The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1880-10-14
sECrIONALIsM.

Senator Conkling is nothing if not Sec
tional. His speech in the Academy of
Music is saturated with sectionalism.
From beginning to end it is an effort to
embitter the North against the South by
burning appeals to old sectional jealou-
sizes and hates. Why does the Senator
hate the Sou h? The civil war ended
fifteen years ago. The Senator is not a
weak senlimentalist,. He does not cher
ish an unmanly, implaCable hatred OF a
vanouished foe. He does not hate the
South on account of slavery; for slavery
is as dead as the lost cause. He has but
one reason for hating the South, and
this he does not state, for it would be
the instant antidote of all that is baneful
in his speech. He hates the South, be-
cause her people, by very considerable
majority, are opposed to Mr.. Conkling's
party. Mr.. Conkling chooses to regard
this opposition as personal to himself, as
in some sense it is. H is the bright and
shining light of Republicauism. He is
the exponent and oracle of Republican
methods and plans-the standing Re-
publican candidate for the Presidency.
To. day he is, by all odds, the leading
Republican of the country. The South
is politically hostile to him. Therefore
he hates the South with all the intensity
of his nature.
How different it would be if the South
were Republican to the extent of its
present Democratic majority. Then Mr..
Conkling would love the South. Then
he would not taunt her with decline in
population, with poverty and ignorance.
He would not fling in her face her mis-
fortunes, such as they are, He would
make the "solid South" term of praise.
He would point to her Republican una
nimity as model for the doubtful North.
Then he could not commend too warmly
the political enthusiasm of all Southern
ers. Words would fail even in hattering
the devotion of the South to politiCs-if
it's variety were only Republican. We
can imagine the eloquent Senator con-
trasting the profound interest taken by
the South in politics-the profoundest of
all by her ablest men-with the languor
and indifference of the North, wLere our
most capable citizens too often shun pol
itiCs as nuisance. But, alas, Circum'
stances alter cases. The South is over
whelmingly Democratic; therefore Mr.
Conkling hates her, and tries to make
erybody hate her. Cold-blooded pol
icy harmonizas with his personal feel.
ings. In pouring out his walls of hatred
upon the South, he runs no risk of los
ing electoral 70 es down there. The
Republicans expect no votes from the
South. They are making no contest il
that field. Their only battle field is the
North. And they hope to win here by
srraying majority of Northern people
against what they call solid South.
Their weapons are those brandished by
Mr.. Conkling in his speeCh-misrep
eentations, taunts, sarcasms. This is
sectionalism, as cruel and unjust in its
way as any that preceded the late war
on either side. And it is full of dangers,
as seCtionalism ever is. Southern sla-
very has ceased to exist. But, if Moth
ern sectionaism is to take its place as a
disturbing element, the peace of the
country is again threatened.
We repeat, that Senator Conkllng is
nothing if not sectional. He is no more
national than he is statesman, He is
a brilliant politician with narrow, Sec
tional views. Ii he were a Southerner,
he would make to Southern audiences
redhot speeches full of hatred of the
North. He would juggle with facts and
hgures, and be as voiuble in depreciation
and sneers at the expense of the North,
as he now is with the South as the target
of his eoquence Mr. ConkIing now
pretends to fear that the South may OBJ
tain entire control of the government.
But were he Southerner, he could lay
great stress on the fact that the North
has had complete possession of the gov
ernment for nearly twenty years. He
could and would demand the overthrow
of this monopoly. He would appeal in
glowing sentences to the pride and self
interest of the South, and summon her
to resist h. continued domination of
another section. AS a Southerner, the
Senator, with his peculiar qualifications,
would shine more lustrously than as a
Northerner. The fiery nature of the
Southrons would respond to his inveC-
tives more readily than that of the coyl-
er Mortimer. He is the right man in
the wrong place.
Suppose an accident of birth had
made Mr.. Conkiing a Westerner; he
then would have hated the East ss thor
oughly as he now hates the South. He
would have been the very man to plead
that Western movement, which is fas t
gaining strength against Eastern inter
ests and pretensions. The whole strain
of his argument on Friday night would
apply almost as well to the New England
states as to the South. New England
makes as little progress in population as
lhe South. Compared with the mighty
West, she is weak in numbers of men.
The West, and not the East, is the great
center of material wealth; and yet the
New England states will not relinqush
their desire and purpose to control, as
far as they can, the politics and destiny
of the nation. In this resolve, New Eng
land acts up to a noble ambition. Tho
she may be overshadowed by the rising
power Of the West, she is still the pro.
life mother of political ideas, and she
has sons with brains and energy enough
to impress themselves upon the national
character. So has the South. Why
should one section be denounced for am.
btiously striving to make her influence
felt; while another is praised to the skies
(by Eastern men like Conkling) for do
ing the same thiDg2 Truly, circumstan-
ces do alter cases. New England, which
will read, and doubtless admire the SEN