The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1880-11-27
What Killed the Democratic I
From the Chicago Time

| shown that there is an 1nylnci<
reason why the Demecratic party
never win national victory. ~
that the youth of this Republic Is
Democratic. The sons of Dsmocra
fathers have grown up RepublicaI
So long as slavery and the war lin
within the memory of America
the youth of the Republic will "a
tinue to grow up Republicans
slavery and the war will be RENE
ed as long as the public scho0l 81
tenn exists. TIE public schools hA
slain the Democratic party with
textbooks.
1t is vain for the statesmen 70
clare that there was as many UfiH
Gratis as Republicans ia the i1A
Army. 1t is vain to Affirm TIL. "
| war for tlls ,isssrYAgieil lhe idn'
tcouid not have been carriedF TO a
successful close without The assistance
of the Democratic party. 1t is idle
for philanthropy to suggest that the
attitude of that party toward the war
in the beginning was humane one !;
that it was Inspired by the higher
and better wish that the cause of the
conflict should be peaceably lemov.
ed, and Tie spilIing of brothers blood
tv brothers. hands avoided. Che
Democratic party has been ideally
identified with slavery and slave
holding. The Republican PARTY is
idally identified with emancipation
and the war. Therefore is the youth
of the country incapable Of being
Democratic. Therefore the Demo-
cratic party can never win National
victory. It's cid men are dying away.
The boys who catch the ballots that
fall from their stifi'ened hands are
Republicans.
This fact cannot be denied. 1t will
do no good to quarrel with it. All
other causes which have operated to
diminish the number of Democrats
and increase the number of RepubIi-
cans are insignificant besides this one
tremendous and inyinci5le fact. The
curse of slavery has poisoned the
blood and rotted the bone Of the
Democratic party. The malediction
of the war has palsied its brain.
The young wife who held the babe
up to kiss the father as ne hurried to
the tap of his departing regiment has
not sucked Democrat. The weary
foot of the gray grandmother who
watched the children while the Wits
was busy has not rocked the cradle
of Democrats. The chair that the
soldier father never came back to fill
has not been clibmed upon by DemoH
Gratis. The Old blue coat that his
comrades carried back was cut up
for little jackets, but not one incosed
The heart of a Democrat. The ratified
musket that fell from him with his
shot became the thoughtless toy Of
the boys bur not a hand that played
with it was the hand of Il Democrat.
The babe he kissed crowed and
cr0wed for his return, and its un-
whiting and unanswered notes were
not from the throat of Democrat.
The tear-soiled camp letters which
the mother read alou3 in the long,
bitter evenings while the boys clus-
tered al her knees did not fall upon
Democratic ears. The girls s0bs,
blending with the mothers weeping,
did not make Democrats of their
brothers. Perhaps the father had
been a Democrat all his life
The children go to school. There
is not Democrat on Its benches.
The first reader contains portrait of
Abraham Lincoln-that kind and
sturdy face never made Democrat
On its simple pages, in words Of one
or two sylIables, is tnld the story of
his birth aud death. That story
never made a Democrat. In the
pranks of the playground the name
siIences the trolicsome and snakes
the joiiiest grave. That name never
made a Democrat. In the pictures
that light up the geography are the
firing on Fort Stumpter and the
death of Ellsworth. Those pictures
make no Democrats. The first page
of the history contains a representa-
ton of the surrender of Lee at APP
pomattOx. No boy gazes on that and
ever after avews himself Demo>
Graf.
In the higher grades the same
subtle and unresisted influence is at
work. The textbooks contain ex-
tracts from patriots speeches during
the war. Those speeches make no
Democrats. The great battles are
briefly described the narrative has
no Democratic listeners. The strain
of martial music runs through the
readers, and that music makes no
Democrats. Sketches of the great