Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1877-05-11
What win the Democratic Party DO9

EVeryDOuy VINO mas ODSefVeu bnc |
course of political events in this country |
for the past four years, even specifically, |
will admit that the strength shown by !
the Democratic party at the last Presi- |
dental election consisted in the recruits
that had been made among the Repub-
licans during the last term of President |
Grants Administration. For twelve years |
the Democratic party had been hope
lessly in the minority. In some States 1t
had all but abandoned its party organi'
zation The acceptance of the nomina-
tion of Horace Greeley, who had always
been radical Republican, was power
full confession of its helplessness and
hopelessness at that time. But from the
first year of President Grants second
term the Democrats began to count large
accessions from the Republican ranks.
| Many Of the Republicans who had sup
ported Greeley in their personal opposi-
! tion to Grant felt constrained to act with
the Democrats thereafter because the
Democrats had acted with them. But
many more Republicans who had refused
to oppose Grant when he was renomi
mated for a second term, and who were
! disposed to give him and those surround
ing him further trial, subsequently be-
came alienated from the Administration
by reason of its errors. The Democratic
party had an excellent opportunity for
appealing to the people. TWAS felt that
there was necessity for reform; the
Democrats raised the reform standard.
A reduction of the public expenditures
was universally demanded; the Demo
Gratis promised retrenchmcnt. There was
general outcry against official corrup-
tion; the Democrats reminded the coun-
try that it had long been under Repub-
lican rule, and that change would be
necessary to secure a publication of the
public service. There was popular
protest against the depredations of the
revenue rings, and the Democrats made
the most of it. There was growing
sentiment, North as well as South,
against the continued political disturb
ances in certain of the Southern States,
and the Democrats promised pacification.
Thousands of Republicans, fearing that
the same class of machine" politicians
would run the next Administration, if
Republican, acted for the time being
with the Democrats to the extent of vot-
ing for their candidate for President.
With all their advantages and all their
accessories the Democrats barely failed
of success. In their rage and dlsap-
pointmcnt they conducted themselves in
way to forfeit the confidence of many
of those who had come over TO them.
They made it manifest to the country
that it was not so much reform as the
spoils they were after. They showed
themselves capable not merely of the
worst abuses they had charged upon
their opponents, but seriously inclined to
disrupt the Government and bring on
civil war rather than submit to decis-
ion of the Presidential dispute accord
ing to the laws of the country. Between
) the day of election and the Inauguration
of President Hayes it would probably
have been found, if there had been any
, way of testing the matter, that the Dem
ocratic party had lost thousands of those
who had acted with it in voting for Til
den. Since the Inauguration of Presi-
dent Hayes the loss has been still more
considerable. The new President started
in with utterances which found re-
, sponse among the mass of the people; he
, called about him Cabinet which every
. man had to admit to be capable and en-.
inently worthy of respect; he rid himself
of the machine" men from the outset,
those whose political welfare depended
on the running of the machine" From
that on, all of the Presidents actions
s have been calculated to bring back those
7 who left the Republican party on ac'
2 count of the abuses that had grown up.
He has succeeded in abandoning the vi
cious policy of national interference in
! State Governments by armed troops
, without precipitating trouble between
the opposing factions; indeed, he has Sc
cured in q peaceful way pledges for the
: protection of the colored race which the
army never succeeded in enforcing. He
: has set practically about the work of re-
forming the civil service by wedding out
l the sinecures, reducing the number OF
employees, cutting off perquisites, and
4: establing tenure of Office during good
behavior. He has not even brought
upon himself any formidable opposition
: from those who composed the officehold
ing class of the previous Administration
for he has made no wholesale and sweep
ing changes-retaining the practical anC
e useful men in the service, and only re
e moving for cause or at the expiration oi
r commissions. His great advantage ha!
4 been in having no personal aims to serve
and no personal dependents and friends
e to provide for.
f Now that President Hayes has done al
f that the Democrats promised they woulC
/ do, they have as a rule no words of com
mendation. They continue to abuse anC
. misrepresent him in very much the olC
{ fashion. Those who are not inconsisten
enough to condemn the very things oI
h the promise of which they expected Il
9 secure the administration of the Govern
ment keep growing at him as a " Fraud
ulent President" and howl at him TO
! being traiter to his party-as though !
was treason to any party to correct it
; errors and remove it's abuses. The New
York San sounds the keynote which tn
smaller Democratic newspapers take up
Now what do they hope to gain by thi
n hypercritical, captious and insincere crit
i icism? They certainly cannot expect T.
r retain the Republicans who went over Il
J. them by abusing the Administration TO
= doing precisely what the Democrat
o party had agreed to do, and precisel
= what had gained voters for the Repub
lican candidate. They can scarcely eX
i pect to excite any sympathy by carpini
| at reforms which it is evident the coun
Q try approves. They cannot even hop
' for cooperation from that small class o
! Radicals who resent the new departure il
@ the Southern policy.
V The fact is that the Democratic part
}. is all at sea. The foundation upon whicl
the Democrats have been building TO
q the last four years has been swept iron
/. under them. There is no longer an
e Belknapism, Babcocklsm, nepOtism, o
|. other ism for them to howl at. They ar
n forced to contemplate reform within
i. the Republican party of all that neede
/, reform--which they said was impossible
They see retrenchment, pacifcatiol
. and publication of the public service &c
- ing on without their assistance, and, a
/, impla0able partisans, they are reduce
- to the contradiction of caviling at wha
= they have heretofore demanded. Thei
= policy is extremely short sighted an
II | c,,,o o., 10 an fota1 Not onlv will The