New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1880-12-30
Tile .SclpEGO1rN LO4D.

1t seems TO be, for the Twelve Tribes Of
Democracy, the month TisIi and the Day OF
At1ncment. There has been the preliminary
season of publication. tie goat has been led
ont, the scarlet garland inscribed Cor
Azazeln fastened to ms horns, the SINS Of
all the party laid upOn his head by High
Priest Hewitt, and a a,--mceting has in
deyout series OF resolutions said ShOOW to
him. The only remaining question is that
which always rises at The solemn moment
when the High Pres. lifts his hands from oil
the loaded gOat-Win Tie goat go
Many things in the history Of this party
suggest involuntarily the story of the Chosen
People. Andlogies never run precisely on all
fours. The history of the Democratic party
does by no means furnish precise parallel
for that of the Chosen People, but at how
many points docs 1t suggest it, There were
the plaques, the "spoils - collected before the
Exodus, the longing for the hcsh-pOts after
ward, the calf-woo=hip, the forty years. wan
dering in the desert of which the Democracy
are now in their twenty-iirst, and the failure
OF that whole generation that made tie
Exodus to see the land of promise. Then, too,
the temporary succc sses of the Democracy dur
ing a few years past 10y the aid Of the Green
back alliance: how wildly they recall the Oc-
casion when the Chosen People escaped slaugh-
ter over there in the plains Of Moab through
the SIMPLE reinforcement OF false prophet
and an ass! But not to dwell on these sug-
gestive points in the two histories, let Us pass
with simple allusiOn TO the strong prOba-
blity that if mt the end of their forty years
The Democracy do como into the land Of
promise, it VIII be by some c0nnvance with
the Rahab of that periodic the consideration
of the ceremonies at Cooper Institute, and
their probable effect upon the Chosen People
and the goat.
In the days OF the earlier Wandering 1t was
the custom to choose by lot from the goats
the one which should bear all the sins OF the
people and he driven out into the wilderness.
Judging from speeches made on the same
evening in different places, we should say
there were two goats in tins case, but
that each tribe had selected its Own-Mr. John
Kelly being the -Tammany, and Mayor
Cooper the Tammany goat. At Cooper Inst-
tute the sins of the party are laid between
the horns of Mr.. Kelly; at Tammany HILL
they are laid between those of the Mayor.
There has been no casting OF lots since the
united tribes disposed Of the spoils of the tax
PAYERS by that process in October. An inhar-
rnonious feeling having resulted from that
ioccling of the dice. it seems to have become
a mutual ind erstanding that each tribe select
and load its own goat. This, though an APP
narent innovation, is for the present time a
wisely ordered arrangement. The load is too
great for any one goat. 1t is by no means
certain that two can carry it. Qute likely
Mr.. Henry Bergh, whose philanthropic ear is
ever open even to the scapegoats piteOus
bleat may step in front of the procession as
| il starts, and, nterpoSing the majesty of the
| law for the prevention of cruelty to animals,
demand smaller load or more goats.
And speaking of cruelty to animals, il may
| not be amss TO consider this ceremony for a
| moment in the light of the act referred to-.
| Probably no sturdier scapegOat ever stood
under High Priests hands with scarlet gar
| land his horns than Mr.. John Kelly. But
| look w he is loaded On that broad back
are IL. / the sins of the whole party. Recall
| for a moment the false pretence of having
been defIauded in 1876; the weakness of
deserving the victim of the fraud the folly
of nominating a political nobody the false
| CLAIM that lie was statesman the
| hypocrisy of their praise for his mill
| taIy achievements iht iHslHCtIIl1 VI me
tariff plank in the platform the cowardice
with which they abandoned it ; the disgrace
of the Greenback alliance the treacbery OH
the financial question the filthy blackguardism
| of the 1929" outbreak the scandal of the
Morey letter. the forgery that produced
and the perjury that bolstered =
think, in short. of the Inconsistencies and
contradictions, the mud and filth aud
folly, the conspiracies, lies and crimes
of the last campaign; and on top
of the whole the shameful record of the party
for twenty years. All these and more on poor
John Kelly's back, aud he pointed wilderness
ward These were the things that defeated
the Democratic party; these are the sins that
Chosen People have to answer for; and a
mass-meeting of the party sits in Cooper In
stitute, while Mr.. Hewitt, as High Priest. lays
them on the scapegoats back. Surely this Is
the Day OF At0nement, in the month 1isri.
Well tire ceremony was Impressive and
the goat is loaded. Now, will he gof Proba-