The New York herald., 1879-03-26

cepted it and thus have remitted the conf
plaint to those who must decide whether it
shall be tried or dismissed.
What tho Democratic Party Needs.
houses of Congress, which means that they
control not merely the expenditures, but
the policy on which the government is to
run. 1t is responsible 10 the coun-
try for many things OF the first inn
portancs--ior taxes and tho man
ner of laying themi for the currency; for
peace, order, justice; for the security of per-
sons and property. SO faras the federal gov
ernment acts upon these by its laws and it
does act upon them in many vital ways. A
minority ought to think, and it is the bet-
ter for having distinct policy; but it may
| get on without for it may content itself
weakly with the part of'objector. 1t may
be, if it wishes, merely an opposition. The
necessity for action is not imposed upon it.
But majority must act Hence it must
have policy to advance; it should have a
distinct line Of ideas and measures to en-
body in legislation rs Improvements on
those OF its defeated opponents.
| 1t is because the Importance OF their
changed relations to the country does not
SO tar appear to have struck the democratic
majority in Congress that we venture to
suggest to them that what they now
need is policy. They have elected a
| Speaker, and very excellent one; in tho
Senate they have divided the petty
plumber called patronage, so dear to all
politicians everywhere. If they had
stopped there we should be content to whit.
for it is not just to be impatient with a
party which has but u few days ago as
sumed the reins We make small account
of the outcries of the republicans against
their opponents. The country takes no
notice in the long run ofth;s petty partisan
warfare, but it is watching with great care
for the general and broad policy which the
democrats must now presently announce
if not in words, then in acts. It wants to
know where the new maj jority ale going to
carry US ; what they propose on the vital
questions of currency, finance, revenue,
taxes, duties, the revival Of industry.
The republicans have lost public favor
for the time because for many years they
trifed with these questions and played
fast and loose with the most important
inter asts. The republican party, from 1868
to 1876, settled nothing; their policy was
to keep all questions open, with the selfish
object of soaring the country into re-
electing them by biennial cry
OF Here come the democrats" Well. ut
last the cry Of ''Wolt" lost its terrors and
to-day we have the democrats. Nobody is
alarmed, but everybody is curious to know
what they are going to Ulke of it, now they
are here. And this, we take leave to warn
the democratic brethren, is precisely their
difficulty. If they are going to repeat the
republican blunder Of trhing with or evad.
ing the real questions Of the day they may
as we'll make up their minds for speedy
return to the minority.
Now the selection of the committees in
the two houses is properly regarded as the
decisive declaration of q party policy. We
look, therefore. with some curiosity for
Speaker Randall's announcement of the
House committees, and tho more so rs the
/
are concerned, have been arranged on arule
of seniority which deprives them of signifi-
canoe as expressing the party's intentions,
but, as it happens, in o way which will make
the action OF the most important of them
perfunctory, frivolous and very embarrass-
ing to the party. What could be weaker or
more ridiculous, for instance, than for the
democrats, Just coming into power, to make
a deadlock in the Finance Committee by
pitting Senators Bsyard and Kernan--hard
money men--against Senators Voorhees,,
Wallace and Beck, infationists
The ''tiine-honoredd democratic policy" OF
which about election time we hear SO much,
is hard money, economy and the largest
liberty to private action and enterprise.
We trust Speaker Randall will remember
this in making up the House committees.
We have no fears about his Appropriations
Committee he will take good care, MS he
has done before. that it shall vigilantiy
guard the expenditures. But he cannot
afford to make up his Banking and Cur
rency Committee on the non-committal
plan of the last. He may constitute it in
favor of sound money or of imitation and fiat
money, but it must DO one thing or the
other So with the Committee Of Ways and
Means; let the membership denote q
definite policy. II he triAes with the coun-
try on these vital matters he will strike a
fatal blow at his party's supremacy.
Reservoir Park.