New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1878-08-14
SAND-LoT POLITICAL SCIENCE.

SAND-LOT POLITICAL SCIENCE
Until the arrival of " the sand-lOt OratOr"
in Massachusetts, there had been, 1t must be
confessed, creeping suspicion in the public
mind that the people who are engaged in the
new National movement could not tell,
and in fact did not know, what they were
driving at or what they wanted There
seemed to be a great deal of defamation in the
open air, and general agreement among the
DISCLAIMERS that whatever is is wrong; but how
to rectify it or what to do about 1t they
failed TO tell us. Mr. Keamey, I" the sand
"lot orator" of California, having led the
marty to some measure of success in that
State, came East with the prestige OF We
torous leader, and as we understand with the
purpose of enlightening us upon the objects
and aims of the new party. lie has CORE
sponded with Mr.. Butler and had interviews
with him, and both have been given to
the public by the villanOus and licen-
tious and boodthirsty press, which both
denounce, and he has made two or
three speeches, which have been scattered
abroad by the same corrupt and shiny instru-
mentality. There is but one drawback 10 tho
interest of these speeches, and that Il that he
has felt called upon every time he has flung
abroad his bOuntiful thoughts to give so much
space to the " Shiny sheets which have Will
fed him. He explains, to be sure, that
it Is not his habit to notice the ven
omous reptiles, and that he does
not consider them worthy his attention;
but even after this explanation he takes pains
TO give his entire opinion of them with much
warmth and at some length. We have now
-. a. i'll %
in assuring him that all who have listened TO
or read his addresses understand pretty clearly
that he does not approve of the course Of
newspapers in general He might now dis
miss that subject, and devote his whole time
to telling us all about the impending ruin of
everything and how to ward il off.
With regard to the currency question, which
has been supposed by some to be an abstTuse
and complicated problem, Mr.. Keamey has
positive and unmistakable views He makes
it so easy and simple that the wayfaring
man, though fool, can discuss it anywhere
with large and intelligent profanity. He says
in brief that those who oppose the National
movement are bank smasheTs, petty larcen-
" lists chartists n-whatever they may be
"monarchsts,n ETC., though he omits to add
that "their clothes don't fit" and he says
that all those and "all the petty rnscals in
Jail and out of Jail will be organized to
defeat the uprising of the people" As to
the issue between capital and labor, which
many people had not fully cOmprehended
until this series of lectures on the sub
ject began, he says the men who are OPP
posed to the National movement are "hell
"hOund thieves" and "hell blOOdsuckers of
"labor." He remarks incidentally that Mr..
Hewitt, Of this city, who happens at this
moment to be in receipt of more epithets from
all directions than any other twelve men in
the country, is " batherskite politician and
"lecherous bondholder." Upon the important
question of the Associated Press, which seems
in some strange way TO be mixed up with
current politics, he says it is an organization
"owned and controlled by an Internal band
" of pirates,H and tells his hearers to shun,
Gas they would a snake, newspapers that
"patrOnize such an infamous monopoly" He
warns them against whiskey-drinking
"spouters on the other side" and tells
them that "wheneyer a tear drops in
"such an assembly" as he addresses, "a
"leprous leech of a bondholder rem-
"blesn "Pool your issuesp he says. 1.-THE
lauuWIluuR ~ Ou tub wall Inc NOIh-
"ingmen are learning their power, and will
"soon ride at the helm, and then all the po-
ethical bummers, false swearers, and leprOus
thieves will be charterDg schOoners TO leave
"the country, and if they don't get away
"say may God have mercy on their souls.n
These are Mr.. Keaneys views. He rem
forces that noble and upright refOrmer, Mr..
Butler, with these clear and lucid explanations
of the aims and purposes of the new party.
To people on the eve of a great uprising,
anxious to uprise but not quite clear as TO
what there is to uprise about, or what can be
accomplished by the uprising, he brings
these calm and intelligent statements
They may be called "sand-lot state
"ments by a sand-lot orator." they have
many of the peculiarities of the sand lot, as
will be observed 10y the general public into
whose eyes they are thrown with such earnest
ness and force. And yet we are sunk in such
besOtted ignorance here at the East, under the
rule of the "leprOus thieves" and "lecherous
bondholders" and "hell blOOdsuckers Of
"labor," that a great many people will
say, after reading these able and digni-
fed arguments, that they cannot make
out what it is all about. For such ignorance