New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-04-14
SOUTHERN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS..

SOUTHERN REPRESENTATIONS
1t would very much please the Democrats to
entrap the Republican party into a fatal nOmina
ton. To that end, information is frequently
given from Democratic sources Of the strong
tendency of Southern States to vote for ex-
President Grant. The generous Democrats
who distribute this information broadcast are
careful to make proclamation Of their fear that
General Grant may be nominated and elected.
They rush into print, we are solemnly assured,
only because to their pure Democratic souls
the danger of General Grants election seems so
imminent, and they are anxious to rouse men,
bers of their party to an appreciation of the
peril. 1t may be noticed that they never offer
practical suggestions for Democrats as to the
best method of defeating this most undesirable
candidate. The tone of their utterances is
gloomy. They sit in the shadow of coming
defeat. With aching hearts and wailing voices,
they tell us that we have only to nominate
Grant, and the Democratic party will be beaten.
In vain Is the net spread in the sight of any
@bird." The reasons given by Democrats for
expecting Democratic defeat if General Grant
should be nominated do not bear examination.
1t is said that the repudiatOrs OF Virginia and
Tennessee are eager to vote for him; that the
multitude of believers In " the old flag aud an
appropriation fancy that Grants election
would give them an era of speculation, jobbery,
claim-paying and unlimited Improvement; and
that Democratic of the South do not want
President who would turn on the stream Of re-
form and cleanse the public service of abuses.
These, be it remembered, are reasons publicly
given by Democrats, and if they involve an
insult to any portion of the Democratic voters,
the fault does not lie with Republicans.
1t is. not true that the corruption and jObbery
in the Democratic party favor the election Of
General Grant On the contrary, large share
Of the strength OF that party, in Congress aud
elsewhere, comes from those who know that
they would have little chance, or none, for
peculation or jobbery under any Republican
Administration. They fancy that everything
is rotten in the state of Denmark, as long as
Republicans are in power, though they have
turned on all the Congressional microscopes
and have spent years in searching, without
finding the rOttenness. But their grief is that
they are not "on the inside,n and they are
bitter and noisy partsans mainly because they
have learned how easily money might be made
or stolen under Democratic Administration of
easy virtue. President Grant had faults, but
his worst enemy will not assert that it was one
of his faults to give opportunity for jobbery or
peculation to Democrats; for il it had been,
hundreds of his political opponents would have
possessed corrupt secrets enough to make his
defeat easy. II the corruption really existed
under his Administration, which Democrats
have so often pretended to discover,
it is at least certain that il was not the
habit of the ex-President or his associates to
fa 70 ahoro fhair onuHdopna Tho
corrupt elements of the Democratic party are
not in favor of General Grant, or of any other
Republican candidate.
The people who want unlimited appropria
lions for improvements at the South have not
forgotten eight years of experience under
General Grant, aud they know that the appro-
prla.ions during that period were not especially
distinguished by sectionalism in that direction.
They know, of course, that appropriations are
not made by the President, but by Congress,
and that the influence of the Administration, if
ever cxerted in favor of lavish expenditures of
public money for any purpose, was not so ex-
erted in favor of such expenditures ut tie
South. Among all the accusations and scandals
which have been raised in regard to transac-
tions under that Administration, it has never
been charged, in any extremity of partisanship,
that President Grant gave cOuntenanco to ex-
cessive or wanton expenditure at the South.
The principal bait in this Democratic trap Is
the influence of the Readjusters of Virginia.
These, 1t is said, and other regulators, would
vote for General Grant, but would not vote for !
any other Republican who is likely to be nOmi-
mated The assertion does an injustice to the
ex-President. Little as we wish to see him
nominated, we must ever do honor to his de-
feat of the initiation bill, and to his de-
fence of the public honor at other times; and
there is scarcely living Republican who has
done more than General Grant to earn the
hatred OF readjusters and regulators of every
s,rt. But this, at least, Is certain IL any Re-
publican candidate Is so unfortunate as to have
the support of the Southern regulators, he
viii surely lose ct the North three times as
many votes a. they Oan give him. II 1t were