The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1877-08-09
Reform and oaice-seeking.

Thursday, :: August 9, 1877
Reform and 0Gce-Seeking.
OF late years, it has become quite common d
hear men who are axious to run for Office, say
that they do not blong to any party, but are in
dependent, and for reform. This is new AMI
NAL in American politics, owing his existence
perhaps, to the process known as the develop
ment theory.
From the beginning of our Government, par
ties have existed, and all the pure, the great,
and the wise men of America have belonged to
some political party or other. In the days oi
Washington and Jefferson, parties were know n
rs Federal and Republican, and the fathers OF
the Republic were the leaders of these two par
ties. Candidates were nominated and elected to
Office upon party issues, and no man was consid-
cred rascal or q thief because he advocated
Federal or Republican principles while running
for Office.
At o lster day, when the founders of the Re-
public had passed away, political issues changed,
and parties took the names of Wing and Demo
cratic. On the one side, the leaders were such
men - Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and Gen.
Harrison; on tho other, Gen. jackson, Thomas
II. Benton, and John c. Calhoun. During the
existence of these parties, party spirit reached
Its height, and battles were fought with the ut
most stnbbornness. There is no doubt that the
men arrayed on either side were upright men,
and honest in their views. When men were
candidates for Office, as the nominees of either
of these parties nobody dreamed that that fact
made them dishonest and unfit to trust
But that era passed away, and the present
dawned. Issues again changed and the Bepub
lican and the Democratic parties took the field. On
one side were Lincoln. Seward, Sumner, and their
followers; on the other, Douglas, Buchanan, and
Breckenridge, and their adherents. On the Re-
publican side, were thousands of men who had
been steadily voting against the Democratic par
ty, through good and evil days, since the time Of
Clay and Jackson; on the other hand, were
thousands who had constantly voted the Demo-
cratic ticket during the same time, in the years
of triumph and the long years of defeat. These
men, of both parties, were certainly honest men,
and did not attach themselves to their respec-
tive parties from bad motives; and when they
ran for Office on their party tickets, it was not
regarded as prima Jacie evidence that they want
cd to steal something
But in these latter years, up rises the animal
of the genus Reformer And what are his prin-
ciplesf What great issue has he shown hi 8 de-
votion to, that he is to be trusted above the men
who have stuck to their parties faithfully for
yearsf This reformer is always an Office seeker.
He is not a Republican, nor Democrat, because
those parties are corrupt, and their candidates,
If elected, will rob the people. But he, the Re-
former, is the man to trust, because he has cut
loose from all parties He has no principles but
Gov ,f-o l..
the people can trust, because he is ready to run
with any crowd that will give him an Office. No
convictions, no princples-only give him Office,
If you appreciate honesty! The same man, if he
shonld seek the same Office as a Republican or a
Democrat, and be willing to stand or fall with
his party, would be corrupt, and unworthy of
trust; but let him call himself Peoples candi-
date, or Reformer, and throw his principles to
the dogs for the sake of the Office, and he at once
becomes most pure and trustworthy patriot.
We have these men in Kansas and in Doni-
phan County. They will be along in time, tell
ing you how corrupt men are who stand by their
principles, and how honest they are, because they
have no principle but "Give me Office"
II Tho Atchison Champion and the Leaven-
worth Times are going for some of the internal
revenue officers, for unnecessarily prosecuting
and annoying man for an unintentional viola
tion of the revenue laws Are those papers sure
they are rightf We have faint recollection of
once having espoused the cause of a sufferer at
the hands of the revenue officers, and of finding
ourself suddenly yanked up the by the Sheriff,
on charge of criminal libel. We presume the
records of that trial still extant, in the orig
inal shorthand heroglyphics of Holster.
II The Republican papers are twitting the
Democracy with the fact that Bishop, the Dem
ocrstic candidate for Governor of Ohio, was a
prominent Know Nothing. That makes no diff
ference with Democratic candidate. But if he
were . Republican candidate, it would be an
awful thing. The Democratic party of Ohio is
In great measure run by former Know-Noth-
ings. p. Van Trump, long one of their leading
Congressman, was q rampant Know Nothing so
was Lewis d. Campbell; and so are hundreds of
others of their big men.
= The Ohio Republican Convention, after
endorsing Hayes, resolved in favor of commits
sions to arbitrate matters of difference between
employers and employed. Commissions are what
have played the mischief. Next they will be or
ganiziug Hayes church, with its principal creed,
the appointment of a commission to decide who
shall 90 to Heaven and who to He'll
u Major Reno is besieging the President for
. reprieve, and reinstatement to his rank in the
army. He will probably succeed. He only tried
to seducs the wife of brother officer, and SIAN
dered her whom he failed. But if be were men,
Der of . Republican COMMITTEE and took an inter-
est in politics, his case would be hopeless.
u We are panied to notice that the St. Jo-
seph Herald occasionally publishes editorials
that do not meet our views. If the person who
writes them cannot submit them to us for our
approval, before having them put in type, he
had better resign, and let q new editor try wha.
he can do.
n The Manhattan Nationalist notices the ar
rival of Peter B. Lee, the tramp printer at that
place, and speaks rather unkindly of him. Peter
B. told us, when he was here, a few weeks ago, |
that he was going to edge around toward Man |
haitian, and what he was going for.
n What is the name of that Greek in Chero- |