Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1880-08-06
TIE PRECIPITATION OF THE SOLID
SOUTH.

In his very able speech at San Francisco
on Wednesday evening, Secretary Thomp-
son, speaking of the causes which have pro.
duced a solid South, observed that " the
Democrats have got the idea that il they
can triumph with General Hancock in
9'the Presidential election their ideas will
:" be perpetuated" There can be no doubt
that this is very serious consider
alton. A Democratic victory at this time
would not only involve revolution in the
civil service, but It would strengthen and
solidify that peculiarly Southern policy
which is now the most dangerous factor in
American politics. The Democratic party
of the North may be said to be fighting for
the spoils alone, but the Southern DEM
ocrats are fighting for the right to estab-
fish bulldozing and despotism permanently,
and by the systematic employment Of these
agencies to control the whole country.
Whether the Mexican methods of the
South shall be made permanent institutions
or not will depend largely upon this cleo
ton. A Democratic defeat at this juncture
must go far to convince the South OF. the
hopelessness of its latest policy. But it
will do much more than that. By putting
power into the hands of the party
which is the natural defender of
| free institutions it will enable steps
L L IL he of 4bOca
fragrant abuses which have so long dis
graced Southern politics. 1t will prove
the fatility of all attempts to disrupt the
Union through the ballot-box, and it will
open the way to that era of better feeling
which is required for the elimination of
Southern disaffection. A Democratic VIC
tory, on the other hand, would convince
the South that its strongest dependence
lay in Red Shirt Leagues, Kuklux and rifle
clubs. 1t would put in power party that
could be relied on to abandon the freed
men to their fate. 1t would intensity the
''solid South" sentiment, and build up
wall between the two sections. Nothing
could SO surely encourage the Southern
Democrats in their most fatal courses as
success at the present time. Nothing
problem so hopeless. They would then be
justified in believing that all they had
to do to maintain their ascendancy was
to keep on as they had begun. They
would interpret the verdict of the
people as an Endorsement of their undem-
ocratic methods. They would be led
on to make their section even more
like what it was before the rebellion
They would be embroidered to put their
doctrine of States Rights in active opera
ton, and to disregard the constitutional
amendments. TIE general result of the
change would be to aggravate all the worst
symptoms of the existing situation, and to
render return to constitutional methods
almost hopeless. The Republican party
has no cause of quarrel with the South
outside of that which arises from Southern
disaffection to republican principles and
institutions. 1t holds, and rightly, that
the Constitution and the statutes made
under it must be the supreme law of the
land. 1t insists that the Southern people
shall be bound by the same obligations
which the people of the North recognize.
1t demands that they shall respect the
freedom of the ballot, that they shall &C.
cept majority rule, that they shall accord
to the negro all his civil and political
rights, that they shall live like civilized
men, respecting the law and their neigh
boris rights, and retaining from violence
and fraud.