Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1880-10-23
REPULsED BUT NOR BEATEN.

1t is no use trying to disguise the
fact that the election in Indiana has
brought bitter disappointment to
the democratic party. In a meas
ure it was a surprise to the republic
cans too; that is, to those of them
who were not behind the scenes and
did not know what was going on.
Those who did, knew how enor-
nous are the resources which the
federal executive government COM
mands for overriding the popular
vote and how irresistible they are
when concentrated upon single
state.
Not for the purpose of keeping up
useless regrets or of bootless recrim-
inatiOn, but for that of instruction
for the future, we propose to exam
inc briefly into the main causes Of
the unexpected result. We retain
our unalterable conviction that In
diana, left to its own impulses, is a
democratic state; our problem will
be to find out how its popular vote
was so Overruled as to indicate the
reverse of that proposition.
In the first place, we belive the
nomination of Mr.. Landers as can
didate for governor to have been a
most unfortunate one. Mr.. IIanders
is known as an extreme infiationist;
indeed, he has acted with the green
back party, and his nomination was
made with the purpose of conciliat-
ing the greenback votes, which it
did not do. They demanded, when
they found that cancellation had
gone that far, that it should go fur
ther, and that the democracy should
support their candidate for congress,
Mr.. De Ia Matyr, which the demOc-
racy could in no way be induced to
do. So they nominated an ineligi-
BILE man, and so damped the zeal of
true democrats, while they failed to
gain the greenback votes for which
it was made. That nomination was
a mistake exactly analogous to that
which the democracy in Tennessee
made in the nomination of Marks
two years ago. That was conces-
sion to the repudiators for the pur-
pose of gaining their votes at the
election now approaching, with an
exactly similar result as far as this,
that it encouraged them in the be-
lief that they could force their
whole policy upon the democratic
party, and that was what they pur-
posed to do ut the late democratic
convention, if they could have con-
trOlled votes enough. Not doing so,
they bolted, and the result is before
all mems eyes to see. We learned
what Indiana will learn hereafter,
that concession of principles never
conciliates, but encourages those to
whom it is made to demand total
surrender ofall remaining principle.
So the greenback vote in Indiana
is virtuallya support to the republic
can party, as the repudiating vote
is here.
Next in importance was the i'm
pOrtation ofnegroes from Kentucky.
The whole majority of Porter over
Isanders was between six and seven
thousand; it is probable that fully
that number of votes was given by
persons who were rot lawfully vo-
tiers in the state. Great efforts were
made by the democratic executive
committee to check this mOnstrous
abuse, but they did not avail.
The ubiquitous supervisory laws
throw the whole regulation of the
polling and registration places into
the hands of the federal supervisors,
who are really election agents of the
republican party, and nothing could
be done. The people of Indiana
were overruled at their own polls
by a solid phalanx of corrupt re-
peaters from another state.
Then comes their unlimited con-
troll of money as corruption fund.
1t is not only their assessment of
office-holders to the amount of hun
dreds of thousands; it is not only
their power of appointing an unlim-
tied number of eleetiOn agents, under
the names of supervisors and depu-
ty marshals, at the public expense,
but there are departments in the
treasury where accounts are so kept
that almost unlimited amounts can
be distracted without detection. A
very few days before the election,
after an almost unlimited exPendi-
ture of several weeks, Mr.. Donald
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