Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1877-10-17

ONO.
7. The Int6G Ocean did not ihtrude
its advice upon Ohio Republicans
and made no complaint when amid
. the ominous silence Of 800 delegates
tho convention at Cleveland indorsed
the policy Of the President, and re-
Isolved that his course was wise and
patriotic one.
: Ohio was the Presidents own State,
and there, II anywhere, his course
j was to be commended and his politi-
cal sagacity fairly tested. Ohio has
spoken. II has repudiatcd the policy.
Its Republicans have placed the soal
of their disapproval on the course of
the administration, and the State has
gone to make ono more in the gather
ling Of Northern satellites that rcvolve
around 1 solid South. The defeat is
. bitter one--it il far-rcsching and
disastrous one; but It may have the
effect to open the eyes of the political
wiseacres who have caused 1t, and, if
30, will not be wholly lost.
Two great blundcrs are revealed by
tho result In Ohio.
First, the Endorsement Of tho Presi-
dents Southern policy by the convcn-
|tion, by which an effort was made to
forcc Republicans who discounte-
nanced that course into q seeming sp-
provai ofif, and into quasi spprov-
al Of State sovereignty which stalked
in its train. The effort was failure.
The old, stalwart Republicans of the
Western Reserve rcbclled; they re-
fused to be driven into . rennnciation
of their principles. and stood moodily
by while the enemy filed through the
breach made by Republican hands
and carried the fortress.
Said Henry ~, gazing on the stab
bed and CORY garments of the Duke
of Burgundy: Through these rents
the English marched into France" p
SO we may say, in speaking of the re-
suit in Ohio: Through this breach
the Democracy Of Ohio marched into
power.
This the prime cause. Then came
others less destructive. The conven-
tion at Cleveland was . blunder from
first to last. Having given an enthu-
siastic Endorsement to policy which
the President himself regarded at that
time with considerable distrust, it
supplemented its action by making q
financial platform, which, If it meant
anything at all, meant opposition to
the overwhelming voice Of the entire
West. 1t was q seeming attempt to
straddle the fence. to offend nobody,
and take good care that nothing was
said, and, at the same time, make a
vast pretense of saying great deal.
1t seems that the astute managers who
ran the convention actually believed
that they could thus coddle the Re-
publicans Of Ohio into good nature
and warm support of the ticket. IT.
is worth something to teach them a
lesson in this regard.
Then came the order relating to civ
il service reform, which also played
it's part. Having driven away vast
number of the old whcel-horses of Re-
pnblicaDism by foolish Endorsement
of the Southern policy, and disgusted
. large percentage of the rest by the
"good Lord and good devip style of
the declarations ON finance, there re-
mained but one thing more TO do to
insure defeat, and that was to hand
cnf the few remaining workers who
happened TO hold offices, and who felt
. disposition, like Napoleon's veteran
cavalry, to fall in and make an old
time charge when the trumpet sound
ed. This of course was done, the
Presidents order making it rcces-
sary, and the Republicans of Ohio
were at last in about as complete q
shape for sound thrashing as a par
| ty can ever be.
The convention finally made bid
for the votes of the workingmen by
inserting plank urging the settle
ment Of labor difficulties by arbitra-
ton; q good enough move if it had
been accompanied with, or supple
mentcd by, some practical recogni-
ton of the Workingmen's organiza-
tion. But the latter required some-
thing besides nero words and smooth
phrases, fact that we have tried to
impress upon Chicago Republicans,
and which they will do well, in view
of the result in Ohio, to heed.
The consequence was that the bid
for the workingmen's vote amounted
to nothing, while the fact that it was
made dignified tho movement and
alienated many Of those who disa-
greed with the resolution. 1t thcre-
fore proved worse than useless,
though framed, NO doubt, with sim
cere desire TO place the party in a
fair position toward labor and do
Justice by the workingmen.
Here, then, we have the result in
the Presidents own State of the
Presidents own policy. We ask Re-
publicans what they think of the
fruit9 OF course the triumph in
Ohio means . Democratic Senator,
and with this goes almost the last
hopc of continued Republican SUI
premacy in the United States Senate.
The fact that . Senator was to be
elected drew many Republicans to
the polls on Tuesday who would
not otherwise have gone, and saved
the party from annihilation. If there
had been . certainty that . straight
Republican would have been chosen,
and that Stanley Matthews would
not become his own successor, the
Legislature might have been saved ;
the doubt dashed that possibility to
the earth.
Here, then, ~ we said, we have the
result: Maine refuses to leave her
old Republican landmarks to run of
after the new gospel of the President,
and Maine elects her Republican
State ticket by $4,000 majority.
Iowa, first of Republican States,
defeats an effort to commit her to the
} Southern policy, and sends in ma
jority on the old side of 10000.
Ohio indorses, approves, yields
and Ohio is lost. What comment il
needed2 What language SO power.
! full as these potent facts to tell the