The Van Buren press., 1878-08-20
OUR OUTY.


One of the strongest characteristics o
the Republican party, and one, perhaps
that has contributed more to its success
than any other, is the utter abandonment
OF oil personal claims for the good Of th
party, Their strongest and most popu
lar men were put forward for Office, ant
the great army line of the party wa
drawn up with an unbrolen front, ant
with every man in his place. Evory re
publican entombcd his own persona
preferences, and threw the weight OF hi.
influence and vote in the great scales o.
his party interest. This is the secret o.
their past triumphs, and, although very
quiet in their interest in the political af
fairs of the State, all over the Nation
they are disciplining their partyarmy
for the next Presidential fight. Tho
man who dared to present himself as
an Independent candidate, in opposition
to the regular nominee Of the party, not
only called down upon his head the an
athemas of the party, but subj ected him
self to the private personal animosities
of its members. In other words, he was
not only politically but privately dis
gracod. 1t was rendered an act of per-
sonal dishonor and criminal neglect to
refuse to vote on every and any oppor-
tunity, and twice, if such thing were
possible.
With reference to the necessity of per-
feet harmonizing of the democratic party
we deem it unnecessary to reiterate our
remarks of last week. There is some
thing paramount in Importance. That is
the great and lamentable Indifference
manifested by too many of our demo
cratic friends in political matters. They
make, as an excuse for their remiss-
ness, the fact that the party is largely
in the ascendant in the State, and that
their vote was not needed Suppose that
fifty persons in every county in the
State should neglect to vote, it would de-
tract largely from the aggregate demo
cratic vote, and, TO certain extent, en-
courage radicalism. There is a truism
to this effect that g the bud of indiffer-
ence becomes the flower of neglect" and
it is as veracious in politics as in any
thing else. Slight indifference, well-fed,
grows to supreme neglect. If you arc
in the habit of staying away from the
polls, you may finally lose all interest in
State and National affairs. You may be-
come so uninterested that you may not
care which Of the two parties holds the
power. We need the ban Of excommu.
nisn and personal disreputaton which
Is leading feature in the discipline of
Republieanism, to arouse our inactive
friends from their ruinous and inexcusa-
BILE lethargy.
About the indifferent course that you
are pursuing in this matter. It is cpl
demical, and if you do not cure the dis
ease, and keep housed until you are per-
iectly we'll, You may infect the whole
ncighborhood. You have no right to
influence any one to do that which may
proximately tend to wrong. The mere
matter Of neglecting to vote, and influ-
huencing, thereby, others to do so, may
result in the success Of that party against
the Vaccinations of which it is necessa-
ry for every democrat to labor and vote,
and do all in his power to prevent their
recurrence Let all democrats do their
whole duty, The approaching Presi-
dental canvass will be very interest
ing one; and with three tickets in the
field, will nocessitate every democratic
vote. Let us commence, now to over
come this spirit Of indifference, and, in
1880 we shall all be schooled to do "OuR
Duty"