The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-11-23
The Reform Business.

popular ulScuSSlVIl vi IelOrIH Ill Hlu-
nicipal government should suddenly
take on a greater degree of activity
Immediately after an election in
which the ruling Ring organization
of the dominant party in local affairs
/ scored a victory. 1t is no secret that
i the OPPOSITE n to the Ring which
! blazed out in 1875 and manifested it.
self when the c0rruptioniSts induced
Colonel Kane to go their bondsman
with the people, is once more pro-
yoked into displaying itself by the
/ impudent programme for the elec.
tions next year that the Ring has put
forth. These lordly gentlemen, who
/ aspire to order and direct all the de-
] tails of government, from providing
an occupant for the office of Chief
Executive Of Maryland down to the
their slate fully arranged for 1879. 1t
carries upon it nominations for Gov
ernor, for Comptroller, for United
States Senator, for Mayor and Sheriff
of Baltimore, for Clerks of th
Courts and Register of Wills, apdk.
even goes so far as to select men for
the Legislature who will obey the
behests of this combination of I'M
crowned barOns and lords. 1t is not
/ of oil ctr,,po, tbnt lnaI;nc I>uc;ross
men, the payers of the bulk of taxes,
/ leaders in every scheme of progress
and instigators of all industrial and
commercial Announcements herea-
| bouts, should have arrived at the
determi alton that Ringism is
hateful and disastrous system that
must be broken and wiped out. 1t is
an incubus uDOn local prosperity, and
I it acts as foster mother to various
forms of criminality and rDguery.
We have more than once Insisted
that Ringism in Baltimore bears
very close resemblance to the Tam
many despotism in New York that
the voters Of that city have just con
demneJ by a vote OF over twenty
! five thousand. Our thesis receives an
unexpected confirmation from our
esteemed contemporary of the Gazette,
which has undertaken to defend the
Kelly idea in politics and to sustain
its application in Baltimore, with all
that the word implies. 1t implies
here the continuance in official pos
ton of individuals who have been
sucking the public tcat for twelve
years past, and who have perpetra-
ted AS Vilialnou5 OutrageS as were
ever known. They are clamoring
for a renewed lease of office, and
their chief dependence is that they
will stigmatize as ''traitOrs" every
Democrat who ventures to dispute
their commands. Whether that style
of bulIdozing will succeed is quos
ton that is to be settled in the future.
There is a. sort Of imperViOusness
in the Ring programme that is both
ludicrous and shameful. 1t is ludi-
crOus as it stands, and it is shameful
upon the theory that the people will
submit to it. The Ring has picked
out Mr., Philip Francis Thomas as its
candidate for Governor. There are
other Democrats who propose to
make Mr.. VIM. T. Hamilton the
nominee. The latter embody the
Democratic antagonism to the Ring;
but we think they will not succeed
in carrying their point inside the
party lines. They must take into ac-
count the fact that the Ring is a
tremendous power. 1t has defeated
Mr.. Hamilton twice already by
means that are more notorious than
reputable. The people cannot forget
the circumstances of the canvass
when Mr.. Bowie became the choice
of the Convention. The scandal of
that struggle is not pertinent to the
present issue. What is actually of
moment as bearing upon the fight of
to-day against the Ring is the fact
that Mr.. Hamilton was beaten in
1873 by the Ring. The result was ac-
complished by agencies that are
very well understood, and that it !
would not be to the advantage of the
Ring to have brought to the light.
Mr.. Hamilton is agaiQ the candidate
for the GubernatOrial nomination in
opposition to the Ring, and the Ring
is tiercely denouncing him in adver-
tised communications that are pub
lished in our Democratic cOtempora-
ries. The course of procedure is
peculiar. The authors of the con-
munIcations virtually lay down the
law to the effect that if you are not
Ring Democrat you are not a Demo. |
crat at ali. This must be a very |
gratifying rule for Democrats VINO
are bold enough to say that their
souls are their own, that Mr.. Thomas
is not their choice for Governor, that
they do not see why the clerks of the