River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1880-07-15
RENoUNoEs HIS PARTY.

RENoUNoES HIS PARTY.
Hon. Philo A. orion, a prominent
Democratic politician, lawyer and
banker of Darlington, La Fayette
county, in this State, has published "a
letter in which he renounces the DEM
ocl'atic party for good and sufficient
reasons given, concluding that it is his
duty to vote for and do all in his pow
er to promote the election of Hon.
james A. Garfield President of the
United States and expressing his pur-
pose SO to do. He is conscious of the
severe ccnsure visited upon those who
for any cause forsake old political as
sociations, and states that he is gov
erned only by sense of duty which it
would be positively wrong in him to
disregard. Mr.. orion was the Demo-
cratic candidate for Attorney General
in 1861 and for Congress in the Third
District in 1875 from which it will be
seen that both his legal ability and his
devotion to the cause of Democracy
have been properly recognized by the
Bourdons. He has carefully studied
the situation and, guided by those OBJ
servations which ought to be sufficient
to determine the course of all fair and
candid men, recognizes the fact that
tho SuoapaS Of Hauonck naans n conn
plete overthrow of the results of the
war and the promotion of the rebel
lious States to that position which by
force of arms they sought to attain
tie absolute control of the Govern
ment by grossly intolerant and over
bearing minority. Such an admins
tration us the chivalry of solid South
would give us if placed in power is not
desired by Mr.. Orion and, prompted
by the same spirit of loyalty which
actuated the war Democrats of l86l-5
he enlists under the "Old Flag" for a
preservation of the fruits of victory
the sacrifices for which, the vacant |
chairs at thousands of desolated fire.
sides and the manned and diseased |
veterans of the Union armies are forci- |
BILE though silent reminders. His let |
ter so succintly states the entire case |
that we cannot forbear giving the fol- |
lowing liberal extract therefrom
Whatever the Democratic party |
may have been in the past, it is essen
TALLY and absolutely the party of the |
South to-day. Of the l85 electoral |
votes required to elect a President this
fall, the Democratic party count the
1873 votes from the solid South, made
up of the States which seeded, or
wanted to secede, and dare not, solid
in advance for it's candidate. The
balance, Al votes, they hope to get in
the North. Thirty-hve of them they
confidently expect from the city of
New York, for the State of New York,
outside the city, is as strongly Repub-
lican as Wisconsin. The remaining
II votes they hope to receive from
some of the doubtful Northern States.
1t is said the Democratic candidates
are Northern men, but is it not true
that the South were compelled to NOM
mate Northern men IN order to give
any assurance of success at the cleo
tion Could the South have done less
and have been true to their purpose,
to get control of the Government 1t
not who the President is, if
he is controlled by the South.
The record of the Democratic party
in Congress for the last four years has
justly excited the suspicious of North
ern men. The promises TO the people
made in the Democratic platform of
1915, of civil service and revenue re-
forms, and upon which the people act
ed in giving the party control in Con-
gress, are entirely uEfulfilled. Civil
service reform has gone no further
than to unreasonably restrict apprO-
priatiOnS, by which the efficiency of
the service in some branches has been
greatly impaired, and large appropria-
lions to cover deficiencies have been |
while millions have been
thrown away for the improvement of
rivers and harbors all over the nation.
Revenue reform eliminated in the Sc
lection of Mr.. Randall as Speaker of
the House, protectiOniSt of the most
determined sort, by whom the House
was 80 organized that no measure for
revenue reform would be reported
from the committee to which it was
necessarily referred. While a great
part of the time of Congress has been
occupied in the discussion of measures
unsought and unasked by the North,
and of interest only to the South, such,
for instance, as amnesty to Mr.. Davis,
the repeal of the test oath, and the re-
peal of the election supervisor law,
which were urged with a zeal worthy
of better cause, their forced approx
al by the President, being attempted
by lacking them to appropriation bills.
At least one of these measures was
urged through Congress upon the old
ante beiium idea of State rights, deny
ing to Congress the power to exercise
any control of elections, even when
members of Congress and President |
were to be elected.
To be sure this party at the South |
has. a respectable following at the
North. There is, however. this obvi-
GUS difference between the southern |
and northern Democracy. They equal |
ly desire success; the South primarily |
that they may have political power,
the North that they may have politi- |
cal place. They work together very |
tremendously now. The South must |
have help from the North to be sue
cessful. To secure this help the spoils |
of the victory are promised to the |
northern Democracy. Both sections |
are now satisfied with the arrange
ment, but sooner or later the good and |
patriotic man of the northern Demo |
cracy will see that they have sold an
invaluable birthright tor trinkets, and |
that they have been used as tools by |
their southern associates. If the
South had the strength unaided to
elect a President, will anybody believe
WADE HAMPTON would have stood
up, as he did, in the National Conven-
ton of the party at Cincinnati, and
pledged the l3s electoral votes of the
South to the candidate for President
the North might elect The temper
of the South at this time will justify
no such conclusion.