The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1876-10-14
Il DON'T WANT TO THROW MY
VOTE AWAY"

the matter. "lf Cooper has no chance o.
election, say they, We want to vote fol
the next best man" Well, friends, tn,
question is, who is the next best man A
number Of you think Hayes is, a number
incline to Tilden, and the next best" i,
generally decided by the former political
preferences of the pa! y expressing them.
There is no next" In this contest -nc
second choice. Tildcn an Hayes are
alike the representatives If he money
power Both are tarred wi the same
stick both committed to the same hne Of
policy both virtually pledged to carry out
the same principles, and these principles
are in direct antagonism to the principles
to which you are supposed to have given
J your allegiance. Oil and water won't mix,
and it requires no special pleading, no ex-
tended argument, no process Of reasoning
to lead you to this conclusion. Your own
native common sense must convince you
Of this fact, and if it does you have been
sailing under false coloIs. and are where
you have no right to be.
Take the Republican and Democratic
platforms, read and weigh them carefully
plank by plank strip them of their YER
biage and platitudes, and supplant their
study by a careful examination Of the prin-
ciples Of the independent party let the
sober, second thought do its work and
the man or class of men who prefer to act
as the hckspittles of the monied rings, BY
maintaining in power the Republican
party, with its corruption and avowed hos
tIlIty t. the interests of labor, OF supplant-
ing it with a party equally hostile, though
sailing under other colors, are unworthy
alike Of confidence or contempt.
Have the men who pirate about throw
ing their votes away considered the Oh
ject for which the Independent party was
called into existence, or the financial re-
forms which it seeks to Inaugurate Has
the experience Of the past been thrown
away Have not the evils sought to De
removed been created by the one party and
justified by the other Do they realize
what independent action means That
both parties, through their representative
delegates, in national council assembled,
have deride1 their claims and spurned
their appeals That Republican Senate
and Democratic House are equally respon-
slble for the business stasnatIon which
prevails, and both committed to the same
line Of policy. That the party press and
party representatives, as a rule, vie with
each other in obsv4-ious devotion I,
the monled power. That party allegiance
in the future, as III the past, viii be para
mount IN caucus and IN legislation u the
public veal, and yet these would be-
thought reformers talk about thrJSM.
their votes away when voting 1gaD,,f the
perpetuation and extension 81 the villain
Gus system which has pauperized, and vii
continue to pauperize the country.
Now, let US see where this line II argu-
ment, practically carried out, would land
US. The superstition is that the average
American citizen can give a reason for the
faith that is in him in other wo-ds, intel
ligace directs his ballot, and that ballot Is
the embodiment Of his free, untranelled
opinions, deliberately formed, on the pend
ing iss1es-local, State or national and
is the instrument by which expression is
given to popHfar opinion, an endorsement
Or a condemnation Of certain line Of
policy adopted, or proposed to be adopted.
This in fact. is the essential characteristic
of a Democratic government; a govern
ment Of the people, for the people and BY
the people, as contradistinguished from
despotic or autocratic form Of government.
The power to change, annul or amend, in
the constitutionally ordained manner, is
the safety valve of the Republic. The alb
secures to the minority an unfettered ex-
preston of opinion, no matter how over
whelmlng the majority to which they are
opposed. Keeping IN view the important
fact that vital principle is at stake that
a vote for Peter Cooper is protest against
the financial heresies alike of the Republi-
can and Democratic partles-that some
thing more important than temporary sue
cess IS the ultimatnm, the same argument
might be used by every Democrat i'll Yer
mont or Rhode Island, and by every Re-
publican in Texas or Alabama, yet what
would be thought of the consistency Of a
citizen, living in Rutland, conscientiously
opposed to the perpetuation Of Republi-
can rule, voting for its nominees, because
the Democratic party was in minority in
the State, and rice cersd. And yet this is
Just the excuse given by a number of
greenback croakers who attempt to justify
their proposed recreancy to principle, by
skulking behind the plea that they don't
want to throw their votes away" On
the hypothesis, that they are conscien-
tiously opposed to the financial policy
which prevails, and unbelievers in the
Similid similibus curant,T doctrine, do they
not realize that every ballot cast for Til
den or Hayes is vote absolutely tkrotc,,
dtcay, SO far as the particular reform
upon which the canvass is made, is con-
cerned And if this reform is, as they
claim, the overshadowing question Of the
hour, what contemplate, pitiable, stul-
tifying plight they place themselves in
while attempting to defend their treason
Again, let us see what minority, con
trolled BY principle, can accomplish ? In
l840 Birney, the free soil candidate for
President, received Z 800 votes. In 1864
Abraham Lincoln, running virtually on