New-York tribune., 1878-10-28
TIE DEMOCRATIC PREDICANENT

A faint disposition is manifested, by some
of the least sensible Democratic journals, TO
revive the cry of Fraud" as the one thing
about which it is hoped that the Democratic
party can agree until after the election.
Possibly, this course is the best that party
can take. But how pitiable must he It's
predicamcnt if it can do no better. 1t
is painfully evident that every reference
to the Presidential contest of 1876, As mat
ters now stand, only reminds men OF the I'M
paralleled impudcnce and hypocrisy of Demo
cratic leaders, who tried to get the Presidency
by bribery and theft, and have been hOwlinS
Fraud ever since because they failed. 1t
matters not whether the infamous barter was
attempted by direction of the chosen candi-
date of the Democratic party, or by his
closest personal friends and by the official
organization of the party without his
knowledge. In either case, decent citizens
will reflect, we should have had an admins
trati0n of unexampled and shameless cOrlup-
ton had such candidate, surrounded by
such famiIiars. and backed 10y such party,
been placed in the White House for four
years. The mere thought of a disgrace so
complete, and so narrowly escaped, is enough
10 keep any IlliL IIOH NONlhS al IIHtoNidt'
ticket for the rest of his life.
Unhappily for the Democratic leaders, they
cannot ignore the election Of 1876. The
people will not let them. Republican journals
and speakers will not let them. Moreover
they have placed themselves in such position
that they have nothing else to talk about
They cannot talk of the finances without
driving away either those whose convictions
or interests move them to uphold the public
credit, or those who have embraced Greenback
hereses. They cannot talk of the tariff without
giving up all hope in Eastern States, on one
hand, or in Western States, on the other.
They cannot talk of internal Improvements,
for the TayenOus partisaus OF Democracy at
the South have fairly frightened taxpayers
and conservative voters by the number and
magnitude of jobs. claims, and demands for
appropriation Of money for local benefit,
which have been thrust before Congress within
the short time since the Democracy gained
control of the House. They cannot talk Of
economy, even. with any carnestness, because
Democratic demag0gues have been counting
votes OF woIkIngmen by promises Of an enor-
nous increase OF expenditures for public works.
There Is literally no other question upon which
Democrats dare to ask public attention, and
vet such of them as are capable of any shame
would rather talk of anything else, if they
dared. than of the last election and its
frauds"
Now comes Anderson again. Exactly what
he asserts to-day is not clear, and no one
cares. If it were certain that he was hired to
swear TO the faisehoOds he has told by an agent
of Governor Tiden himself, the fact would not
be more discreditabe than those made known
by the cipher dispatches of Weed, Marble,
WOolley and PeltOn. The one thing GER
tain is that he now says that the
story he told before the Potter Commit
tee was false, and everybody knew that
before Even the members of the committee
must have known that he was swearing falsely,
but the Democratic members made all that
they could out of his testimony, just as they
took pains to suppress any inquiry into the
cryptographic operations of Gramercy Park.
IncOmparably the most shameless piece of
partisanship on record is the behavior of the
Democratic party, in Congress and out of
| Congress, in respect to the frauds of 1876.
| The aDpointment of the Potter Committee, IFS
conduct from its first session to It's
last. the behavior of members of Congress
in regard to it, the comments of
the Democratic press upon the contra
dIctoly and palpably false testimony of hired
perjurers, and the persistent suppression OF
evidence by the committee, form a page of
history which it will not be pleasant foI
Americans to read hereafter. The trans
lation of the cipher dispatches has placed
the committee in its true light be-
fore the country, and the present atti-
tude of Anderson. the chief witness, upon
whom the Democrats relied i'll commencing
an investigation, leaves the picture complete.
And now, with record so disgusting, the
Democratic party is forced to devote its at
tention to that very record and nothing else,
until the elections are over. 1t may well be
pardoned if it finds the task as unpleasant as
it will prove improbable.