Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1878-10-31
The Democratic Predicament.

10
A faint dispo iti IN is manifested, by
One of the least sensible Democratic
Ouruals, to revive the cry of Fraud
as the one thing abIut which it il )
hoped that the Democratic party can C
agree until after the election. Posi- i
bly,, this course is the best that the /
party can take. But how pitiable must '
oe its predicament if it can do no bet {
ter! 1t is painfully evident that every {
reference TO the Presidential contest of :
1876, as matters now stand, Oaly re-
minds men of the unparalleled impu {
dence and hypocrisy of Democratic
leaders, who tried TO get the Presiden-
cy by bribery and theft, and have been
bowling Fraud" ever since because
they failed 1t matters not whether
the infamous barter was attempted by
the direction Of the chosen candidate of
the Democratic party, or by his closest
personal friends and By the official or
ganiZitinn of the party without his
knowledge. In either case, decent cit |
zens will ref ct, we should have had |
an administration. of uneXampled and
shameless corruption had such candi |
date, surrounded by such familiars, and
backed by such party. been placed in
the White House for four years. The
mere thought of a disgrace so COM
plete, and SO narrowly escaped, Is
enough to keep any mau from voting a
Democratic ticket Tor the rest of his
! life.
Unhappiy for the Democratic lead
ers. they cannot ignore the election of
r 1876. The people will not let them.
Republican journals aud speakers will
m llt fhnyV Mnronvnr hou
r placed themselves in such \ pDSi:ien
r that they have nothing else :" tslk
2 about. They cannot talk Of the iiIdn-
: ces without driving away either those
4 whose convictions or interests move
i them to uphold the public credit, or
those who have embraced Greenback
q herPsies. They cannot talk of the tar
iff without giving up all hope in East
n ern States, on one hand, or in Western
l. States, on the other. They cannot talk
l. of internal improvements, for the raw
J.; enous partisanS of Democracy at the
q South have fairly frightened taXpay-
n erS and conservative voters by the
If number and magnitude of jobs, claims
2 and demands for appropriation of mon
ey for local benefit, which have beer
'. thrust before Congress within the shOrt
u time since the Democracy gained con
,e troll Of the House. They cannot talk
te of economy, even, with any earnest
!? ness, because Democratic demagogue
i, have been cOurting votes of working.
IN men by promises of an enormous in
ne crease of expenditures for public works
ne There is literally no other question
o. upon which Democrats dare TO ask pub
ge lie attention, and yet such of them a
: al u "a 81 nj m : hoD NpnnlH OF q
VS. talk OF anything ese, if they dared
ut than of the last election and it
he FRAUDS"
n. Now comes Anderson again. EXactl
n, what he asserts to day is not clear, an
h. no one Cares. If it were certain that h
1t was hired to swear to To
of fal5ehoods he has toll by n
,r- agent of Governor Tilden hiu
nj self, the fact wGuli not be MOI
tv diScreditable than those made know
all by the cipher dispatches of Weet
rn Marble, Woolley and Pelton. The or
m thing certain is that he now says tn,
the story he told before the Potter Con
m mittee was false, and everybody kne
an. that before. Even the mem hers of tt
he committee must know that he W
ON swearing falsely, but the DenocrA,
III members no tde all that they could o.
)r- Of his testimony, lst rs they toe
ty. pains to suppress any inquiry into II
i'm cryptographic operations of Gramert
len PARK.
his IncOmpardbly the most shamele
re. piece of pirtisanship on record is Il
fix behavior of the d am Ocratc party,
ity Congress and out ut Congress, in respe
,oI 10 the frauds of 1875. The appoin
n At ment of the Potter Com nittee, its co
IN duct from its first session to its last, t
ent behavior of members of Congress in 1
tv. gard to 1t, the comments of the Dem
her cratic press up IN the contradictory al
,tjc palpably false testimony of hired pc
hes LjurerJ, and the persistent suppressi
the If evidence by the committee, form
zee page of history which it will not
the pleasant for Americans to read her
,sa. after. The translation OF the ciph
,,sp dispatches has placed the committee
and its true light before the country, a
,4r. the present attitude of Anderson, t
hes chief witness, upon whom the Don
go? Gratis relied in CON .nenciug an inves
owl CATION, leaves the picture compile
INV And now, with record so diSgustir
ttee the Democratic party is forced to
rt al vote its attention to that very reco
Y. and nothing else, until the electio
are over. 1t In ~ we'll he pardoned
it finds the task as unpleasant as it W
prove unprofitabl en-. Y. Tribune