Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-05-14
THE DECAY OF THE LNDEPEN-
DENT TICKET SCHEME.

LII .DNCAI OH 1HE lNOEIEN- |
DENT TICKET SCHEME.
Things look very black just now for the
Independent electoral ticket. And they |
ought to, for it Was a wild, impracticable,
visionary scheme which. if not put for
ward as tentative process to ascertain
how far the free voters of Virginia would
follow one mans lead, must have been the
result Of thoughtless impulse in moment
of supposed power. 1t is utterly hopeless
as far as victory is concerned. The most
it can do is to lmperil the success of the
Democratic party IN the State by aiding
the Republican party through divisions in
our own, and this not one Democratic Re-
adiuster in thousand, to whom the Inde-
pendent ticket was at first enthusiastical
" recommended, desires to do. There is
no question we think, now, of the election
of ''mixed'' or s'unpledged" or whatever
YOU may choose to term it, electoral tick
ct. The two national parties are
too rapidly falling into their own
camps. Even the black mass of colored
Republican Readjusters in the First. Sec
ond, Third and Fourth Congressional Dis
tricts, it is now plain cannot be held un-
less they be allowed to vote for electors
from their own districts pledged to sup
port Grant or some other Republican NOM
inee. The colored vote cannot be kept in
hand to vote for anything but Republi-
can Adjuster. The speakers Of that race
are alzeady seen antagonizing each other
on the hustings, one advocating the
Straight-out Republican ticket and the
other urging an Independent ticket, but
both denouncing any proposition to sup
port anybody not pledged to the Re-
publican nominees.
The Democratic Readjusters are not
blind. They see and know the difficulties
in getting any general support in nation
al election, to ticket that promises no
victory to either national party, and based
merely on an alleged advantage to state
issue. We think the Richmond s'Whig"
sees some of this. In its issue of
Monday it contained an appeal to the
Democratic Readjusters. 1t says:
This article IS addressed to Democrats To Dem
and who expect to die firm in Democratic faith.
These are the sort who live in the Shen-
andoah Valley and who will never vote for
a Republican elector on mixed ticket.
nor ticket not pledged to the Democratic
nominee. They are as through and
through as any Democrats in the land,
and when the State Committee undertook
to tell them some months ago that they
were not Democrats if they didn' t support
a certain state policy, they regarded the
committee as demented. The "Whig,"
after it's usual invectives against "Funder
faction and the ''Lovell committee"
comes to this point:
marched so often to the music are very 10th to hold
back, as we see the squadrons moving on and the
We naturally feel as if we belonged there. That it
is hard to be excluded from participation in the first
stages of struggle in Which Onr whole hearIS enter
And ever and anon our hearts yearn thitherward,
comes the syren voice OF the Funders: Join with
u.s. This iona hee US nn uhte On
day!'' It is tempting. It is tantazing. But! Join.
How? Unite. How? Joining means aDand a. m ne
our own organization and following the lead OF their
own
Not bad description of the anxiety
that pervades every Democratic heart to
JOIN the National Democracy ia the glorl-
GUS contest it is entering on. Men with
this feeling, and it is general all oyer this
State, cannot be persuaded to vote any
mixed epublican.-Democratic ticket
Men with this feeling cannot be carried to
the polls to cast blind ballot into the
box, perchance to be given finally to Re-
publican candidate. There is no Readjus-
ter organization for National elections, to
be abandoned" It was never pretended
that the Readjuster State organization
was intended for the National election
Democratic Readjuster was informed
when he sided with it and voted for Dem
ocratic Readiuster candidates that he was
expected in November to vote for Repub-
lican Readjuster electors or to surrender
his ballot to be cast probably for Repub-
lican President. There would not have
been many Democratic Readjusters with
that strange and inconsistent programme
with no political principal laid down for
them. In closing the "Whig" advises:
wemay be Democrats and vote the Democratic
ticket without going into their primaries. especially
bility do exactly the same thing as II we do not.
AS to going into Funder primaries, that
is now out of date. But how "vote the
Democratic ticket Y'' A Readjuster
straight out Democratic ticket! The
blacks would flee from such an one as from
the plague. Such ticket could only in
crease the chances OF the Republican tick
ct. It would be wretched failure and its
only possible ''victory" would be, bring
ing defeat on others as well as itself. We
read the article in the ewing" with some
curiosity to the end, expecting to find there
some suggestion as to how members of
its party may vote a Democratic elect oral
ticket but find none.
The State Convention which meets in
July has difficult ticket ahead OF it. Ii
it adopts Democratic ticket, away 60
the Republicans; if 1t adopts a ticket OF
five Republicans and six Democrats, re-
curing the Democrats of Virginia to vote
for 1--WE Rep ublican electors, away go the
Democrats, and if it adopts an unpledged
ticket to be cast for nobody in particular,
away goes everybody
A later number OF the sWhig" says, ex-
planatory, that its article sincerely sets
forth that Readjusters who are determine
cd to vote the National Democratic ticket
should not therefore become Funders."
Exactly There is no conceivable reason
why Readjuster should hesitate about
voting the National Democratic ticket.
That ticket has nothing whatever to do
with state affairs. That is the way the
Readjusters of the Tenth Legion look at
it.
I'm the Northern Methodist General Con-