The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-07-30
Our New York Letter.
Pecis-Their stupendous FolIy-why
They will Not Succeed.
NEW YORK. July %. 1S7S

NEW YORK, July 20, 1878.
The Nationals" as they call themselves,
have hoisted their flag in this State and will
constitute while they last a confusing element
in our politics. There have been first and last
great many diversions from the beaten track
led by parties who had hobbies to ride. Anti
Masonry, Know-Nothingsm, Anti-Rsntism
have each in their turn served the purposes
of side issues and have then passed into forget
fulness When there are no great questions of
state to quicken the energies of existing parties
it is comparatively easy to detach from them
enough of the rank and file to constitute an
imposing force. Since the advent of the pres
ent Administration the difference between
what its policy is and what Democratic policy
would have been is too slight to establish any
thing like clear line of demarkation by which
they can be distinguished. This is condition
of things which makes the creation of new or
CARNATIONS easy.
1t is an exceedingly fortunate thing for the
country that the National party did not come
into being sooner. There was a time when it
might have done incalculable mischief. Now
the forces of nature are against it. and it can
neither endure long nor accomplish any serious
harm. Whatever features of agrarianism
there may be in its creed the common sense OF
the people may be trusted to keep 10 check.
There are not many men who when the naked
proposition is made to them to band together
with the deliberate design of despoiliDg their
neghbors will fail to reject the overture with
hearty indignation. There will of course be
certain Eumber of tramps and adventurers who
are ready for any act of desperation to avoid
the hardship Of earning their own living. All
such as these drift with unerring certainty into
q movement like that of the Nationals. But it
will not be great while before they will fiud
themselves the objects first of the distrust and
afterwards of the aversion of their associates.
If L were to measure the new party by the
character of its representatives in New York
city L should unhesitatingly pronounce it de-
testsble in every sense-st war with the rights
of property and utterly regardless of the obliga-
tions of common honesty. 1t would be difficult
to get together a worse lot than we have here.
The one leaveu of goodness and guilelessness in
the concern is the venerable Peter Cooper, and
he is so hopelessly tewildered on the subject of
finance that what he has to ssy about it is not
entitled to any other kind of consideration than
such as is due to the opinions of man whose
motives are honest, but whose premises and
conclusions are violations of every principle of
common sense. For the rest, there is nothing
in the way of commendation that can be said
of them. They are mostly stragglers who have
hovered about the camps of all parties without
having been trusted by, or faithful to, any,
Their leaders are fellows who have always
made a trade of politics but never remained
constant long enough to accomplish anything.
Perhaps they average better in the rural dis
tricts. One would hardly judge so by perusing
the report of their proceedings, but it is to their
credit that they refused to fraternize with those
who hailed from the metropolis. Their plat
form, however, is execrable. Their idea seems
to be that all the modern improvements-an
the inventions for saving labor-all the contriv-
ances for promoting human comfort, are antag-
onistc to the welfare Of the masses. They
gravely propose to restrict the productive power
of the people, and hold that the more labor it
requires to produce any given result the greater