Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-12-03
The Policy Of "Solldity."
From The Nation.l

The Policy Of "Solldity."
From The Nation.l
One hardly needed to be informed, a
we were by the Tribune the other day
that Mr.. Zachariah Chandler greatly re
Jolced over the recent Republican tri
umphs, and thinks the party will hav,
mo difficulty in electing Blaine or Gran
next time" We are afraid his state O
mind Is only too common among promi
nents Republican statesmen-that is
they were willing to take up "hones
money" even, like Messrs. Blaine an(
Conkling at the last moment, and ar,
glad to win by it; but the first use they
would like to make of the victory is no
to prepare the way for other victories O
the same kind, but to get back the gooc
Old times when the offices were fairly
divided, and when a politician, instead
of bothering his head with finance, hac
only to instruct his secretary to collec
"outrages" for him, and to launch an
occasional volley of abuse at the "shot
gun Democracy" Nothing but great
vigilance during the next two years or
the part of the better element of the Re
publican party-the element which, in
spite of its numerical weakness. made il
necessary to put reform into the Cincin.
natl platform and the Presidents letter
of acceptance-will prevent rush back
on the part of the managers into the Ole
slough, and vigorous effort to nomi.
nate and impose OH the party one OF
their own get, who, like Gen. Grant.
Will not harass them with reform, u
nor inquire too curiously into the use
they make of their patronage. They
have taken up the currency question
grudgingly-how grudgingly, Mr.. Conk.
lings declaring himself on it month
before election after two years. silence
during the critical period when public
opinion was forming, illustrates curious
ly. They believe it will be disposed OF
and out of the way after January next,
and their hope is that they will then be
able to drop the subject, and all similar
subjects, and go back once more to the
simple work of denounciDg the South.
1t Is ofprime importancet that this pro-
gramme should not be carried out. and
as a contribution towards its defeat there
are two or three things to which we beg
to call the attention ofthose Republicans
to whom the party is, as it ought to be,
interesting only as an instrument of good
government.
!. 1t must not be forgotten that the
policy towards the South which the stall
wart Republicans recommend, and
would fain recur to, did not succeed
when 1t was practicable and carried out.
That Is to say, Outrages on the blacks
were never SO numerous. and were new
er attended with so much impunity, as
when the stalwarts had their way as to
the manner Of REFRESHING them. Life
and property, and, speech, on the other
hand, have not for fifty years, or per-
haps ever before, been as secure at the
South as under MIR. Hayes's administra.
ton which has made no use of the army
or navy or of the ''bloody shirt" The
cotton crop this year is the largest ever
made, and has been produced by free
labor, and large cotton crop so produce
ed is sign of order and security which
cannot be discredited by flaming news
paper articles or stump speeches. In
fact, we now hear nothing Of outrages
on negroes as negroes. What is now
complained of is Outrages on them as
voters, and, unhappily. most of the news
we get on this point reaches us at cleo
ton time from gentlemen actually en-
gagged in the conflict and greatly inter-
ested in making the picture as black as
possible.
2. For the sake of our present argu-
ment, we desire to have the stories of
intimidation and cheating at the polls in
the South, as told by the Republican
press, accepted as literally true. fit be
true that in one way or another the en-
tire negro vote at the South has been
coerced into support of Democratic can
didates, it will only make the argument
we are about to use the stronger. 1t
shows, if true, an all but unanimous de-
termination on the part of masterful,
able and fighting race not to permit the
eoloFed population to be opposed to them
in politics on the color line. In other
words, the South is ''solid," not against
negro sutfrage-for it likes that, because
it increases the white representation in
Congress-but against negro suffrage
that is not controlled 10y extraneous in
fiuence. 1t matters little how this die
tation is exercised, whether by threats
of armed violence or by UNPUBLISHED bal
lot stuffing, or other forms of frauds. Its
existence is tremendous fact, and the
mode Of dealing with it constitutes a
political problem Ofthe first order. The
Republican chiefs have as yet proposed
only one way of solving it, and that Is
North to ''solidn or united South
There is, it is true, another plan on
which some of our :esteemed contem-
poraries" seem to rely. 1t consists in
strong writing directed against the
southern whites and their principal
men, telling them how wicked and ruff
fianly their conduct is, and how IN
grateful they are, and that ballot-stuffing
and assaults on public speakers are
wrong, and are disapproveu of by the
wise and good. But this method is bet
ter suited to the kindergarten than to
the political arena.
The objections to the solid plan are
that it is simply game of mutual de-
fiance and therefore can lead to no
practical result, and may last indefinite
ly. It resembles extremely the plan of
promoting peace now generally adopted
in Europe, by the maintenance of enor-
nous ornaments. France is armed be-
cause Germany is armed, and Italy be-
cause Austria and France and Germany
are armed, and so on round the circle.
Each is solid" in other words, because
the others are s'solid" A solid North
can only be produced and maintained
by necessarily preaching hatred and
distrust of the South and urging or in
stigating the blacks to organize and vote
against the whites and to this the whites
will reply by increased soIidity, and each
party will propose as condition of peace
that the other should mend his ways
and acknowledge his past
or in other words, undergo some sort of
humiliation. There would, in truth, in
such situation be no means of bringing
on a crisis of any kind, because there is
no legal meansof breaking down the
southern resistance. The government
of every American State is based on the