Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1878-09-20

Of public opinion, has been practically unit
on this question. The conservatism OF
the East, through its public men, its mon
eyed institutions and its newspapers, has
been q great restraining influence upon
the Republican party and upon the
country. and has really been one of the
ma instays of the public credit. The West
has always been debtor community, the
East creditor and the financial yagaries
of the one have been pretty generally
balanced by the soundness of the other.
From the inanity and insanity of the West,
men have turned hopefully to the wise cell
seryatism of the East. But now the poison
OF dishonesty and folly is working here, too :;
and these old Commonwealth that have for
50 many years stood as the synonyms of honor
and rectitude and sturdy common-sense are
straying from the paths of the fathers into
the byways of decentralization and dishonor.
And for leaders, we have the Buffers and
Barlows and Murches and the unnamed
tribe Of whom Ignorance claims one-half and
Dishonesty the other.
Such are some of the omens that claim the
attention Of every thoughtful man. Such
are some Of the plain indications Of the
dangers that confront US. The cause of at
least portion of this decentralization of par
ties and Of individuals is not far to seek.
For the last few years the times have been
so hard the earth has 30 "groancd in
travail :" restitution and poverty have been
50 widely spread and so bitterly felt, that
thousands upon thousands of people, looking
not upon causes but upon results, not upon
the permanent but upon the immediate good,
not to the prosperity Of the future but upon
the slender earnings and narrow living OF
to-day, eagerly turn to any man who prom
iscs relief, and to any measure, whatever
may be its ultimate consequences, that may
afford any immediate advantage. For the
people, the yeomanry, the artisans, the
laborcrs, We have Unborn, heartfelt, profound
sympathy for the leaders of the new move
ment-if indeed such chaotic upheaSal may
be said to have any leaders, in the true sense
of the word-s feeling entirely the reverse.
From the restless and INSCRIPTIONS agitator
who is the central figure in Massachusetts,
rolitics down to his humblest imitator in
our own Statc-from Dennis Kearney up
they may be broadly divided into scamps and
ignoramuses and the danger comes, not
from themselves, but from the influence they
can gain over the suffering, unthinking or
wrong thinking masses.
The issues of the day, then, are the simple
ones of honesty against dishonesty, of COM
non sense against folly; and the time is
fast coming when the line of demarcation
between parties WILDE drawn on these ques-
tions. The ominous events to which VIC
have referred prove that the hour is at hand
when the better elements, the true patriots,
the worthy heritors Of the patrimony OF the
fathers, must unite against the hosts OF
ignorance and corruption and deceit. On
the issue depend the honor and prosperity of
our country. Let no obstacles Of party
names or of the dead issues of the past deter
this union. In the ranks and under the
banner of the great party which for genera
ton past has fought the good fight for
principle. for liberty and for justice. let the
new battle lie waged; and, constant to the
eternal principles which are its life-blood,
lot the Republican party range itself on the
new issues and confront its new opponents
cOurageously, undauntedly, VIGOROUSLY.
The Republican party. through its leaders,
its statesmen and its Press, has always and
everywhere been on the side Of honest money
and the honorable fulflment of National OBJ
legations. Let its standard, then, be the
rallying point of the men Of all parties who
think with US on this vital question. They
have their convictions let them show that
they have the courage Of them.