The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-06-03
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER,
"vW NEW PARTIES ARE ATTEMPTS
AND HOW THEY FAIL,
The Old Ideas Obsolete, the New Ones
Inspracticable.

4
enough IN this laudab'e enterprise 10 warrant
hsm in assembling at Washington for informal
consultation and that they would eventually
meet in convention at New York" to put sha
fni'sAang touehes npon their creation.
meeting Oh gentlemen to. organize = new
party ~ ey no means . novelty, La fact "A in so,
LITTLE novelty that renewed asneunceu,ents nj
50 Oh project attract but little attention and or
Woke less discussion No doubt .hore m uaat M
q ealignment Of political organizations in this
coui ltry. We are accustomed to spealr os o,d
issu, being dead, and OF necessity for the ap;
tatoi OF now or 'live" Issues. At every sten n,
| the pt 'litical discussion and management of tho
day WI are confronted with ill-assorte1 alt;anco.
anachr onistic situations ard effets organization.
in the nation and in States. The tendsnov or
leaders to bolt, and OF masses of voters tofollow
them, rows and spreads. The power Of indi-
yidual thought and the influence Of uer.on.,
weight ii icreases, while the restraints OF mere
caucus dia cipline and the binding force oil psrti
san tradl tions correspondingly wanes No
stronger OK empliacation Of these truths coald bs
instanced tn an the results OF
THE LAST NATIONAL CANVASS,
The Demoo ratio party OCCUPY ing postion tba
moral strength Of which was such a. to oarsv tho
country by p opular majority Of 800 900 and an
electoral prepa nderanee OF over thirty, was not
strong enough In ito physical organization In.
prevent the adve rsary from seizing the eovern.
nent; while the adversssy itself went 10 peoes
almost In the very act OF seizure, and has since
been undergoing constant dissol,stson a. TO its4
fragments.
And yet, notwithstanding ell these apparently
lsvorabie conditions to suoh an enterprise, tho
formation OF new pa rites seems 10 drag. Wa.
need not hook far to fNd
THE RHAsoH Why
The causes that are al work dis'ntegsatinp oliFt
pohscai organizations a,'e net the sort Of osusea
which irepel the formation eTnew ones. nor ara
they accompanied by such. Oh the other hand.
while the causes Of disilteg grafton are pleutfuE,
there 10 IN utter lack Of reasons for new forma--
tions. But our new.part.y-nsskers do not see m
to grasp these truths. They meet Ii, oonolaye st
Weleksrs OF Delmonieo's and easil5 eonyjnoe,
each other that the old organization are obso-
iete then they find difficulty in estabIishin a
to their OWE mutual sstisfac,ion the necsssit '
for new organizations. having done which the "
issue
PRoHUNCIAMENrDt
and stand aghast TO discover that tho sear peopla
do not Immediately fly to one or the other OF the
new political standards they have raised.
The trouble with our new party naksrs Ia that
they begin to build their pyramid st tho too. Tho
schurzss and the Evartses ana the Horaca
Whites and the David a. Wellesess who, meet NJ
Filth Avenue hotels every now and then. as
new Council OF Nice TO revise the political serir
lures, always organize themselves 40 leaders
first and then proceed to organize followers after
ward. The result is that the followers
refuse to be organized, and the new,
party ends where it began+-in half =.
dozen selEconstituted leaders of crest ability.
possessed Of massive intellects, and having, m
der our benifcent institutions, one. vote apiece.
Now party should have its voters~arst; In fact.
it must have them before it can become a marty
at all. The leaders are Of the least possible i'm
portance, and can be improvsed at any time,
and from almost any sort of material The hjs--
tory OF this country does not show.thas the men
who founded parties ever became the leaders Of
them; strictly speaking, it does not show that
parties were ever "organized" by individ usls:
they have grown, rather, and those who have
gained their leadership are the raen who. like the
recipient OF Horace Greeleys traditional adyice
10 go West,
GREW UP WITH THE cagNTRY.''
Thus, for example, We observe OF the Repub-
ican party, that those who "organizedsit IL in 1884
sud 1856, never obtained many Gifts emoluments
but were crowded out and left behind by shiftv
politicians, who deserted frosns the Democratic
party when they saw that the Rapablcan organ
zation was getting large force Of tangible
voters and waited practical leaders. As for the
Democratic party, the memory OF man runreh
not to the time when it was ''orgaaized,' and the
more devout OF it's disciples maintain that it in
like the kingdom Of heayeN-a house
NOT BUnDKn Ky HANDS.
Just now recall from four years ago some OBJ
Of Charles Summer on the subject OF
new parties. The immediate topic OF CONVERSE
lion was the Granger movement ont West, and
We branched off upon discussion of Carl
5churz's chances for reelection to the Senate.
In answer to his inquiry rtold Mr.. Sumner that
believed the situation in Missoeri was ripe for
IN independent movement which would result in
he election OF Legislature that would re-eleot
Mr. Schurz.
THE MASSACHUSETTS STATESMAN
Iaid he feared that such result was beyond ths
possibilities. "Disintegration Of old parties in
produced by the apathy OF their masses resulting
rom decline Of enthusiasm with respect to aues-
ions at issue. But new parties can only be
ormed through the operation OF new enthusi-
sns Whenever any question comes close
nough TO the conscienoes of the people to mako
very man an enthusiast, then, and then alone,
nay new party be organized. / see no such
question presenting itself to the people in tha
Vest"
suggested that the Western people wsrs very
much wrought up about
THE RAILROAD MoNoPoIlEs.
$50 understand, SAID Mr.. Sumner, sbut that
question is not deep enough--it does not touch
he quick Of human nature sufficiently to arouse
hose enthusiasms which are required to urge
reat masses OF men into that cordial SELF -saeri.