The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1880-12-02
The Democratic Party without Flu.
ture and without Hope.

The Democratic Party without q Flu.
ture and without Hope.
The recent Presidential election has
shown that there is an invincible reason
why the Democratic party can never
win National victory. 1t is that the
youth of this Republic is not Demo
cratic. The sons Of Democratic fathers
have grown up Republicans.
So long as slavery and the war linger
within the memory of Americans, the
youth of the Republic will continue to
grow up Republicans; and slavery and
the war will be remembered as long as
the public school system exists. The
public schools have slain the Democratic
party with the textbooks.
1t is vain for statesmen to declare that
there were as many Democrats as Re-
publicans in the Union army. 1t is vain
to affirm that the.war for the preserve
tion of the Union could not have been
carried 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 removed.
and the spilling of brothers blood by
brothers hands avoided. The Demo
cratic party has been ideally identified
with slavery and slaveholding. The
Republican party is ideally identified
with emancipation and the war. There
fore is the youth of the country incapa-
BILE of being Democratic. Therefore
the Democratic party can never win q
National victory. Its old men are dying
away. The boys who catch the ballots
that fall from their stiffened 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 Republicans are
insignificant beside this one tremen-
dous and invincible 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 he hurried to the
Sucked foos
of the gray grandmother who watched
the children while the wife was busy
has not rocked the cradle of Democrats.
The chair that the soldier father never
came back to fill has not been climbed
upon by Democrats. The old blue coat
that his comrades carried back was cut
up for little jackets, but not one in
closed the heart of q Democrat. The
ratified musket that fell from him with
his last shot became the thoughtless toy
of his boys; but not hand thst played
with it was the hand of Democrat.
The babe he kissed crowed and crowed
for his return, and its unwilling and
unanswered notes were not from the
throat of Democrat. The tear-soiled
camp letters which the mother read
aloud in the long, bitter evenings while
the boys clustered at her knees did not
fall upon Democratic ears. The girls
sobs, blending with the mothsr' weep
ing, did not make Democrats of their
brothers. Perhaps the father had been
q Democrat all his life!
The children go to school. There is
not Democrat on its benches. The
first reader contains the portrait of
Abraham Lincoln-that kind and sturdy
face never made q Democrat. On its
simple pages, in words of one or two
syllables, is told the story of his birth
and death That story never made a
Democrat. In the pranks of the play
ground the name silences the frolicsome
and makes the jo,liest grare. That
name never made a Democrat. In the
pictures that light up the geography
are the firing on Fort Sumter and the
death of Ellsworth. Those pictures
make no Democrats. The first page of
the history contains representation of
the surrender of Lee at Appomattox.
h<x hof nrl oft
avows himself Democrat.
In the higher grades the same subtle
and unresisted influence is at work.
The textbooks contain extracts from
patriots speeches during the war.
Those speeches make no Democrats.
The great battles are briefly described;
the narrative has no Democratic listen
ers. The strain of marshal music runs
through the readers, and that music
makes no Democrats. Sketches Of the
great Generals are given; their brave
deeds arouse the enthusiasm of the lads,
but there is no Democrat among them.
The horrors and suffering of the slaves
are told; the maddened blood that
mounts the boys cheeks is not Demo-
cratic blood. The curse of slavery has
pursued the Democratic party, and has
bounded it to its death. Therefore let
it die; and no lip will be found to say
a prayer over the grass on its grave.
The late defeat need not be attrib-
uted to any other cause. Other causes
were at workout they were only Incl
dental. The tariff was one. Sectional
ism was a second. LET we'll enough
alone" was a third. The October fail
ure in Indiana was fourth. But all
these were trivial and together could
not have accomplished the result.
The result was accomplished be-
cause the youth of the Republic is not
Democratic. That party is, therefore,
without a future and without hope.
The malediction of the war has palsied
its brain. The curse of slavery has
poisoned its blood and rotted its bone.