Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1880-11-05
ADRERE TO PRINCIPLES.

When the two parties next meet each other
there is likely to be q. change in both. The
Democratic party has been for a long time
in a false position, and has suffered in con-
sequence both in reputation and votes.
This fact is attributable principally to the
timidity and time serving propesnities of
those who have assumed to leadership.
They have compelled a practical abandon
ment of the ~time-honored principles of the
party, or the ignoring of them, and have
formed several mesalliances that have placed
the party in a falss position before the pub
lie. In many States it coalesced with the
Greenback party, and created the impression
in many minds that it was committed to the
heresies of that organization. ct may be
remarked parenthetically that all of the
theories of the Greenback party are not
heresies) 1t sought in some localities to
capture the socialistic vote, and again lost
caste among a considerable number of voters
who feared the effects of lending any coun-
tenance to such theories as socialists are
supposed to hold. It formed other ~associa.
tions that were no credit whatever to it, and
all Of them have proved disastrous.
1t appears to be the fate of all minority
parties that those who direct them often lose
sight of the principles upon which they were
established. They ardently desire to regain
control of the government, and in order to
attain that end are willing to accept support
from any source, no matter how disreput-
able. They consider that the end justifes
the means, and hence often go astray through
the ~entangling alliances formed. The DEM
oeratic party has been no exception to the
rule. 1t is to be hoped that the experience
of the past will prove useful for the future.
One principle of the Democratic party
was almost entirely obscured during the cam
paign that has just closed-the tariff ques-
ton. Ever since its formation the
Democratic party has been
the party of free trade. Not
in the sense that the words signify in their
full meaning, but in the sense of reducing
the tariff to the lowest point consistent with
a regard for the obligations of the govern
ment. The Democratic party has never ad-
vocated absolute free trade, but a tariff for
revenue only; not a tariff to protect and
pamper monopolies, but one that shall pro-
duce enough returns to pay all the obliga-
tons of the government while not oppress-
ing those who are compelled to labor for
their daily bread. In the next campaign the
tariff issue must be made a prominent if not
the leading issue.
The State rights doctrine of the Demo-
cratic party will come to the fore in the next
campaign. 1t is essential. The Democratic
party cannot afford to lay aside the funda-
mental principle of the government that it
founded-the express limitations of the
powers of the federal and State govern
ments. The constitution prescribes that all
powers not delegated by the States to the
general government are reserved to the
States respectively. This reservation COM
prises all there is of republican government
that is worth fighting for, and as the Demo
cratic party is responsible for that reserva-
ton, and as the perpetuity of republican in
stitutions depends upon its maintenance, it
must be announced in the next platform of
the party and fearlessly defended.