Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1880-06-30
Importance Of attending Primaries
and Putting up Good Hen.

Importance of attending Primarie.
and Putting up Good Hen.
| do not propose to speak of Ameri
can politics in it's more enlarged sense
that is, the administering the affairs o
the government, for were l to speak O
matters relating to State OF National
affairs, or to our foreign or domestic
policy, it would be entering the domain
of partisan politics, of which the pro-
prieties of this occasion would not per-
NIT me to speak Every public ques-
ton, whether it be the question OF
power of the General Government or
the several States, or of tariff, finance,
internal improvements, or any other
matter of public interest, is so involved
with party politics as forbids any refer
ence to them on this occasion.
But | do propose to speak of some
things which relate to both parties, and
to which, in view of the fact that we
are now engaging in another of those
great struggles for the political control
ofthe country, it is eminently proper to
refer at this time.
THE PEOPLE THE SOURCE OF ALL POWER.
A government in which the people
rule by means of their delegated agents,
chosen by ballot, necessarily must be
governed by political parties. AS the
people are the source of all power and
as every question of public Importance
must be submitted to them for their de-
termination, it necessarily follows that
they will divide upon these questions,
as they may consider themselves enti-
tied to their support, or deserving their
opposition England, the greatest of
all countries save our own, and from
whence we have derived the great body
of our laws, has been governed by po-
litical parties for centuries, and the
names of the two great parties-Whig
and Tory-were carried to this coun-
try, and the first contest for supremacy
was fought under their banners. After
the Revolutionary war came the con-
test between Federalists and auti-Fed-
eralists; then between Federalists and
Republicans then between Democrats
and Wings, down to the organization of
parties as now known under the names
of Democrats and Republicans; and
the whole history of the country is but
a history of the triumph and defeat of
political parties.
Every great measure that has been
stamped upon the history of the coun-
try has been the result of party tri-
umph The adoption of the Constitu-
ton of the United States, the granting
and repeal of the charter of the United
States Bank, the adoption of a system
of internal improvements, the tariff
laws, the fugitive slave law, the Mis-
souri, compromise and its subsequent
repeal, the war for the preservation of
the Union, and the overthrow of human
slavery are all the direct results of par
tv victory, and as it will inevitably be
the case in the future, that the policy
of the general government will be
moulded and its destiny shaped by par
ty, it is of the utmost Importance that
good men of all parties, while waving
none of their rights to express their
honest convictions, should lend their
best efforts to improve the methods
which are now resorted to by all polit-
ical parties.
Party strife is therefore a necessary
condition of our form of government,
and the good of the country requires
that each party be vigilant in watching
every action of its antagonist, in bring
ing it's wrong actions to the light of
day and exposing them, because, were
it otherwise, the interest of the country
would suffer and our form of govern
ment eventually fall into decay and
ruin. The good of the country requires,
too, that political parties be as nearly
equally divided as possible, SO that
neither may be able to maintain its as
longer than it subserves the
best interests of the country. 1t is i'm
portant, however, that party should
not be placed before country, for that
subordinates patriotism and the highest
good of the country to the merest par
tisan and sectional feeling
American politics may be summed
up as consisting mainly of two things:
first, getting Office second, administer
ing office-and what / shall have to
say will relate principally TO the ques-
ton of getting office. A party in or
der to stamp its policy upon the ma
tion's laws must first secure political
power, and as nearly all the Offices are
elective-the executives of the States
and the Nation; all legislative offices,
State and National all county and mu-
nicipal of1ices-it is apparent that the
all important thing is to get hold of the
offices, and this leads to two inquiries:
first, how are officers chosen? second,
are they properly chosen?
HOW MEN GET OFFICE
A political party, before it can COM
mence the struggle with it's adversary,
must prepare itself for the contest, by
making nominations of candidates and
defining its principles in such way as
to lead voters to understand what it's
are, so that before an election
can take place, there must first be the
primary meetings of the people to Sc
Iect delegates, and then conventions of
delegates to present candidates and de-
fine the policv Of the party.
The voter, then, who would make
his vote felt, and make it an instru-
ment whereby the policy of his party
would be filled out, must attend the
primaries, because there the delegates
are selected who GO into convention
and make up the ticket, and unless he
aids at the primaries he has no other
course left than to vote the ticket thus
and in making which he had
no choice, or vote the opposition ticket
or not vote at ALL Here, then, is the
vital point in our system, for when
are made the party lines
are drawn, and it is then frequently