New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-02-25
THE LA1EST DEMOCRATIC STRATEGY.


for it than is sometimes found.
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THE LA7EST DEMOCRATIC STRATEGY
We should either think the Democratic
party had undergone a change of heart OF
should fail to recognize it at all IL 1t did not
attempt to scuttle the ship before giving up
the command. That is the one OF its tradl-
lions to which it is always and under all cir
cumstances faithful. 1t may forget all about
Free Trade except as q " local ISSUE" and
abandon Hard Money to get the votes of the
Greenbackers, and plunge madly in for the old
Wing doctrine of Improvement for Rivers and
HarbOrs, to satisfy the Southern wing of the
party but the one thing they never forget or
fail to do is to make all the mischief they can
for their successors before 'loOsing their hold
upon power. What they undertook on a stu
pendOus scale in 1861 they are trying now in
smaller way. Then they scuttled the Navy,
scattered the Army, poisoned all the depart
ments with treason, blasted the credit of the
country, plundered in all directions as far as
they could reach, and turned over to their
successors q dsmahtled wreck with
mutinous crew, hoping to be called
back to power so soon IA the new
Administration should demonstrate its ina
bility to retrieve the disasters they had put
in train. To-day they are going out of partial
power manifesting the same mischie7 Ous dis
position and celebrating the same wicked
purpose.
Who believes that the Democratic leaders
in this Congress are sincere in their prof, ssion
of patriotic desire to save money for the
Government in funding the debt at 8 per
kI,okI ha1 tIa
course of the party upon all questions
of finance for the past twenty years,
noting their repeated changes Of posi-
tion and the obvious motives therefor,
believes for moment that these gentlemen
honestly desire to raise the credit of q Gov
eminent administered. by their political oppo-
nents, or reconcile the taxpayer to. Republican
administration by relieving him Of his bur
dens7 These are the same men that opposed
war loans and the issue of lcgal-tendcrs
in the first instance upon speciOUs pleas that
went down before the imperiOus necessity Of
the time; the same that afterward came round
from opposition to the lcgal-tenders to insist
ing that the bonds should be paid with them;
the same that insisted later upon larger
issues of greenbacks and an enormous Infa-
ton of the currency when the necessity had
passed the same that, foiled in their efforts
to destroy the credit of the country utterly by
an irredeemable currency, did what they
could to impair it by enacting a law calling
eighty cents a dollar; the same that
opposed most strenuOusly the passage of
the Resumption act and afterward at
tempted its repeal; the same that for
now nearly twenty years have consistently
opposed every measure by which the credit
of the Government has been established and
maintained. And now they pretend that they,
and they alone are actuated by sincere pur-
nose to save money for the Government and
at the same time raise Its credit. Who is so
silly as to believe it
The present game is more adroitly played
than usual, but the trickery of it is still SO
plain that no intelligent person can fail to
see through it at a glance. The purpose of it
ia simply TO corner the opposition. In fact
this is as good as confessed by Democratic
leaders and newspapers. Those people who
have done all they could to cry down the
credit of the country all at once appear a ;
extreme believers in it. They say it is so good
that the debt can be refunded at the very
| lowest rate known, and leave as legacy to
their successors law requiring it to be done.
1ne quanudIy i'll WHICH Jney nope 10 leave
their opponents is this: If the bill is vetoed.
and afterward refunding is successfully ac-
complished at higher rate, say three and a
half per cent, they will claim that
it could have been done just as easily
at three. and will charge Republicans
with extravaganza and needless waste
in refusing to accept a Democratic meas
ure in the interest Of economy. If on
the other hand the bill becomes a law and
the effect upon the business of the country is
bad, as seems most likely, they can charge il
upon Republican mismanagement and go to the
country with all the advantage that depres-
sion in business and hard times always give
to the party out of power. Should it become
law and the mischievOus effects of it be
confined simply to failure of refunding-
which is improbable-why then they
have the same excuse: the response
bility is not theirs; they have done what
they could to put the party in
power in the way to refund at low rate,
and it is not their fault if Republican Ad-
ministration has failed to accomplish ir.
Either way they take no risk, but flatter
themselves they have cOrnered their adver-
sarles.
This is not financial skill or wisdom or
craftsmanship, but simply low order of polit-