The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1878-09-19
A RevieW of the Election.

ltllt t tlltNt ttIlllHtIllS Ill OlItl tblllulllS.
Their uniformity, taking into consider
alton the different sources from which
they cmanated, is something remarkable
/ Honest money Democrats and Rcpubli-
cans alike dcplorc the victories Of the
Nationals in this State, as calculated to
encourage the initiation and reputation
movement elsewhere. The Republican
pr. y points with pride to the noble fight
the Republicans have made in defence of
the national honor and reloceS that they
have come ont OF the contest With their
organization unimpaircd, and With the
loss ot Il comparatively small per centagc
Of vote. ON the other hand these Jour
ualS regard the Maine Democracy as
hopcIes~ll diSor-anIcd. The Cincinnati
Commercial SAWS '.1hc result does not
take the country exactly by surprise but
Wli encourage the Nationals not to make
cntanglm- alliances with either party
II the Republicans have lost their grip in
Maine, i is IN third party, and they
can at least point with pride To popular
vote several thousand larger than last
year The Democrats. on the contrary,
who imagined they were the whale and
the Nationals the Jonah, see the position
reversed. There i little visible Of the
Democratic party in Maine but the boot
heels
Massachusetts, takes the results in this
State most ID heart, because Of the i'm
petus it is assumed they must give To
Buffers movement on her GubernatorlaI
chair That Butler has adhcrents in
both tile oIl parties in Massachusetts
has been conciusYely shown. but his fol
lovers do not rank among the most in
teligent and respectable citizens Of the
Bay State. The respectable Massachu-
Maine election. John f. Fitzgerald saws:
II think the Democratic party suffered
the most" Thomas J. Gorgon says: II
consider the result greatly weakens the
Democratic party" Judge Abbott SAYS
temporarily il is disastrous to the De
mocracE Leverett >altonstall says: .If
it has a tendency to encourage the men
who want IN imitation Of currency. re
Grat it extremely. Itwould be one Of the
most stupendous evils that our country
could DC called upon to suffer, and one
which would af1ict the working classes
far more than the capitalists, if there is
any possible distinction between the ad
vantage to one or the other And it is
especially discouraging when We have
virtually returned 70 specie payments.
The Washington Evening Star, in the
course of an editorial on the Maine cleo
ton, says ">pecie payments will be
Virtually resumed next Monday, Sept
IG) and formal resumption at the date
fixed is assured. The victories of the
t'reenbackers in the coming elections, Of
which the result in Maine gives token,
VIII therefore leave the country in Gu
rlous condition of affairs. A considerable
portion Of the voters Of the nation will
appear to protest against an accomplished
fact, and TO come off victorious on an is
sue which is dead" 50 far as the voters
of this State are concerned this stultiti-
cation is more apparent than real; vet
it will be hardly possible to convince the
outside public that such is the case But
those who know the people of Maine
thoroughly, their ancestry, their intelli-
gence and their integrity know that the
national honor is safe in their hands, and
that neither communism nor reputation
can ever have any number Of adherents
among them. The financial question,
though apparently the paramount issue
OF the campaign, was not really so. 1t
had little to DO with influencing votes
The earliest and staunchest advocates of
the lireenback theories were repudiated |
in the conventions or at the polls. The |
intelligence of our farmers, who gave to
the Grcenback movement its chief sup
port, and who arc too intelligent and too |
honest to endorse the financial plank Of |
the platform on which they stood, is alone |
conclusive evidence that we must seek |
elsewhere Tor the reasons which infu- |
enced their votes. Nor have we far to |
seek. Many, who had been life long
In.pnnr1tS traaly- n,,f ~ n
not approve of the financial theories of |
the new party, but went into it simply |
and solely with the hope Of defeating the
Republicans, having despaired of accom-
plishing that result by other means or |
IN other ways. Some, and perhaps the |
greater number, wanted to bring about |
a change from The existing condition of |
affairs, believing that a change might be |
for the better and could not be for the |
worse. Then, there is an almost univer- |
sal sentiment among the people that cor
ruption exists in our National and State |
affairs and must be put down. and that |
III these hard times there should be- as |
a practical measure of relief, a decided J
reduction in National and State expen-
ditures. 1t was felt, and whether with
reason or not need not be enquired into |
now, that these reforms could not be, or |
rather would not be, carried out by the !
men in poweI- and hence the determine
ton to put new men in their places 1t
must be admitted that the people have |
had cause for complaint. There is need
for reform at Washington and in Maine,
and for that matter in every State of the
Union. The people generally in their
private affairs and public enterprises, and
IN all their industries, have after passing