New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-27
NOT wren or 4 REFORM.


NOT MUCH or 1 REFORM
The respec liable gentlemen WHO are e. gagged
in the present effort TO reOrganzc the Demo-
cratic party in this city are trying hard to
make themselves and Otlrr people believe
that they are actuated bv pure devotion to
principle, and that the movement is worthy
the name Of Reform. 1t Sc Ems to us
they magnify both the occasion and the
work. That the party needs reforming
is beyond question. But what seems to
them a pressing emnr- ency appears to other
people an occasion for satisfaction with
the existing condition. II ID the defeat
Of their party which impresses them with the
conviction ,laJ something must be done. On
the other and, il is because their party has
been d fcattd that most people think there
is no great emergency and nothing need be
done. They want 70 reform the paIty-by re-
observation-disclosures it has been defeated.
1t is because 1t las been defeated that
the public does not care whether 1t
is reformed or not. Had the result Of the
election been different, the positions would
have been reversed The refOrmers then
would have thought reform unnecessary while
the public would have been extremely anxious
for 1t. The public may be intensely inter
estcd in the reform of bully who is at large
and has opportunities for mischief; the excite
ment ceases when once he is III durance ana
harmless. 1t is his associates then who wake
I'D to the necessity for his reforming himself
loose from the tolls for more mischief.
This is not a very great nor with due
respect to its respectable authors, do we con-
slider it a very worthy enterprise. The cause
is ridiculous, the occasion contemplate, the
motive selfish and the purpose petty. Ihere
have been Democratic outbreaks, organized
protests. before. But they meant something,
and the men engaged in them believed III
something besides the necessity Tor success.
aud were willing for what they believed, to
nut something at hazard They occurred
at times when the party was III power
and were the protests OF sincere men
against the abuses of power and the evil ten
denotes developed by continued success. The
marty WAS in power in 1913 when the Free
Sellers went out from it and protested by or
oanized revolt against the slavery extension
policy. Unlike tho harmon zng factions OF
to-day, who sacrifice principle for success
they were wiling to imperil success Tor prn-
cple. Similarly the division of the party in
Il
when the supporters of Douglas stood up
against the aggreSsiOns of the slave power
and refused, for the sake Of party policy or
party success, to surrender their belief. These
things happened when the party was i'll power;
when it cost something for men to revolt
against the party and its tendencies; when
submission meant continuance in power and
rebellion was sure defeat The Van Buren,
Democrats of '48 and the Douglas Democrats
of go thought of something besides party sue
cess: and therein they differed from the party
of to-day.
1t seems as if the bolt of the Free Soil
Democrats in 1S4S, the breaking up in 1860,
and the withdrawal of so many War Demo-
Gratis during the Rebellion, had left the party
without stamina or backbone. virility OF con-
science. For here, at the close OF canvass
in which shameless abandonment of principle
combined with sickeniDg mismanagement and
disgraceful dishonesty to bring deserved de-
feat. we find the intelligence. the resp-c,a-
bilitv. and what is left of the patriotism of
the party, uniting in what is advertised as
great reform mOvement-tO reform what?
Why-save the mark-the primaries It's
great Democratic uprising. 1t has occupied
ablest party leaders these many days Meet
iugs have been held, committees appointed,
nreambles and resolutions and constitutions
and bylaws drawn up, and as much rub-a-
dub made over it as though a six days walk
ing match were about to begin. And the
whole purpose of it. so far as an outsider can
see. is to make a change in the manner of
conducting Democratic primary elections i'll
this city, This is what they call and want
TO have recognized as Reform. Isn't it
rather small mouse for so long
CESSATION and the parturitlOns of mass-meet
ing? And when it is all done, what have
we? Nothing, so far as we can see, but one
more machine, and one more set of c0ntesting
delegates to occupy the time of Conventions.
Not one of the existing organizations is at all
likely TO abandon the field or merge in the
new one. The Reform simply makes one
more. And IN that, after all, may he
shadowy nope Of some good to come from il.
REORGANIZATION is the thing aimed at, if dis
indignation results, the reormers Will have
builded better than they knew.
THE SOOTHEEN EYODUS
A Louisiana planter says Il believe that