New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1877-12-07

that fear of "a solid South" and of its mas
terry i'm National affairs, and the upholding OF
extreme measures TO prevent that mastery,
have been largely due to certainty tlat 'ne
South was almost unanimously hostile to pub
lie honor and National prosperity we Know
and the South ought to know, that all our III
dustry, our commerce, our hopes OF puUhc
prosperity. rest upon the public credit as a
cornerstone. Our financial institutions are
bankrupt to-day, if public credit Is destroyed
Our commerce can find no capital for It's OPP
Grafton. our industry can find no means 10
turn wheels or light fires, if national credlt
goes down under Southern blows. To us, the
whole nation, and every wOrkngman ana
every business man in the nation, is interested
in saving public credit. But the South votes
as if. until the Government pleased them, It's
honor and credit were OF no consequence
Could language depict more clearly the diyld-
ing gulf
The statesmen of the South forget history.
The North has constantly feared Southern
power-why' Because it meant hostility 10
National credit. The Southern statesman puts
the cart before the horse. Because the whole
South and part Of the West were on lire with
reUudiating schemes, the North put down
johnson and reconciliation. Seward ana
Wellcs. Doolittle and Dixon and Cowan,
and elected Grant in 1868. Because the
purpose of the Southern people was Ill
this respect profoundly distrusted, Northern
capital and industry reused with resistleSS
power to turn the scale III 1877. Be
cause there was no faith i'll a Democratic
South, with respect to public honor, Mr.. III
den went down in 1876. Always there mas
been a body of conservative men at the North'
anxious for liberal and conservative policies.
But they have been forced TO see that every
step toward Democracy was step toward re-
pudiation. Democratic leaders faithful to the
National honor have been found, in both sec
TONS Democratic party faithful to the Ma
tiOnal honor has given no signs OF ITS exist
ence. At every chance fOur-fifthS OF the Dem
ocratic members from the South have voted
for measures hostile to public honor and dan
gerous to public welfare. Is the distrust
stranger
We know human nature. We know that de-
fcatrd men are never anxious to pay the cost
of their defeat. Ii would be the most marvel
ious miracle of history. if the Southern people
should now feel, toward the men who loaned
money TO insure their defeat quite as the
Northern people feel toward those whose self
denial or confidence gave victory. DO Southern
statesmen expect us to forget that this same
feeling has shone, plain and glaring AZ the
sun at noondav, in every financial vote since
fine war? That is not all. The North has
thousands of influential men who have loaned
money on Southern State, county and city
bonds. They have seen REIMBURSEMENT OF
nearly every debt, until the contrast between
Northern and Southern communities has be-
come startling. But communities speak for
people composing them. If the Southern peo-
pie care nothing for what the civilized world
deems financial honor, in respect 10 their state
and local obligations, shall we give them
power to stab the Nations honor aud to de-
strov the Nations prosperity These are the
questions which lie behind all divisions and
policies OF parties at the North. Has the
South no statesman who can comprehend their
forcel
One remedy there IS, and only one. The
TRIBUNE has urged it often. The Democratic
party Is distrusted, for good reason. The men
who act with it, whether at the South Or ut
the North, are known to be pOwerless to de
ICnd the public cicult Witnn ihdJ party II
they are in earnest, why do they not ally
themselves with the men at the North who 7
hold the public honor sacredl Why 20 ~,
still scheming and w0rkn~ E.. p"''y
.. r,,,. Gr,i - IT'S votes Tor reputation |
$500 where they are. however pure their
,ims and noble Their efforts, they are lost The
title backward eddics above the cataract OF
Niagara do not make sane men willing TO trust
themselves III the rapids. The rush Is down
ward. The men at the South who want to
create a south which shall be trusted, must
begin by taking themselves out of that down
ward torrent. They must show themselves
ready to fight for public honor at every risk,
and to uphold, as far as they cOnscientiously
can, the men upon whom its real defence must
depend. 4 South "almost unanimously in
favor Of rcpudiation-so nearly that ITS best
men dare not make the only sure resistance in
their powcr-WhO can trust It'll Not men VINO
know that tainted honor means broken banks,
empty fields, dark furnaces and silent mills.
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Patterson.
Patterson is really too much. There is a re-
mort NOW from Washington that he claims the