The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-08-28
The Matter with the Democracy.

the stump at this late day is of considerable
significance They have not come out OF
the bush simply to show themselves. They
have come seeking to save their own party
from breaking into factions, to persuade the
apprehensive members of the rank and flle
and some of the old leaders who cling to the
principles of the party into which they were
born, that the Democracy still has an exist
ence and an organization i'll tits State. No
wonder the doubt arose when all the Demo-
cratic papers were shouting Justify for
Smith, when no Democratic speakers were
heard on the stump, and no Garcelon flags
flung to the breeze.
The truth of the matter is, the unscrupu-
lous intriguers who have constituted them
selves leaders of the Democratic party did
not intend that the Democracy should do
any marching in this campaign; they wished
it to merely mark time. Had they confined
themselves to carrying out tLat plan, they
might have retained the confidence of their
followers. But they did not do that. They
changed their minds and attempted to put
the party through the difficult man@uvre
of marching backward, of .deserting the po-
sitions it held last year, and crawling, crab
like, into the Greenback camp. They
thought they saw chance of electing Smith
by the people, by turning over to him nearly
the whole of the Garcelon vote.
When the execution of this plan was at
tempted a revolt broke out. Many Demo-
Gratis refused to obey orders from headquar-
ters-some of them actuated by sincere
belief in Democratic principles, some by
party pride, some by policy. The gorge OF
many rose at the proposed surrender to the
Greenbackers; others could not bring them
selves to anything that looked like even
temporary abandonment OF the party organ
ization yet others thought of the great dis
advantage that the Maine delegation would
labor under next year if it went into the ma
tional convention representing only ten or
twelve thousand voters; and all said they
would never consent to the sale. The
murmurs grew so loud that the State COM
mittee was hastily summoned to meeting
and endeavored to elk things" by demand
ing greater share of the Legislative NOM
nations, and by assuring their followers
that they should have majority i'll the fu-
sion Legislative caucuses.
But this plan did not work any better than
the other. The Penobscot Greenbackers
contemptuously rejected it and ignored the
Democratic convention. The result was
the Penobscot revolt, which finally resulted
in the disbandment of the Democracy OF
that county, On the other hand the Green
hackers, here and there, consented to noml-
nate Democrats for candidates, or to drop
their own nominees and substitute Demo-
Gratis. The outcome has been that many,
Democrats and Greenbackers both, disgusted
at the trade-and-dicker going on, refuse to
support the fusion tickets. Some OF them
will vote for Davis, some will refuse to vote
at ALL and others will vote for their guberna
torial candidates, cutting off the fusion
ticket below. Those Democrats who will
not vote for Davis but are disgusted with
fusion will throw tickets for Governor alone,
reasoning that Garcelon is innocent OF the
intrigue-which indeed may well be, for the
Governor has always thought that he was
nominated in real earnest.
These are the reasons why the Democrats
are now holding their meetings; this is why
they are trying to persuade men that Maine
has been corruptly governed; this is why e.
F. Pillsbury is going about with speech
packed as full of lies as an egg is OF meat;
this is why Gov. Garcelon was trotted out
and put on exhibition at City Hall last even
ing. But the effort comes too late. The
wanderers cannot be recalled. They see
through the trickery practiced on them.
Many will vote for Davis; many will refuse
to vote. Not even the sight of their candi-
date can change their determination. They
have learned to thoroughly distrust the men
who stand behind the Governor, or lead him
about as the Savoyard does his chained bear.
They don't like the idea of voting for man
with a paddock on his mouth They are
deeply indignant at the plan to carry out i'll
Representative nominations the intrigue
that has been carried out in Senatorial NOM
nations. They are mad at the whole base
arrangement, and they will make their pro-
test felt either by presence or by absence at
the polls.
The meeting last evening was in pursu-
ance of the latest plan adopted by the Dem
cratic leaders 1t was meant to be an exhi-
bition of the responsibility of the party.
The yieur moustaches, officers and members
o. the Old Guard, were put upon the plat
form, many of them men who are known to
have no sympathy with the Democratic
Greenback intrigue, but who regard it with
contempt and disgust. They were'put there
to show that they had not forsaken the party
organization. to induce disgusted Democrats
to come out and vote. Many leading Dem
ocrats however were conspicuous only by
their absence. Still the meeting was a
failure. At its opening the audience made
a good show in the large hail. At its close
not a hundred men were in the seats. The
chairman of a meeting which purported to
be Democratic spoke not a word in favor OF
the Democratic candidate for Governor, but
implored his hearers to vote the fusion tick
et That piteous appeal revealed that the
true object of the meeting was, not to pro-
mote Democratic, but fusion success. But
the speech of Governor Garcelon cut the
ground from under his feet
That long and prosy speech we do not pro-
pose to review here We regret to say that
the Governor stopped to repeat some OF the
misstatements made by Mr.. Pillsbury,
though he could not bring himself to repeat
all. We regret to say that he spoke of the
Republican party with all the violence OF a
renegade, speaking in strong condemnation
of it's record since 1S56-a record he for ten
years helped by voice and vote to make The
only point which we wish to dwell
upon is his declaration that gold and silver
are the only constitutional legal-tendel
currency, and that the legal-tender green
back is not constitutional. That is good
hard-money doctrine, and must make the
argus vince. The Governor also briefly
quoted from jefferson, Clifford and others
to show that the Government can issue
Treasury notes not legal tender That no