The Portland daily press., 1879-11-18


ton are tenable we will accede to your wish
es." 'Well, he belongs to the machine He
is working politician. He is too much of
party man." "Ohl that is the cause of your
dislike of him, eh? Why, now zoe belong to
the machine too, and we are not ashamed OF
it, Where would the party be without II? Ii
You ask us to set a man aside because ne mas
illustrated his faith by his works ana Deen
faithful laborer in the vineyard, you ask TOO
much. We want him for the very reason that
he has done a great deal Of admirable CAM
paign work for a series of years. He is one OF
us. When there were sacrifices to be made'
he didn't hesitate to incur them. Now that
there are rewards to be distributed he shall not
be ostracised. What! put ban on fidelity!
Refuse political honors to one who has done
most to deserve them? Any party that wouid
treat its leaders in that scurvy way would soon
crumble to pieces. and there would be ne
mourners at its gravel" The friends of other
candidates brought forward their favorites to
compete for the nomination. That was fair
When they were beaten they behaved like
men and gave in their adhesion to the success
full ticket The rule of the majority is the rec
ognized law of all well regulated conventions
and it is very properly considered an obiiga-
ton of honor binding upon every member to
sustain the nominees in good faith. Only re
formers consider themselves absolved from
the discharge of political duties, for the neg
lect of which there is no legal penalty. It's
| purely question of honor anyway, and every
| mans conscientiousness must be the guide OF
his conduct. The popular mind, however,
runs in favor of the proposition that 1t is IN
cumbent upon all members of organizations to
deal equitably and fairly with their associates,
and not to desert or betray them on account OF
any pque, prejudice or partiality. 1t is in this
spirit only that men can unite for the further
ance of the great objects of improving the con-
dition of society and giving direction to the
aims of philanthropy.
But without entering upon any discussion OF
the rightfulness or wrongfulness of bolting, the
problem to be solved is what is the best method
of treating the boilers. The Republicans OF
New York decided that it was injudicous to
coddle them, and accordingly they were left to
run riot They have had the benefit of exten-
sve advertising in many newspapers, Demo-
| cratic, deputy-Democratic, and dsanti-everything
| in general. They have kept up for two months
| an incessant fusilade of swapping, snarling,
| growing, grnmbling, somewhat prosy and
| pointless to be sure, but always acrimonious
| and bitter They have established ina
| chine" of their own, differing in no other re-
| spect from similar structures previously exist
| ing save in the absence of everything like
| cheerfulness or good nature among the man.
ayers who propelled it. We have had taste
of their quality and taken the measure of their
strength The wisdom of the policy of ignor-
| ing them has been made sufficiently apparent
by the result; and it isn't at all likely that they
| will venture to repeat performance which
| has cost so much and produced so little. But
| if they do undertake TO try it over again they
| ought to show their true colors. If they pro-
| pose to enlist under the Democratic banner
they have only to signify their wish to do so
| There is plenty of room for them on that sde
and they will receive hearty welcome, and not
be required to prove previous good character
or give references.
| The fact is it is pretty good rule to estab-
| lsh that any man who deliberately conspires
| to defeat the Republican cause is guilty OF
| sin for which there can be no forgiveness. 1t
| is a waste of time to try to save him-a waste
/ of breath to pray for him. 1t is better to show
him out politely but resolutely, and then if he
won't go, take him by the nape of the neck at
once, pitch him out neck and heels, and fill his
| place with somebody who can be depended
upon. A few examples of that kind would
make treason odious, and deter people of dubi-
Gus sense of rectitude from exposing them
| selves to obloquy by open or secret dickerin9
| with the common adversary. There has been
an immense amount of humbug practiced in
| this community first to last, and quite num-
ber of persons whose reasoning faculties are
not so keen but that they can easily be imposed
upon have been wrought up into the notion
that it was decidedly hgh-spirited, indepen-
dent, courageous, heroic thing to betray ones
party. Independent editors, bloodless parsons,
emaciated sentimentalists, and the Pecksniffs
and Chadbands of all grades of society, have
openly taught this miserable doctrine,
and the world has been altogether too toler-
ant of it, If such pernicious ideas were
to become generally prevalent we should de-
generate into nation of sneaks; confidence
in human nature would be virtually destroyed.
| Men couldn't trust each other; they would feel
a sense of their danger of being betrayed all
the while. What we want in our journalistic
literature and in our seminaries of learning is
more masculine and robust vein of thought,
and especially an earnest advocacy of the duty
of being steadfast and immovable in fulfilling
every obligation expressed or implied, which
honor imposes The rising generation should
be made to understand that whoever keeps his
word is to be respected, whoever breaks his
word is an object of contempt, and that this
standard of Judgment is applicable to all
phases and conditions of life and is as binding
| 81 = ic in huc "a
social circle or in the church organization.
When this code Of ethics becomes firmly es-
tablished we shall have less cant and more
sincerity in the politics of the country; and
great inter ests will not be imperilled on ac-
count of the fussiness and restlessness of a cer-
tain class of people who labor under the hal
Inclination that the affairs of the universe can
not 90 right unless they have the regulation OF
them, whereas they never meddle in anything
without making a wretched mess OF it.
Perhaps it is treating this political disease too
seriously to give SO much space to the consider
alton of it; but when few thousand voters
may have it in their power to turn the scale in
a great State like New York, it is high time
that some missionary work was done in en-
tightening the ignorance and softening the as
perity which can make such a calamity posi-
BILE. The apologists of the so-called scratchers
"a misnomer as it proved for they all voted
the Democratic tcket-pleaded their youth
and inexperience in extenuation OF their error.
1t seems, however, that they had sympathizers
in other States in whose behalf neither adoles-
cenoe nor want of acquaintance with the
world could be urged. Fancy the ex-
tent of the Generalization that could
have led so estimable a gentleman as
Henry L. Pierce, of Massachusetts to
write letter and inclose check to little
knot of conspirators who were seeking to COM
pass the defeat of the Republican party in
neighboring State. One would have supposed
that sense of the impropriety of interfering
with the concerns of commonwealth OF
which he was not citizen would have sutficed
to restrain him. But when the inspiration Of
reform fairly seizes upon man, 1t seems to
make him oblivious of all the rules which are
| to tba of Of