The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1878-12-19


The Philadelphia Evening Telegraph,
also Republican journal, says as a mat
ter Of fact Senator Baine's speech is not
an attack an the Democratic party, but a
"bitter arraignment"of the stalwart wing
of his own party, in the confession that
"the reconstruction policy of the Repub-
lican party is the deadest kind Of dead
failure" We quote
"There were those among the Repub.
licans of the war period, and of the per-
iod Of the reconstruction legislation of
Congress, who doubted the expedienCy
and propriety Of endowing the ignorant
blacks of theSouth with the full privile-
ges ofcitizenship, and for the one reason
that inside Of a dozen gears they mould be
under The control Of The Southern Whites, and
that their UoteS wOatd be used for The hllrt of
RepubliCdniSm. Such doubters however,
were energetically denounced by politic-
ians of the Blaine stripe, and by the
newspapers which found 1t TO their profit
to endorse everything that the Blaine
stripe of politicians said and did, as seces-
sion sympathizers, as enemies of the
blacks, and as no better than the wicked
Democrats At the best, such people
were doCtrinaires, and incapable of ap-
preciating the fine points of practical
politics, as exemplifed by the perform.
anCes of the Blaine order of statesmen.
But 10, what the impractical men Of the
Republican party said would certainly
come to pass, certainly has come to pass;
and now the cries goes up that the South
ern representation in Congress must be
reduced, in order that the Republican
party may again obtain the power which
had been iIched from it, by the gobbling
up of the negro vote by the wicked Sou
thern Democrats"
And, as to the outrage business, the
Telegraph says
"As matter of fact, the "outrages,"
properly so called, have been compara-
lively few in number, and the negroes
have often been brought under political
subjection by agencies that it is impossi-
BILE to object to on either moral or legal
grounds. For instance, in some of the
Southern States a very large proportion
VI bhO uGb III % ulhlIdllOulbGuU Wy LnDdlb
son of registry laws and the enforcement
ofa poll tax-that is, laws precisely SIM
liar to those in operation in this State,
aud in more than one of the Northern
States, and which are, ,hereabouts, ,acCoun.
ed to be exceedingly good laws. The ne
groes have an aversion to paying the
tax, and as they prefer to lose their vote
rather than pay it, whatever gain the
Democrats have by their self disfran-
chisement is as legitimate and proper as
any such gain can be, Mr.. Blaine's claim
that the negro votes are rightly owned
by the clique of politicians to which he
belongs-lor that is exactly what his
claim amounts to-is an absurdity on
the face oft"
We have given sufficient to show that
Mr.. Blaine has not the support of the
leading and influential journals of his
own party. Mr.. Blaine's aim to recon-
struct reconstruction will not succeed.
No doubt he will find partisans in Con-
grees and the press, and hungry, spoils
seeking politicians, who will rally to his
banner of hate. These remember the
luscious times when the South was solid
Republican, and plumber and corruption
made glorious and happy time for the
favored leaders This period is without
parallel in our own history, and itisa
disgrace that no good citizen should de.
sire to see again. 1t is comfort to per-
ceive that Mr.. Blaine's bold and audac-
ious attempt to bring again those evil
and shameful days will prove failure.
Mr.. Blaine is a mere yankee politician
does not rise to the dignity Of
craftsmanship, for this involves the sen.
timent of patriotism.