Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1879-08-30
From the New York Tribune.
A Party without A Country.

The history of the most wretched man
ever conceived in the imagination OF the
novelist is told in the story OF "A Man
Without a Country" No nationality :;
no land that he could call his
own; no part of the human family in
whose achievements he could feel pride !;
no flag and no home. But what is the
greenback party now but party without
country? If it has hope, it is that the
/ United States may meet disaster. Bad
crops here, prostration of industry, clos
inc of shops and mills, multiplicatons OF
tramps, filling of poorhouses, increase of
losses and of suffering-these are the only
arguments which can help the greenback
party. Ii these fail, the party goes to the
bad. 1t cannot shout for JOY when the
credit of the United States improves. for
that is an argument for Sherman and the
republicans. 1t cannot see with pleasure
the crowding of outward-bound steamers
with the rich products of our farms; that
helps to fill the banks, and to make re-
sumption a success. Gold comes hlther
by the millions, and the greenback party
,hudders. There is prosperity for the
country, but death to the party. Debts are
paid. farmers for the first time tread acres
Oh which no mortgage lies. men and wo-
men sleep for the first time in homes they
can call their own, and all this brings des-
pair to the heart of the greenback advo-
cate. tor his country's disgrace and misery
alone can save him from contempt.
1t is party without "A country. and a
party without future. No one supposes
that the elastic industry and enterprise
of Americans can long be kept down.
Sooner or later there must come again
such grand prosperity as this country has
twice enjoyed-prosperity such as has never
yet dawned upon any other land. When
good times come. the greenbaek party
dies. Every breath of hope for the coun-
try is to that unhappy party more deadly
than the blast of the sirocco. Its POSSIBLE
~ of future existence rests upon the
failure of American genius. energy. pa
thence and manhood-that is to say, it has
no right to hope for future at all
To such a party as this young men in
this country are even now asked to join
themselves. Flimsy falsehoods are told
them of the suffering existing somewhere
else. when they point to crowded barns
and busy work shops near at hand. Stories
that a schoolboy should be able to disprove
rs to abuse of the power of the Treasury
for the benefit of public creditors, are
paraded before them. Banks and bankers
are attacked by men who know that the
country never yet has seen any other bank
ing system so good as that which it now
enjoys. Wretched rhymes. insulting to
their intelligence as to their taste, are
sung in their hearing as the battle songs
of party which would revel in the coun-
tly's misery, if only the country would be
miserable. The grand prosperity which
sends the blood bounding with new swift
ness and vigor through all the pulses of
trade, means hope to everybody else, but
death to the greenback demagogue.
/ Where is the man who wants to tie HIM
self to "A party that is doomed to die dis
graceful death This country is not go
ing to ruin The splendid courage of its
people, tried for many weary years, has
proved victorious. Royal good faith, and
the manhood and pluck to make good
every pledge, have placed this country
high on The roll of fame The men of
to-day greet each other with good cheer
because the nation has kept its faith, and
reached the solid rock of specie payments.
The men of generations hereafter will look
back with pride to the work and the tri-
umph of the Americans of to-day But
there is one unhappy man-the Green
hacker He is wretched because his coun-
try is prosperous, and knows that dis
grace awaits him because his country has
escaped dishonor.