Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-07-02
DEMOCRATIC PROFESSION and PRAc-
TTCE

dreds of thousands OF voters VINO haa
stoutly supported the party since its or
ganization. The fact that the Democrats
had been so long out of Office was greatly
in their favor They had no administrative
record, and though they were still regarded
with distrust by the majority, there were
many Republicans who were more and more
inclined to believe that the time had come
for bridging the "bloody chasm," and who
also thought it probable that Democratic
rulers could not be much worse than the
men whose corrupt practices We're then
scandalizing the country. So great de-
lection from the Republican standard en-
sued, and in 1876 the Republican national
ticket came within one electoral vote OF
defeat. The Democrats secured control OF
both branches Of Congress. The initiative
in legislation lay with them. They had
long list of professions and promises to
fulfill They were called upon to show
their faith By their works; to justify the
wisdom of those who had been persuaded
to support them as against Republic
can candidates. They have now had
control of Congress during two terms, and
that is long enough for the full develop
mcnt of any national programme they
may have had. When, therefore, they
come before the country again with a plat
form in which they lay down what they
are willing to stand to as principles, they
must expect to be judged by the light OF
what they have already accomplished. |
There is this time no uncertainty about
their purposes and tendencies, as there was
in 1876. They cannot now hope to gain
any support through the blankness of their
administrative record They have had
their opportunity. and have used it, and
now their new platform must be analysed
by comparing It's professions with their &C.
tual performances. This examination will
result in the discovery that they have done
nothing they promised to do, but that they
have bent all their energies to doing the
things which they said they would not do
In their platform, for example, they de-
clare themselves in favor CT popular educa- |
ton, honest money, strict maintenance OF
the public faith, tariff for revenue
only, the subordination of the mill
tary to the civil power, general and |
thorough reform OF the civil service, main
tenance of free ballot, and so forth. |
Now let us see how far their actual prac.
tees justify them in pretending to care for
any of these things. We will begin with |
education. The fostering and protection
* of common schools, has been Illustrated |
in almost every Southern State by the re-
fusal to make appropriations for the sup |
port of these schools. The Southern poll /
ticians have for years done all they could |
to prevent the spread of education among
the masses. And the Southern element |
rules the Democratic party. " Honest
money" is the next plank in the Cincin-
natl platform. It's appositeness is shown
in the determined warfare made by Dem |
ocrats against the scheme of resumption,
in favor of every currency craze, and
against the credit of the nation. The |
demand for strict maintenance of the |
public faith comes well from a party
which has ever since the war been de-
nouncipg the bondholders, and seeking to
foster the spirit OF reputation.
A tariff for revenue only is called Tor.
But the Democrats have during two seq
sions of Congress done nothing to reform
the tariff. They have III practice turned /
their backs upon their own free trade prin-
ciples. They have abstained from doing
anything to help the country in the matter
CT free ships. As proof OF their notion
of tie subordination Of the military to the
civil power they have thrust all their own
statesmen into the background, and have
taken rs their candidate 4 man who is
nothing but soldier. Their regard for
civil service reform was exhibited by the /
haste and rapacity with which they seized .
upon every Congressional office as soon as /
they vent into power, turning out Union
soldiers to make room for Confederates, /
and acting throughout on the maxim TO !
the victors belong the spells" We come
next to the demand for :" free ballot"
Upon that issue the Democratic party has |
a pronounced record. The party has no
standing in this campaign but what it
derives from the systematic suppression
Of the right Of suffrage all through |
the South. II enters the contest
claiming l38 votes, the result of
open, shameless and deliberate fraud
and intimidation. It does not calculate
upon winning more tLan three or four
States by honest methods, and it may not
win tWo. All its hopes depend upon the
success with which it can suppress the
colored vote at the South, and yet it has
the ineffable impudence to postulate 90 the
right OF free ballot in its platform
We have thus shown that the profession
and practice Of the Democracy are wholly
at variance. 1t has done none OF the
things it declares to be necessary, though
it has had ample opportunity to do them
all. 1t has spent most Of its time during
the past year in an endeavor to repeal
those Federal election laws which were en- !
acted for the protection OF the ballot. 1t
has identified itself, in Maine, with the
most infamous assault on the suffrage re- !
corded in history. 1t has repudiated every
one Of its fair promises, and it has shown
itself the abject tool of Southern aggres-
sion and usurpation. Whoever trusts that
party now must do so with their eyes open,
for 70 man can hope that it will prove
more faithful in the future than it has been
in the past.
SCHOOL MATTERS.
The Board of Education has at length
got rid of the Sacramento Grammar School
imbroglio, but in way which cannot be
considered hattcring to the judgment OF