Morning journal and courier., 1880-09-10
ANOTHER STRAW.

The formation in Worcester, Mass, of an Irish Republican club with thirty-two mem bers, only one of whom had been Repubi- can before, Is an encouraging sign of the times. The Spy says that this club had it's origin with Irishmen exclusively, and with Democratic Irishmen without prompting from any Republican. It's founders have been influenced, for one thing, by opposition to the free trade plank of the Democratic platform. They are chiefly mechanics, and they see clearly that with Ia tariff for reve- nue only" the fourishing industries of Worcester would be crippled if not killed ;; that there would be work for only small portion of the men now employed, and that those who could find work would have to be content with much smaller wages than they now have; that America, so far as manufac- lures are concerned, would be only an annex to the British empire, whose cheaper capital and oppressed laborers would produce goods at a lower rate, and compel our workmen to retire from competition, or accept the mea- gre wages and degraded position which are the lot of the English workman.
 But these Irish Republicans have not been influenced in their action solely by the men ace of the Democratic platform against man ufactures. They, like many oth- CTS, have come to the conclu- sion that the Democratic party has no especial claim upon their allegiance, either in its o-caled principles or it's treatment of those who have so long been it's faithful and pow erful supporters. They know that of the higher and more responsible positions 8 much larger number have been assigned by the Republican party to the few men of Irish birth or descent in their ranks, than have been distributed by the Democratic party among the many thousands of Irishmen, without whose votes the Democratic leaders would be officers without an army. They have observed, too, as the Spy says, 'fthat the Republican party has always assert ed the worth and dignity of labor, while the Democratic party was always the staunch ally of those falsely named Democrats at the South, who maintained, until the logic of facts and the sword was too strong for them that the true function of capital was to own labor. They recall the facts that the Repub- ican party passed the homestead law, giving every citizen farm if he chooses to take and cultivate 1t, that Republican administrations have negotiated the naturalization treaties whereby the governments of the old world have given up their long cherished theory that a subject could never transfer his alle- glance, that the Republican party has always favored free and fair elections, and has pro- vided the only security for such elections that has ever been given by law.''
 For these reasons the number of Irish Re- pubhcans is increasing in Worcester and in other places, and for these reasons it ought to increase. The logical place for an Irish man today is in the ranks of the Republican party, which has done more to defend labor, to increase intelligence, to enhance prosperi- ty, to protect liberty, to iberalize society and to give every man 8 better chance in life than the Democratic party has ever even con- templated.