Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1879-06-19
.Hones,,, W.. Gree, Electiops

Our Democratic friends claim to have
formulated the issues for 1880 out of the
results of the called session., and to be
coutented with their work For their
coHtentment with it, we apprehend they
are very much in the situation described
by the Dutchman, who in reply to an in
quiry concerning his lately deceased
wife, said: Resigned? Mein GOtt, she
had to be-" At any rate there is the
work and they must make the best of it.
Their opponents certainly are satisfied
and will meet them cheerfully upon the
points in dispute. The Democrats have
condensed and epitomiZed the whole
controversy in the demand which they
propose to fling out upon their banners
for Free elections" 1t is perhaps as
terse a statement as could be made; has
good sound; impresses into party SER
vice qualifying word which they have
had no stomach for since "Free SoiP'
first began to win victories; and is, upon
the whole, as good for the next as "Re-
form" was for the last campaign. The
Republicans are quite willing to give
them their way; to let the case be dock
eted for the court of last resort, and the.
verdict of the people as an appeal for
Free" against Honest elections, and
on that take testimony and hear argu-
ments.
The grievance they bring forward is
Federal interference at the polls; and
under this general head they specifically
allege that Republican policy has sta
toned soldiers with bayonets, and Uni
ted MarShals with orders of arrest, at
the ballot boxes. Grant it. But the
honest voter, who sees no bayonet actu-
ally at the polls, ami fears no arrest in
the discharge of his rigot and duty, Will
inquire as to the bayonet business, when
it began; what caused it; when it ceaS-
ed, and why; and what are the dangers
to be apprehended. Such inquiries lead
him back into the history of Demo
cratic attempt to use the army at the
aolls, twenty-five years ago, to force sla-
very on free territory; of Democratic
rebellion; of its suppression; of the ne
cessity for garTisons in captured towns,
and of their continuance to uphold an
emancipated race in the exercise of the
rights of citizenship; of tneir final with
drawal, and the silenc;ng of the voice
and vote of the oppressed race from that
moment; and at last of the Democratic
demand that the National Government
shouldn't withdraw the bayOnets;
they had long been withdrawn-abdi-
cate lis own supremacy and surrender
the principle upon which it had fought
and won a costly war. The Republican
party is quite willing to let the voter go
to the record on That appeal.
The honest voter, who, contemplating
no crime, fea-s no arrest, when appeated
to on behalf of "Free Elections" to reg
lister his protest against Federal super
vision, will be very likely to ask the
reason for it. The inquiry takes him
back upon the record, and land him
plump upon the transactions of The De-
mocratic party in 1888, which disclosed
the necessity for some measures to pre-
vent the repetition of gigantic frauds.
As Republicans, we are willing he should
decide between the two parties on that
showing. Or if he asks why the repeal
of the Federal Supervisors law is de-
manded by Democratf, and is answered
by the latter that it is an infringement
of the rights of the States, as is their
claim, we can well afford to leave him to
the use of his own intelligence and the
exercise Of his own reasoning powers, to
find out the effect of that concession up
ON the stability, credit and permanence
of the Government. The argument does
not need even to be outlined. 1t suggests
itself to every intelligent voter. The
Democratic demand for Free Elections"
sends the voter back to the history of
the Democratic party, and the Republi-
can answer, "Give US Honest Elections |
ratherp' makes sharp and clear the con-
trast between the records of the two
parties as well as between their aims |
and purposes.-N. Y. Tribune.