The Leavenworth weekly times., 1876-08-31
A SIGNIFICANT STRAW.

Democracy in very plain terms that their
case is becoming 4 desperate one, and that
unless something is done, and done quick
ly they might as well give up the contest.
Says the Herald
The canvass ON the Democratic side has
been, up TO this time, SO fiat and tame as to
raise omInous misgivings in the minds OF
Democrats. 1t would be ridiculous TO sup
pose that the party in power can be dis
lodged without strenuous and aggressive
efforts. They hold the citadel, and without
more energy on the part of the assailants
they will continue to hold it. The Demo-
cratic party has been acting on the defen-
sive ever since the opening of the campaign.
A party out OF power can accomplish moth
ing 30 long as ii can be kept in a defensive |
attitude Unless there is a change very |
soon the Democratic party may as well |
make up its mind TO ''hang its harp ON the |
willows and sit down by The waters OF
Babylon and weep"
That's well said; it is plain and to the |
point, and every word true the campaign
thus far has been all on one side; the Dem
ocratic leaders seem to lack the ability to
direct as we'll as the energy to act, and their
whole conduct appears to be marked by gen.
eral imbecility-a condition Of affairs
which does not commend the party very
strongly to public favor, for the people will
be disposed to argue that men who can
bring nothing but apathy to the manage
ment of their campaign, are not the men TO
bring such vigor TO the administration OF
the government as the present condition of
the country demands. 1t is a rule with but
few exceptions that a man who can't take
care Of his own business, is not competent
to attend to the business Of the public, and
the same is true OF party. Democrats
generally acknowledge the imbecile course
which their party has thus far pursued in
the present canvass, and upon this point the
Haaid says:
Some Democrats are trying to solace
themselves for the want OF life in their
campaign. with the idea that a languid
canvass is favorable to the party, because a
full Republican vote is not likely to be
called out when the public mind is in
state of apathy. This reasoning holds good
only in what are called the "of' years." A
Presidential year always brings large Re
publican vote to the polls, even in the
States where Republican ascendancy is 60
assured that two-ffths Of the voters
might stay at home without putting the
electoral ticket in jeopardy. The attempt
of Democrats to console themselves for the
flatness Of the Tiiden canvass by reasoning
which holds good only in an off year in
wolves fatal admission. 1t comedies that
the Republicans are majority, and that
they only need to muster their full strength
to insure victory. This is not an election
which can be carried by what Mr.. Tilden
used TO call "a still hunt" inasmuch as the
great body Of the Republicans never fail TO
vote in Presidential year.
While the campaign, on the part Of the
Republicans, has been active and aggres-
sive, the Democratic party has been con-
stantly on the defensive. and its defense, in
the main, has been very feable.
Mr.. Tilden has been put on the defensive
in the courts in relation to certain railroad
put on the defensive before
public opinion lin connection with his
course during the war; put on the defen-
sive by his trucking to Hendricks on the |
great question OF resumption; even
the statistics in his letter of acceptance |
have been successfully assailed. and he is
now put on the defensive in relation to the |
most serious charge yet brought against
him, being nothing less than the charge of |
perjury, in support of which his own afii-
davits are laid before the public. The New
York Sun is laboring hard to establish a
parallel between the Presidential election
of 1910 and that OF the present year, but as
the Herald truly says:
There is no sort of resem blance between
the present flat and apathetic canvass and
the tremendous popular ttr0e which set
the whole country agog in the DAYS OF
"Tippecanoe and Tyler too." As early as
April in that remarkable year the streets of
all our principal towns were paraded at
night by torchlight precessions, preceded
by bands of music and bearing miniature
log cabins and mimic barrels OF hard cider
on the shoulders of whig enthusiasts. The
grew with the progress of the
canvas, and when, in September,
"Maine went hell bent
For Governor Kent"
there seemed good grounds for the apostro-
phe to the Democratic candidate in another
song:
Van, Van,
You are a used-up man"
1t is, OF course, ridiculous to compare
that spirited campaign Of stormy enthu-
slasm with the present. Where are the
Iilden campaign songs? Where are the
emblems and devices which in 1910 gave
broad touches of the gro,esque BY sober
daylight, but made the nights picturesque,
hough hideous2 There was never euch
,ampaign before or since, and Mr.. Tilden's
rlends only emphasize the sleepy tameness
# the present by suggesting such a con- ,
rast.
The simple truth is all the aggressive, r
progressive and energetic elements of the
ountry, which in 1910 we're arrayed under i
he banner OF the Wing party, are in the c
republican party to-day, and the same e
rave OF popular favor that bore General /.
harrison to victory in 1910, will carry Gov 4
rnor Hayes to the White House in 1876. il