The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1877-08-04

ent for the maintenance of order with.
! iii their respective borders. Their
local military organizations are sup
POsed to be admirably adapted for
all probable domestic emergencies
and furnish the favOrite Democratic
preteXt for a crusade against a stand
ing army. Under the first serious
trial they have endured apart from
the civil war, they have ignOmini-
ously broken down. West Virginia,
where the mischief began, is litter
ally destitute of citizen soldiers. 1t
had not the means of suppressing a
disturbance which few score resO-
Lutte and disciplined men would
have quelled in half day. Mary
land could not protect the trains of
the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad,
whose chief officer appealed to the
President for succor. Pennsylvania
has its crack regiments, and points
with childish pride to their parades
How little they are to be depended
upon the recent events at Pittsburgh
followed by the cry of Governor
Hartranft for Federal help, suflici-
emily prove. The Sunshine soldier"
lost his head in the presence of a mob
and aggravated the disorder he
should have put down. The subse
quent blunders at Harrisburg and
Reading further cXemplify the same
painful story. And in New York
they furnish little excuse for boast
ing. The main reliance every where
is upon the Federal Government,
which the Democratic party in all
these States have striVpn to cripple
in a military sense. The only au.
thOrity which stands between prop
erty and its communist enemies
between society and the anarchy
with which tits menaced- is that
very authority which men like the
President of the PennSy lVania Rail
all grades, would fain have rendered
pOWerleSs. Feeble as is, Confessedly;
if their will were law, it would not
have had a company at its command
to stem the rising tide of revolution.
Just as the Democratic theory in
the matter of State rights was in
compatible with the integrity Of the
Union, 50 the Democratic policy in
regard to the military power of the
Federal Government would make it
incapable of performing its most ur@
gent duties. 1t needs above all things
an increase of the regular army, as
the force upon which the country
must depend in such conflict as that
now in progress. The days are over in
which this country could rejoice in
its freedom from social strife which
have long abounded in old countries.
The passing trouble will come to an
end, Ofcourse. Whatever the results
of the strikes, as between the rail-
road companies and their wOrkmen,
the supremacy of law will be quick
ly re-establishPd. What then? To
acquIesce silently in Mr.. Thomas A.
SCOTS management of Pennsylvania
law makers, or in the Democratic tao
tics that would starYe the army out
of existence, would he to invite re-
currence of calamitieS. We cannot
too soon face the unWe come fact that
we have dangerous social elements
to contend with, and that that they
are rendered all the more dangerous
by the pecuIiarities of our political
system. Time will be wanted for
such a reconstruction of our legiSla-
ton, general and local, as shall cor
rect the abuses inSeperable from the
influence now eXerted by corpora
tiOnS over the Legislatures of States.
There should be no delay, however,
in the adoption of measures required
to impart to the FederOl GOVeren-
ment sufficient physical force for the
maintenance of domestic order in
any conceivable emergency. Only
a strong government can grappple
promptly with varied forms of dam
ger that are now streWn thickly over
one-third Ofthe UnOin.-N. Y. Times.