Litchfield enquirer., 1878-08-29
Daylight or Darkness !?

| | etc.-is set up as unquestionably and by righ the candidate of the party for senator, r,-Ir5 1 buae.
 The politicians game, the country over, ii Addition, Division, and Silence" Sometimes | it substitutes Subtraction for Addition and Di vision, but there is always Silence In tho case in hand there is little to be gained by si lence. The Democratic nominee is foreordain ed. Look at that wicked Barnum, cry the Republican shepherds to their flock Don't talk of Hawley, or Harrison, or anyone in par ticular, but beat Barnum Leave the rest te US:
 It does not make SO much difference whether General Hawley or Marshall Jewell or Henry C. Robinson or Henry B. Harrison or Orville H. Platt, or any other of dozen or more that might be named, be elected to succeed Mir. Barnum. Any one of them would represent the state creditably. The main point is to prevent MT Barnum succeeding himself. bat7ae.
 The sensible thing to do is to organize for the purpose of securing majority in the leg isature on joint ballot, leaving the senatorial question for after consideration. In order te carry the legislature it will be absolutely nec- essary that the claims of individuals to the sen- atorship be left entirely out of the question: Neao London IeIegrama
 Such a program may be satisfactory to the Republican politician but we of an indepen- dent way of thinking, have scarcely more faith in the purity of the Republican than of the Democratic politician. What we wish.to see restored, is the purity of elections which the politicians policy of Silence has destroyed. The main point with us is not only ''to prevent Mir. Barnums succeeding himself, but to pre- vent any Republican Barnum'staking hisplace, as well. The policy of Silence gives over the Senatorship to the State Central Committee, to be disposed of to the best advantage of the party. This committee is usually body of the shrewdest politicians the party con- tains. It is their business to carry cleo tions, and the better men of their party are careful to know as little as they cah about the means they employ. In fight with Win. H. Barnunl, we should expect them to flight the devil with fire" e., to give their influence to the senatorial candidate who will furnish them
 
 In any fight in the dark for Senatorship honesty is sure to be beaten. Either we get Barnum, or Republican almost as bad. Sup pose on the other hand that this most impor- tant matter is discussed in advance by press and people. A large section of that state is bent on Hawley's election another, on Har- rison's. Many prefer Robinson to either ; others still, ex- Pres. Woolsey. These are men who will neither bribe voters themselves nor give money to politicians to bribe voters. Honest and honorable men who lament the de- graded condition of our politics, seeing such names as these on one side, and none but Bar nuns nthe other, could hardly hesitate. But when the contest is between two obscure poll ticians Republican and Democratic respect ively, for a representatives seat, can we be al- ways sure that we shall escape Barnumism by voting against the Democrat? At any rate, the contrast which should have been that of purity with corruption-leoses the sharpness of outline it could not fail to present, were the rallying cry on one side, Hawley onthe other, Barnum.
 . Not only is daylight generally preferable in politics to darkness, but, as we have above suggested, in the present condition of parties in Connecticut it is indispensable. There is a large and we believe a decisive independent vote which will not trust the politicians of ei- ther party. If the coming campaign is con- ducted in the manner proDosedby the Tribune and the Telegram, there will be but one way in which Mr. Barnum can be through the use by Republicans of as much or more money than he is likely to invest. We should be sorry to be obliged to chronicle any such success. If Connecticut is no longer repub- lie but plutocracy, let the responsibility for such tyranny rest on Barnum and the De- mocracy and not be transferred to Republican shoulders. The way to beat Barnum is to make the coming campaign personal rather than political affair. Set up representatives pledged to Hawley, to Harrison, or to any oth- CT pure man, to meet those who are commit ted to Barnum-and, this year, sim pie silence commits every Democratic candi. date to Barnum. Even if the advocate of a pure suffrage cannot always beat his Demo- cratic opponent, he may, at least, compel him to renounce Barnum.
 One feature of an anti -Barnum campaign | should be definite understanding of the pow | CT of legislative caucus A ''bolt' is justi- | fled, and justified only, by the manifest per- | sonal unfitness of the caucus nominee. Any person who claims nomination by virtue of large campaign contributions, is on his own confession, an unfit person, and a caucus nom. ination ratifying any bargain made between such candidate and State Committee, car have no binding obligation upon the honest | representative. This would not be considered in anything but politics very high standard of morality. Yet legislature that was hones and plucky enough to act up to such standard of morality, would set aside, not only Mir. Will liam H. Barnum, but certain proportion o the ''dozen or mere" Republican names the Tribune could so readily suggest.
 The New Milford Ray made a queer mess of dog obituary in arecent issue. Mir. Nich- olas Staub's big black dog Carlo was drowned, two or three weeks since, and some enthusi- astic friend writes his obituary beginning in the very tallest kind of prose-poetry as follows:
 The noble and majestic Carlo is dead. All that was once the welcome visitor to stoop and store was, on Friday of last week, found in the liquid embrace of the waters of the Cove. There, beneath the towering leaps, whose le- gends are many and renowned he was left to float on the waters that pass the Lovers Leap