The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1880-08-20
5It GntelIigstrfe'
-.s-5...ll % ronrleenth slreel


Dan's D'..,ioo ' in this city two or thre'
st'a,.S s,.msn were given places Of homo
At'p', .,.,iorn because Of the fact tha
sas 1s. =, ,irty years they had voted th'
San!%n ns,ooc,stic . ticket. This was The
'''ls, p ..,,,n urged for this mark OF consid IN
@l 'sN inferred upon them. Theil
'H'laJ .,,. who called attention TO their
s'Dp ,. in the Convention, and who
F',s'% ,,,s, motions on their behalf, seemed
s,s' 't,s,t W. it WAS a record to be proud
Sp., ,-., n have scratched q Democratic
a'''I, :, more than a half century Of
Ns,s y. oopd not but think at the .,1.t time that
VIZ, NI ,iabt thinking and intelligent
,N..e,n ,isis citizen might well blush to hear
sas sla',,i,neI as matter Of credit to his
y lr.So,J,ba. he had voted like a machine
s,S,t I,us.h Of time. 1t is this sort OF
wv wv" ",Tjsau voting that has been the
,.,,oI -, our politics. 1t is this unthinking
.,+t@ .,eSp ieaity that has, more than any
,sl't elk, encouraged calculating aud un'
'-ss,Sn, ,'s i politicians to go to any length
:, % ,',y,e their ends, being assured in ad.
',,,.ol llhe support of large per cent OF
,t,n who either do not know enough or
Nv. .,n not Independence enough to scratch
htftckeIs.
80. narsied on the platform at Washing
=, MI Hail that they were not intelligent
~, To all appearances they were quite
4,,eyeue. 1t was doubtless more their
-.5huue than their fault that this was
S,a,e. We do not refer to the fact in
az spirit Of personal disparaSement.
M, were the product Of their surround
I'd in life, and these surroundings
M never developed within them the
l,Vlty Of thinking aud acting for them.
vl,., Il was a poor compliment that
IA p,id to the veterans, and the
Convention ought really to have been
sb,ued to offer them such a compli-
1aL
What would the country have come to
Hls yotnu population for the lasttwenty-
f.. .,e,rs bad been made up Of such mere
yti1p machines as these old men. They
,lA themselves Democrats, and they
,cisd ia the fact that they had always
Inn Democrats. On all occasions they
I'D dyolel the Democratic ticket. Right
Srpugthey had marched to the polls
nd Eiihout regard to the course Of events
qthe demands Of patriotism, they had
,;d what WAS called the Democratic
fteL II it was in the days Of Jackson,
uhla the ticket meant opposition to
secession and in favor OF sound currency,
S.y bad voted il under the name OF the
Democratic ticket. lit was in the days Of
ls0, when the ticket meant the right Of
assiOn on the part OF the South, they
dill vOtedi 1t under the name oil the Dem.
outtc ticket. II it was in 1854, when
he war was going on, and when the
Democratic party declared it failure and
alsd for It's cessation, they still voted the
ttta in the name Of Democracy. II It
Taiu 1865, when the amend ments and
reconstruction acts were mathematical,
ni Eben rsg money was apothaosized,
hey gtiil voted the ticket In the name Of
Democracy. It was in this year Of grace
-lSO-vhen the party has proclaimed
1T bard money and nominated candid
rs Who almost rests his whole case on the
Ildlty ilhe amendments and recon-
tIEdiou .cts, they still propose to vote
EstCket in the name OF Democracy.
Such record is not to the credit OF any
nan ltshows that intelligence and pa.
tradsN have not characterized his voting.
hlIeNrd that is only consistent in its
ftn.hteucy. It is a very devious rec
@a Is respects any adherence to principle.
As contrsdistinguished from all this
nTci blind, unthInking machine voting,
"s@y in the fact that the spread of in.
slsncs Ia liberatiug the public mind
itoH all such partisan slavery. As Mr..
herman said in the convention TO which
's bave referred, the independent voter
: gttiHg 10 be more and more Of an ele.
ntht in politics to be feared, and he
IiIsd the followers OF Col. Wilson to
SeEGnOithe Independent voter this year,
ISsU@his warning, although, as his OWE
IVSstquent course in the convention
Asrtd, he himself Is not one OF the
dependent voters that are abroad in the
lad. Opposed as he was to Col. Wilson, yet,
lshe Old veterans, he will march to the
'olaand vote for him, because to do other
ne would not be Democratic, and as the
'd Pennsylvania Democrat long ago said,
'h'n called on to define a Democrat; ~
al' man Democrat what votes the