The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-10-29
Boston Traveller
Humors Of the Campaign.

a good deal Of humor. Our people are natural
ly disposed to make merry over the political
complications of persons and parties ON such
occasions. Politics, it is proverbislly said,
makes strange bedfellows, and their agree
ments and dsagreemehts are alike prolific In
humorous suggestions. 1t is good thing to
contests brought wildly to view. Not only
are the asperities Of party warfare tempered by
such exhib itions of their ludicrous aspects, but
he cause of justice aud right is promoted by
them. There is nothing like the perception Of
the ridiculous in human relations 10 iluslrate
III cir real as we'll as their sham significance.
Truth is thus made plain by exposure of error,
and the freaks of folly only serve to put in .
clearer light the counsels and actions of wis.
dom. The occasion of laughter in such cases
being, as Emerson says, "sone seeming, some
keeping of the word to the ear and eye, whilst
it is broken to the soul" the comic impression
is really an aid to serious thought. Political
masqueraders are never SO effectively exposed
as when some satirist shows how they would
look in their natural garb. Principles, as well
as the men who profess them, are made more
clearly apparent by being embodied in some
striking satiric form. . n epigram may thus
be more serviceable TO political cause than an
argument, and a caricature be more dangerous
to it than an invective. The fact that some
element of truth is essential to the influence Of
satirical compositions, may reconcile even fas-
tidious critics TO the abuses which are insepara-
BILE from such agencies in times of political ex-
eitement. In fact, a clumsy or ill-directed
missile of this kind is likely to do more harm
to It's projectors than to their opponents. The
public are quick 10 detect the true character
OF assaults upon individuals or parties, anu
even the heats OF Presidential campaign will
not obscure their judgment OF the aniinus or
tendency of unjust or malignant satire.
The experiences of the present political con-
test illustrate the legitimate effect OF humor
upon the average voter. There has been no
lack OF satlrical attacks with pen and pencil
upon the Republican Candidates, but they have
failed to impress the popular mind. The risi
bilites that have been excited have been al
the expense Of the cause they were intended to
promote. All attempts to fasten charges OF
fraud upon General Garfield have reacted up
on the men and methods that prompted them.
The seemingly cabaiistic figures .329' have
been used i'll every offensive way that jaded
humor could suggest. What has been the re-
suit? The Indiana and Ohio elections have
converted the sy ymbol OF reproach into the EN-
biem of victory. The Republicans of Connec-
ticut have placed the figures "329" in gilt let
ters on their party badges, while the discomft
ed Democrats throughout the country. stand
aghast at tho damage inflicted on their cause
by the recoil of their favorits satirical f I'D
piece. Here aud there of course, the comic
papers have found legitimate subjects for spor-
tive humor in some aspects OF the Republican
situation, but they have uuearthed nothing TO
give force 10 a biting gibe, or Pharisaicai re-
buke. When from men the Democrats turn
to principles, they discover that the party OF
honest money and Of equal rights is not
vulnerable to their shafts. The is
sues which are presented by the sup
porters OF Garfield and Arthur are too momen-
tous for successful ridcule. Attempts to belir-
tie or pervert them by partisan humorists sng-
gests the example of those QuixotIc Writings
who, as Sidney Smith said, would seek to gig
gle away the Great Charter, play chuck-farliI-
ing with human happiness, and determine the
future OF the British constitution, by the meth
cd of teetotum." The truth is, that great
financial terests involving the honor and in
tegrity OF our government and our people can-
not be- successfully tritied with, either by pen
or pencil Concern for the freedom and pur-
ity of elections is not TO be dismissed with a
sneer or converted into a Jest.
IL is for these reasons that Democratic hu-
morisis have to depend mainly upon the disn-
terment of dead issues and the burial of living
ones. This is what makes their mirth have
such a CHASTITY appearance and exert such de-
pressing effect All the liveliness of the most
animated harequns cannot give vitality to the
spectral form OF I" Fraud as it appears in the
winding sheet Of the Electoral Commission. 1t
is Impossible for the most cheerful humorist to
extract pleasantly from the tortuouS career OF
Samuel j. Tilden. Ii he were represented as
rolling down hill in his bar'l filed with spikes,
in the old fashioned style of torture, the treat
ment would be merciful compared with that
which he has received from his funny aSsailants
and still more comlcal defenders within the par
ty The fact that popular Democratic carica-
turists find it necessary TO make capital out of
the weaknesses of their own candidates, Is q
significant feature of the straits to which they
are reduced. The sturdy but somewhat grim
humorist Of the New York Sun has adopted
this policy of disparagement, without ap-
parendy discerning the political danger
incurred in knocking its Presidential cand-
date down, and then urging the party to pick
him up. In sarcastically affirming that ''Har-
cock is good man, weighing 250 pounds"
and at the same time rebuking him for his
tariff letter, the Sun is as ironically Democrat
ic AS when it exalts Tilden at his expense.
After this, the biisteriDg OF English seems con-
sistent as we'll as merciiul. The way in which
the humors of the campaign on the Demo-
cratic side unconsciousy work to the advan-
tage Of the Republicans is illustrated in recent
pictorial satire. When Puck represents the
Democratic donkey as laboriDg under an at
tack of "epizooty," for which the remedies of
the party doctors are unavaiing, the satire is
against their political opponents, in "Chics"
clumsy and commonplace cartoon, "Ths Re-
publican Mud-SlingiDg Machine" In one
case the logic of truth and OF events gives
naturalness and vigor to the saliric picture; in
the other the humor has something of the
coarseness of the material in which it
works. Nast's last two cartoons. represent
lug respectively the Temple OF Liberty half
closed by the solid South, and the height of
Mr.. English's ambition-the possession of
mortgage on the White House-illustrate the
force which satire gains from rebuke of un-
scrupulOus political or personal aims 1t is
noticeable that the humors of our Presidential
campaigns are more refined and genial as well
as more diversified. as the years roll CD.
Whenever great evils are to be combated,
however, Indignation must blend with r.dicule
for their overthrow. Fortunately for the Re-
publicans in the present campaign the laugh
of the satirists is with them, and not at them.
AS "they laugh who win," the augury is cer-
tairly encouraging for the cumulative success
of the party of honest money and equal rights,