Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-11-26
What Ought to Be Done with III

! lnefe arc OJher SUperunnuated DEM
ocratic grannies who think the same.
They say it is "a bulwark against en-
croachments upon the Constitution" D."
That's glib sentence, and has been
rolled under the Democratic tongue un-
ill it has become meaningless, and "a
simply used now for its verbal beauty
md its pretentiOus sound, 1t is what
| the boys around the theaters call 'rot, -
which is regarded as slang, but which
is, in fact, good English when used to
signify something worse than trash, and
was used in the days of William Shakes
peare, who knew what words meant
1t is especially ridiculous to talk of
the Democratic party being a bulwark
against wrong. II the Constitution had
! depended for preservation on the abili-
| ty, to say nothing of the disposition, of
that party to protect it, il would have
gone to pieces years and years ago.
The Democratic party can protect moth
ing. IL is not "bulwark against any
thing though it is an obstructionist in
many ways"
1t is the political mule standing with
its fOrelegs in the ditch and its tail
across the highway of progress, neces-
stating kick and a shove to one side
every now and then to let the loaded
cars pass; but it is in no sense bull
wark, because it cannot even protect
its own rear from the toes of indignant
travellers.
For twenty years the Democratic par
ty has endangered the peace, the safety
and the life of this Republic. 1t en-
cOuraged the South to rebellion and
then denied it. 1t has been Just enough
Of friend of that section to be worse
than an enemy. The South would have
settled down to quiet and the observ-
ance of the laws long ago if it had not
been for this coward of a party, that
was too timid to fight and too mean to
counsel peace.
In the name of all that is great, and
good, and patriotic, and sensible, why
should the Democratic party exist for
another quarter of a minuteP Even if
spoils were a reason for party existence
there would be no excuse for another
breath on the part of that organization.
1t cannot win anything. 1t is too stupid
to even steal successfully. Its bruised
and battered condition might evoke
pity when it begs for aims, except it is
too well known, and sympathizers insist
upon giving it a bath before they give
it bread; and a bath to the Democratic
party means death beyond resurrection.
Why should it liveP What need of it,
what excuse for it, what apology for its
eXistenceP Is it necessary to protect
libertyP Look at its crimes against hu-
man freedom and its offenses against
equal rights! Is it'required to perpetu-
ate honestyP Observe its performance
Al. IL
campaign. Is it needed as a great
moral engine to purify the ballot and
give effect to Republican principlesP
Let the solid South answer.
Men used to proclaim themselves
Democrats with boldness, if not with
pride, but the name has become re-
proach. They announce this fact now
with an air of painful defiance, as they
would the strange circumstances of
their being opposed to schools, or rail
roads, or in favor of the dissemination
of the yellow fever. They know that it
is a muddy and an undeserving organi-
zation, a bundle of sin upon the back of
the National pilgrim, but obstinacy and
that stra lge dislike to admitting them
selves to be wrong which mars and
dwarfs humanity, keeps them falsely
true to an exploded bubble. They are
carrying around on their shoulders
political corpse, and holding up its
clammy hands while they announce that
it is the champion of constitutional free
dom. Laughter makes them indignant;
remonstrance implies that they do
not know what they are about;
severity is very likely to have the
effect of making them grasp their
coffin still more tightly, and so they
march on proclaiming the mass of cor
ruption alive, and mistaking its hor-
rible odor for the perfume of prin-
ciple. A good many of the younger
and more sensible men have let go the
handles now, and there is hope that
the old body may be buried at last; but
whether it is or not, one thing is as
certain as fate: The American people
will never permit this grinning relct
of lost cause to be carried up the
steps of power and installed over the
destinies of the Nation. While it re-
mains above ground, its old opposers
will fight it, and young recruits will
unite to stamp upon it. 1t represents
the slavery advocating, woman-whip-
ping, child-selling, treason-loving,
Union-defying party of this country,
and so long as fathers can talk and
mothers can remember, so long will the
generations despise the name of modern
Democracy Chicago inter- Ocean.
B6sa Barnum cannot shake off the re-
sponsibility for that forged letter. The
night before it was published he sent to
the principal Democratic journals of the
country dispatch signed with his own
name, saying: 1.-THE letter is authentic.
1t is in General Garfield's handwriting.
Denial is worse than useless. 1t should
have the widest circulation among all
classes, rs it unmasks the Republican
hollowness and hypocrisy on the labor
question through their chief" That
dispatch gives official Democratic ap-
proval to the dirtiest campaign SANDER
ever concocted. Every Democratic
editor in the land submssively obeyed
this crack of the mule-driver's whip and
did his best to circulate the lie,-M y
ITibtlHe.
Bsig-Each house of Congress is the
judge of the qualifications of its MEM
bers, and not the least of the good re-
suits of the recent election is the power
! that has baan cpnfarrad f1nnn tho Ra.