forces, the
hard-money Democrats might gain the
mastery in their party in Congress. 1t
is waste of time to consider what they
might have done had they been deter
mined to do anything. The record
proves that they soon lost hope, and
their fidelity TO their own convictions;
that they began to bargain and compro-
mise before the session was two months
old; that they met q set of men who,
with all their faults, have shown re-
markable persistency and courage; that
they surrendered more and more,
week after week, until, at the end, the
fierce shouts of repudiators proclaimed
the complete victory of the Indiana
faction, and the lonely protest of Mr..
Hewitt only served to show that there
was little room in the Democratic par
ty for men who wished to preserve the
public honor. There he stood, the
Chairman of the Democratic Eexecu.
tive Committee, appealing to his par
ty not to slaughter It's candidate by an
attempt to repudiate solemn pledge
of faith. Of all the so-called hard-mon-
ey Democrats of the West, only three
dared to vote with them-less than
one in ten. Of sixty-one Democrats
from the South, only seven men, lit
tie more than one in nine, sustained
him. His earnest appeal for public
honor was supported by twenty-fiveI
Democrats, while ninetv-seven voted,
and forty-two more were paired or 9TH
erwise committed to reputation.
This final vote was by no means the
only evidence of the position of that
party. Five times before the attempt
to repeal the Resumption act had been
made. At the outset, the hard money
though a minority, num-
bered over fifty, including the Speak
er, the Chairman of the Committee of
Ways and Means, majority of the
members of that committee and the
one on Banking and Currency, and
many of the ablest and most influen-
tial members. If reason could have
or sagacity for the success of
party, these men would have gained
and finally conquered. But they lost
strength at every vote. Some one of
the ablest of them became so demoral- :
lied that he offered a compromise. fatal
in point of principle, and fatal also in
effect. For it told the repudi-
ators that they could compel uncondi- {
tional surrender if they only stood
firm, and to the end they yielded not a
hairs breadth. Not a man of them
'ell back. One after another the pro-
fessed hard money Democrats yielded.
A careful examination of all the votes
shows that 139 Democrats voted, at one
time or another, for the reputation of
he pledge of 1875. Besides the % who {
voted against it at the end, there were '
IF those who had voted at all on this
question only who had not voted for i
,he repeal. Over two-thirds of the t
Democrats were for reputation from
he first; more than four-fifths were for
-epudiation at the end. ID
These facts are of vital importance.
They prove that, within the Democrat ]
C party, the reprdiators are irresisti- lie
de-. Men blame Gov. Tildep for yield
ng to their demand. As well blame e
he figure-head of steamboat because
t does not stand still when the wheels i
" Il
ed some individual freedom. The i
party, Notwithstanding the
'ffort of some leaders. still tolerates t
reedoln of action to some exteut. But b
or fifty years the Democratic party q
las never tolerated Independence. No a
nan knows it better than Mr.. Tilden a
imself, who has not this day been for c
iyen for single escape many years II
60 from Democratic servitude. He Ii
u strong man, rs we have often In 81