New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-11-06
THD MD TT

| VINO DID ITf
II is always pleasant to have ones predlc-
tons fulfilled That pleasure is realized by
| THE TRIBUNE in the pcrusal OF the utterances
of Democratic newspapers and Democratic
| statesmen during the past three days.
The TRIBUNE announced Tuesday morning
that within twenty-fOur hours there would be
"razOrs a-hying i'll the air." The announce
ment was based upon tie certainty OF Demo
cratic defeat and the conviction that, so som as
the battle was over, the chorus of 81 told you
SOS would break out in TIE Democratic press
and among The leaders of the party all over the
! country. There were abundant signs every
wherein tie Ieadng between the lines OF the
| organs, the hints and insinuations in curt and
snappIsh paragraphs, the half suppressed
growls of dissdti> faction among the leaders, the
mutinous talk among the rank and file, and the
pnn intmations that the day of settlement
of old scores would come as soon as the
! election was over-signs IN all these things
that the fun would begin pretty soon after the
| closing of the polls. We believed 1T would
| be all the more furious from the long restraint
that the GeSire for harmony, cngendered 10y the
| appetite for plumber, had imposed upon the
party. WEea TIE TRIBUNE predicted ON
tuesday that the han-puling would begin
promptly the following morning and proceed
with increasing e2nestness for several days,
we had absolute confidence that tne event
would amply verify the prophecy. We don't
know but we ought TO thank cur Democratic
friends for the handsome performance Of
their part Of the programme.
Who did itg Whose fault was it What
one-man power lost New-York9 Whose self
will lost Kings COunly9 Was it Tammauy's
arroganceP Did Irving Hall play tair9 Did
Grace hurt Hancock or Hancock injure
Grace7 Was it done by Newly York and
Kings or 10y the interior counties2 Was it
" atter,0n's tariff plank or Hancock's fool
ishncss; Tie Paterson Guardian interview
or Senator RandopLs interference? Was it
the blind obstnacy of the Solid south or the
weak trucking of the Northern wing of the
Parry? Was it because Tlden was defeated
AZ Cincinnati, or because he sulked and dId not
enter with any heart into the canvass 7 Did
Barnum do it with his males, OF with his stolen
dispatches, or his forged Chinese letter
Which organ injured the party by doing too
much and winch by doing too little! Was it
because Of the alliance with the Gieenbaclers in
Nj inc OF because of the refusal to unite with
them in Indiana Which did most damage to
tie party in Indiana, the prostitution OF the
Supreme COur, to Mr.. Hendricks ambition, or
the nomination OF William II. English for Vice
President 4? Was ii one, two, OF half dozen
blunders, or was the whole business, from the
defeat of 'lidcn al Cincinnati to the nomlna-
ton of Grace for Mayor OF New IOrk, IA series
so continuous and persistent as to be entitled
to be called one grand suppuIatOn of blum
deTs These are among the questions under
discussion in Democratic circles and the party
press Who did it? That's what million or
more Of fellows, WHO have just seen the offices
they are hungry for snatthed away from them,
want to know.
Well, let the discussion 60 on. 1t is well that
the dlsputants should free their minds, and the
chances ale that good deal of truth will come
out, to the ultimate advantage of the whole
people. But when it is all over, and the over
hauling Of the management of the whole cam
paign to find the causes of defeat has ceased,
they will be no nearer the real cause than when
they began. The trouble in all this pulling
and hauling is that they don't look back far
enough. 1t isn't Mr.. Kelly, nor Mr.. Tilden, nor
Mr.. Mclaughlin, nor Mr.. Grace, nvr Irving
Hall, nor Iammany, nor Solid South, nor tariff,
nor Hancock, nor English nor the beastly stu
pidity nor stupid brutality OF one organ or all
the organs, that they have to thank for the de-
feat. They did, each in his own way, their part
toward it but the defeat is due after all to
the fact that the party Itself is dishonest and
has been found ont. The Southern wing of
the party is sincere in some things, and espcc-
tally in its belief in the divine right of Southern
statesmen to govern the county. The North
Elm wing is an organized appetite, and nothing
more. Since 1856 its only desire has been to
lance with the South its chief endeav0r to
deceive the North as TO the meaning and pur-
pose of that alliance. In those twenty. five
years it has hardly done an honest act Ii can
not show in all that period a single instance
of devotion to principle. The only creditablo
so nearly suppressed that it made no record 1t
has never res ealed Itself but at the expense of
defeat.
Ii is the party, not any one or all OF It's lead
ers that the people have just now repudated
1t isn't MIR, Barnum, OF Mr.. Kelly, or any other
leader; it isn't the lying, the forgeries, the
mud sling ing or any other one mistake, or the |
w mole campaign of mistakes it is the organ |
lied blunder called the Democratic Party that |
the country kicks out, and the reason for IT is |
found, not in campaign, but in all It's history.
This is no Jonah business /; the ships rotten.
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WORD WITH JOHN KELLY