Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1878-11-09
THE ELECTIONS.
THE COUNTY.

4
We begin at home. In this
county, then, the whole Democratic
ticket is elected against both Repub
licans and Independents. But thi;
statement does not half represent
the complete triumph of the Demo
cratic party. By observing oul
table of results it will be seen thai
throughout the whole ticket, with
the exception of the vote for State
Representative, the regular Demo
cratic nominee was largely ahead OF
the aggregate vote for both Repub-
licans and Independents. Judge
Marks, for instance, beats both his
antagonists together by 526 votes,
and Col. House is 316 and Col
Brandon 545 votes ahead of the
aggregate of their opponents re-
spectively.
In the vote for State Representa-
tive only was there anything APP
preaching equality between the
Democratic and independent vote,
and in this contest there were many
personal considerations at work
which masked and disguised the
political features. We will not en-
ter into these personal questions
here; we believe they will soon be
entirely dissipated we only men
ton them in order to make clear
that the vote for Governor, Congress
and State Senate give more correctly
the relative strength of parties-and
what is it? In round numbers they
show the Independent strength to
be about half that of the Demo-
cratic, and the Republican strength
about half that of the Independents.
Some of the remarkable features
of this contest are
Eirst-Ihe sns0tlj7ess Of the altnl-
berS uotislg. In the vote for County
Judge last summer the vote pOlled
was 1926; in that for State Repre-
sentative it was not much over 8, 200.
SecOnd-THe utter break dorm OF
the Republican 0ote. The largest
vote polled for that party was given
to Mr.. Moore for the State Senate,
and it was under 800. The cOlored
voter, in fact, deserted entirely to
the Independent ranks. How was
this? There were two reasons, and
to the first of them we would re-
spectfully call Col. PrOsser's atten-
ton. This detection was the result
of the forever infamous coalition of
1876. To bring that about the col
ored voter was thoroughly indOc-
trinated with reputation, and it
can never now be washed out of
him; it is like the pigmentary de-
post in his rete nlucOSaan-it is in
for this incubation of
anti-bond-paying proclivities you,
oh Prosser, are responsible more
than any other man, in spite of your
virtu0us talk about the honor and
credit Of the State. 1t is too late,
Colonel; your cOlOred friend was
too apt a pupil in 1876 to unlearn
that lesson in 1873. 1t will be hardly
worth your while tocome back here
any more; you will be more at
home in Connecticut.
The second cause of shrinkage in
the Republican vote is said to be
the influence of some of the green
backs which Col. Akers accumu-
lated, as he says, when he was
cheating the people in the National
Banks, and which were mysteri-
ously distributed in the imperfectly
explored ATTITUDES where Strawberry
alley abuts upon the public square.
Certain colored orators, formerly Of
the Radical persuasion, but now |
for greenbacks, could tell |
more about this than we can.
The Independent Greenbacker,
has he nothing to learn? Ee has,
lmost unpalatable lesson. He |
must read in these Tennessee cleo
lions and in those Of the Northern
States the two staring facts of his
for good, his omnipo-
.ence for evil. Ia the South he has
allied to establish himself; in the
North he has succeeded in re-estab-
ishing the Republican party, which
ne must certainly consider an I'M
mixed evil if his avOwed political
reed be really believed in by him.
The true Democrat, can he learn
If he keeps his eyes
open we think he can. He has only
o stand to his principles, conceding
right or left, refusing to en-
lOrse either extreme contraction to
please Republicans or extreme infla-
ion to catch the votes of Green
One lesson, we think,
should be impressed upon Clarks-
Vile Democrats In particular.
Yielding to an unreasoning clamOT
lbout meddling lawyers and "Straw-
perry alley" those who have hither-
o taken a leading part in the
politics of the county have confined
themselves to efforts within the
limits. BY doing so they
nave damped the zeal of those who
ook to them for guidance and in
,piration without cOnciiiating the
authors Of that clamOr. The infiu-
ance of intellect upon the politics of
he county is a legitimate influence,
md it is an over-fastidious scruple
which withOlds it.
THE STATE AT LARGE.
The whole Democratic Congress
,ional ticket is elected, with the
exception of the Second District,
which gives HOuck majority.
faylor's beating PettibOne in the
First District gives US gain of one
in Congress. There was at one time
some danger of Whitthorne being
beaten by Moore in the Seventh
District, which would have been a
great misfortunet to the party, though
it would have been the substitution
Of one Democrat for another. Mr..