Centre Democrat. [volume] (Bellefonte, Pa.) 1848-1989, 1879-10-16
The Ohio Election.

| On luesuay last the people OF onlo
voted for State officers and for mem
bers of the State legislature. The
result has been unfavorable 10 the
Democrats. Enough is known at this
writing to assure the election Of Chas.
Foster, the discreet stay-at-home-Re-
publican, for Governor, by consid-
cradle majority, over the gallant Gen.
Thomas Ewing, the soldier-statesman
and Democrat The legislature of
the State, upon which depends the
election of II successor to Senator
Thurman in the Senate Of the United
States, though claimed by the Repub-
licans, may still be considered in doubt.
We had strongly hoped for a different
result in Ohio; yet, considering the
odds that were against the Democrats
in this contest, anything better would
indeed have been somewhat surprising.
In an even contest Gems. Ewing and
Rice, and the entire Democratic State
ticket would undoubtedly have been
elected by handsome majorities. But
with the vast and far-reaching power
Of the present Federal administration
Of fraud ; with the power of the thou
sands upon thousands Of dollars cx-
acted from $1,000 dependent place
men with which TO buy up a venal
vote, large in the great centres Of
population; with the power Of OPP
preston exerted by Federal revenue
officials upon distillers, brewers, man
utacturers of tobacco and their nu-
merous employees and dependents
with the power Of corporate capital
fighting them-with all this aggregate
Of force thrown into the scale to over
balance our Democratic friends and
allies, We painfully realize that it was
almost too much 10 hope for n better
outcome.
This result in Ohio is but another
evidence Of the effective power of the
Federal government, under existing
laws and present methods of admin
istration, when it chooses to interest
itself in the concerns Of the people Of
the States. This election was solely a
State affair, in which "the powers that
be- at Washington had no business
whatever TO interfere. 1t was mat
ter for the voters of Ohio TO decide
for themselves, and had they been left
free to so decide it, an entirely differ
ent verdict would have been recorded
on last Tuesday. OF course there
must be acquicscence in the deter.
mined result. But how long will this
thing last ? How long shall this un-
warranted and unjustifable intcrfer-
ence with local affairs continuel Will
it continue until the last vestige of
local selfgovernment is obliterated
and the people of the States become
the mere vassals Of great centralized
power at Washington Is Pennsyl.
vania the next State to be throttled by
outside force l. her will TO be set aside
in the same mannerl What comes
nextY l. it the Empire with a silent
man at it, head i? If this theory of
our Federal government is correct, in
Gods name, let us at once wipe out
State lines, abolish local governments,
dismiss from service State Governors,
Legislatures and Courts. Instead of
governing ourselves, let us be governed
from the top at once and be done with
it. The people are nothing the gov
ernment is everythingl this is the
ultimate end of radical teaching
and stalwart practice. Fellow-citizens,
think of these things, and, as you
value the liberty of your country and
your own peace, prosperity and happi-
ness, determine at once whether you
shall rule, OF whether you shall be the
mere puppets of centralized dcs-
potism.
To Judge from the way majority