The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-12-18
STR ACGLT q OUT, AND FALLING
INTO LINE.

INTO LIME.
The New York Herald. viewing mat
ters from q nou-psrtisan standpoint,
thinks the Democratic esrty should
not hesitate to follow NJ. Bayprd in his
financial proposition. calls stten-
uou to the fact that 3Ir. Pendleton, the
inventor of the Ohio idea, voted in
1862 against the legal tender act, and
concludes that recent defeats in the
West may lead Democratic inf ltionists
back 70 the old and time honored prin-
dpies of the party, to which Mr.. Bay
ard has closely adhered. But the Her.
aid thinkF, since motives of expedienoJ
led many Democrats TO adopt the iDfa-
tion idea, it will require prospect of
party advantage 10 induce them to
again give in their adherence to honest
principles. While it is painful to recog-
niza justice in this thrust at the in
tegrity of members of the party we
may console ourselves, that, being vel
founded, the evil may be readily COZ
rected by what we may be permitted to
term popular brute force, which often,
under fit circumstances, leads to the
most positive moral convictions. This
pandering to morbid local pre-.
judice, and to a base standard
OF intelligence, was at one time
unknown in D-mocratIc ranks,
and when the Democratic inf4tjonists
begin to understand fully which way
the cat is to jump they will follow
her like an eager pack in pursuit OF
game. The elections in the North
western States have indicated already
in which course the animal contemplates
moving, and we have seen these inhs-
tionists scenting the breeze, and some
of them are beginning to strike out
boldly in the only direction that prom
ises any reward. From eighteen months
ago down to the present time, even in
Texas, we have had an exemplifcation
of what is referred to. Men who had
spent long, wesry years in vainly at
tempting to persuade Democrats, Re-
publicans, Radicals, Prohibitionists
and every known political and socia
creed that their services were eminent
ly needful IN the capacity of public
officials, began to make a oise and to
drum up followers. Led by Brick
Pomeroy and receiving inspiration from
him, they emu!ated his style, and hence
made an unusual amount of noise in
the world. They told how these same
parties to which they had SO long ap-
piled in vain for Office, had failed to
meet public expectation and require
ment, and how the country would be
saved only when they had administer
ed and sat down upon it; how, the forty
acres and mule would be eclipsed
with all the greeAbacks needed to ena-
BILE them to live lie of idleness, and
how the banks and railroads would be
made common property. The result
was, these men soon had party COM
posed of anxious political aspIrants
and dead beats, with the colored peo-
pie in every stage and condition from
the cradle to the grave. 1t was then
that some OF the Democrats of Texas
who even warm seats In the two houses
of Congress saw fit to lean towards
this needless element of agitation and
to adopt the cry of ilfl .tion. The
motive inducing them to this deoec-
tion was clearly the same one which
now leads Democrats away from in-
fation and back to those principles
that have lived for a century, and
which have wrought greatness for this
country. 1t was simply desire for Of
fee and anxiety to maintafn position
that led Democrats to thus sb-
jure their party doctrines for those led
by Pcmeroy and his followers, who
even persuaded many that the Demo-
cratic party had served ont its purposes
and was 10 more. That 1t is not
dead, but that it liveth in all its vigor,
with such men as Mr.. Bayard, to
again achieve greatness for it, is too
apparent. To-day it holds the power
in both the Senate and the House, and
while only Democrats doubt, Repub-
licans look upon the contest of 1880
with the greatest alarm. These are
the ferces that will lead infl9tionists,
these waveriDg Democrats who for q
time have been neither fish nor flesh, to
sustain the everlasting principles of
Democracy, which, had they not been
abandoned by such men as these,
would have been as potent to-day in
the government of this country as
they were in the times of Jefferson and
Jackson.