New-York tribune., 1876-10-28
pLAJN TALK WITH 4 SUBSCRIBER

few of our correspondents and subscribers are
in sore distress over the political course OF
THE TRIBUNE. IncOnsistency-tha Is their
word. They suspect that there is very large
sized mote in The TRIBUNE'S eye, and they
are very anxious to pluck it out. Possibly
there is considerable timber in their own eyes.
The criticism of a partisan press scarcely needs
a refutation, but an old and as we hope a SIN
cere, albeit not overcivil friend OF IIE
TRIBUNE is entitled to fair hearing
To the Edtfor Of The Tribune.
SIR: have taken your TRIBUNE almost from the START
and did not stop it when Mr. Greeley accepted nom
nation for the Presidency would like space for few
questions:
l. Did You believe what you said in the campaign Of
1921
Q Did you believe what YOU said in ls7if
3 Did vor believe what you said the year before Mr.
Tilden nominatcdi
A. DO You believe what yon say nowi
g. Don't you think We had better let the South Work
out its salvation
VIII Won answer these questions Yours respectfully,
KHbomn City Wis, Oct. Is, 1876. W. \. RAMSAY.
With pleasure. The questions are short !;
the answers shall be plain.
l. The Democratic party, North and South
in adopting at. Baltimore the Liberal Rcpubll-
can platform of 1872 bound itself to oppose
the rcopening of the questions that had been
settled by the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and
Fifteenth Amendments it pledged itself to
hold sacred the equality of all men under the
law; it made impartial suffrage the condition
of local scf-governmcnt 1t advocated
thorough civil service reform; it denounced
rcpudiatiOn in every form ana gulSc; 1t de-
clarcd that n return To specie payments was
demanded alike by the highest considerations
of commercial morality and honest govern
ment 1t not only lifted itself UP to the
highest level of Rcpublicanism, but also ac-
ccpted the leadership of brcd-in-the-bonc
Abolitioni,t. We believed that the election
of Mir. Greeley would promote the regeneration
Of the SOUTH unite the country, and purify
the national administration. We said what we
believed and we believed what We said.
. The Republican party was dcmor1llized by
triumph. 1t went from bad to worse. The
scum rose to the surface. Corruption bred
corruption. The rarty needed the discipline
of an overwhelming defeat. We did what we
could to cast it down and rcioiccd IN the tn
umph of the Opposition in 1874. We said
what we believed and we believed what We
said.
3. GOV. Tildon aroused in 1875 the malig-
nant enmity of a nOtorioU, ring which he had
done his best to crush. II mattcrcd not
whether his motives were patriotic or personal; {;
he lad set his face and raised his hand against
corruption and rascaIity IN this state. More
over. he had gone out of h, way to bring
about the Iccnactmcnt of TIE specie kc'ump-
ton act by the : ate Legislature; and when the
imitation craze fell upon The Democrats of Ohio
and threatened to impar American credit
abroad ne refused 30 compromise with them
and forced his party in this State to make Il
bold stand for hard money. While we sup
ported GOV. Hayes in the Ohio canvass, wr
cxcrtcd our influence for tie success of
GOV. Tildcns ticket (hcadcd by Mr.. Bisc-
low in Nrw-York. We opposed a dishonest
and ruinous public policy in OHIO, and we
strengthened the hands of those who were
fighting public plundIcrs in Ncw-lofk. We
said what We believed and we believed what
we said.
i. The Democratic party has not lived up to
the high doctrine which it preached in 1872.
II has violated ITS pledges; it has rcuounccd
il, faith it has gone back TO IL old idols. IL
is tue that it rcaiiirmS in the 81. Louis Plat
form It's faith in the Constitutional Amend
mcnts, but its practice Is not on level
with is preaching. In the South it
neither accepts the equality Of all men
before the law nor protects impartial
suffrage. II does not allow the negro to vote
as he plcascs. In South Carolina, Louisiana,
Mississippi, and other southern states, It's fol-
lowers have cndcayorcd 10 Starye out those
who are unwilling 10 vote with them and 10
frightcn them away from the polls. The party
has had its opportunity and has wasted and
abused it, The tendencies of lis legislation
have been narrow, dishonest, and di>loyal. IL
makes sham prctrnsc of civil service reform and
sharpcns lis teeth for public spoils. 1t does
not dcnounce rcpudiation, but does dcnouncc
the party that had the moral courage and
common honesty to name Il day for rcSumlng
specie payments. In the House, which it con
trollcd absolutely, it did nothing else 80 nOta-
bic rs the repeal Of the Resumption act; in
it's committees, nothing more characteristic
than the Displacement of veteran and eff
cicnt clerk, 10 make room for the man who
named his boy after john Wilkes Booth.
Its candidate for Nicc-Prc.idcnt is prOrcS-
sional trimmer, who needed the summons of
GOV. Allen, ard made his callng-but not his
clectiOn-surc as an apostle of the gospel
of soft money. Its candidate for the
Presidency is an amateur trimmer who
has rcnounccd his hard-mOrcy faith
to curry favor with the nilationists Of
the West, and asscntcd to the repeal of the Re
sumption clause in the teeth of the professions
by which he prevailed upon the Legislature to
reGnact the State Resumption act. The Gov.
Hayes of 1876 is the Gov. Hayes whom we
supported in 1879. The Gov TIldcn of 1876
is not The GOV. 1iden whom We supported in