Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1881-05-07
A TEMPEST IN A TEA POT.

English, anu the OLnor pTIutou NJ OOH-
eordia In German, distinguish them
selves, this week, in getting up a tenn
pest in the same tea pot. It il not I'M
usual for editors who study politics from
a small plane to stir up tenPests In tea
pots. Indeed. it is . very common
thing. We are net, therefore. surprised
at this particular tempest in a tea pct.
The breeze which furnishes the motive
power for the storm 10 this sentence.
from q circular addressed by the demo-
cratic committee to the democratic vo-
tiers Of the county, last wssk:-"The re-
publican vote, consisting. as it does,
largely of negroes, a.d ignorant people
who do not weigh the merits of q quss-
ton at all, but simply vote - they are
told by their leaders, 10 compact and
we'll organized" SC.
On cool, calm and dispassisnate cen.
sideration Of this sentence, We must say
that we believe it to be the literal truth.
Unvarnishsd, maybe, but still the trsth.
Our contemporaries do net agree with
rs. and are led into saying q great many
violent things, which had az well DO
LETT unsaid. What astonishss rs, hsw-
ever. is why these two newspapers
should become 30 iscsnssd at the charge
that many OF the republicans Of the
county are negroes. which IL true. and
that many are ignorant. which is also
true. A stream cannot rise higher than
its source. The press 10 the fountain Of
light in . free country, whore It Is m
trammeled. IA . rule the press leads
political parties. So Tar, 20 good. II eur
memory serves rs, it 10 bat . shsrt time
ago that our German contemporary, A.
sumisg English type for the asncs, de-
nouacsd the managers of our English
contemporary Is illiterate and ignerant,
not ven knowing their own languaSs-
the good old language OF Qassns Bess
and Vic. Our esteemed German con-
temporary was very emphatic about this
declaration fully a. much % a. it 10
now. 1t oven said some harder things
than this. II it for Q moment to be sup
posed. taking our German contsmpsra-
ry's word for it that tho English speak,
ing republicans of the county are led By
ignorant men, that the men led are
more Intelligent than their leaders, TIE
question answers itself. We may sup
pose that there are ssme republicans
who are superior to their organ, but It
would be disrespectful to the organ to
assert that there were many. According
to logical deductions from our German
friends WI assertions, he cannot have a
very exalted opinion of tho intelligence
Of the mon who are led BY his English
contemporary. Per contra, what does
our English contemporary think Of our
German oontsmpersryP 1t 10 not very
lsng since, If w remember well. land We
think We do, that it asserted that it,
friend had beaten its wife.
This is not our assertion, remember; 1t
is the assertion Of our English esntsn-
porary regarding sur German contsm-
perary. Now, let US again argue the
point. It may b asserted that our Ger
man contemporary meyer did actually
beat it, wife. We do not say that it did
what We do say 10. that oar English con-
temporary thought that it had dsns 20.
Or said 30. without thinking 80. 1t would
be toe horrible to suppose that it had
prsvaricatsd, 10 We must accept its
as sincere. 1t may further be
claimed that = newspaper may beat Ito
vita
ID. What We desire especially to get at
s that our German contemporary, in it,
recent virtueas indignation. was like Mr..
when he learned that Nh. Tildsn
Was elected. Ho was net sorry for him.
'elf, only for the poor negroes at the
south, lett to the tender nsrciss Of the
ku-klux and the bulldozsrs. He subss.
qusntIy gobblsd the presidsney, but hs
the poor black MAJ over to the
tender nsrciss OF Hampton and Nick.
oils. So here is our German ssltenpe-
rary, whose bowels OF compassion are
moved fer the poor insultsd African,
when, alasl for its tender heart, it is re-
that it, English coltenpsra-
y, OF ito v political vine and fig tree,
accused it of beating ito wife. There
IRE tears IN plenty fer the African. 1t
'sems to u that there should 30 q place
or the weeping to come in, either for
he beaten wife, or for tho Newspaper
which detained her husband. We are
lgain forced to conclude that Eng
ish contemporary cannot have . very
EXALTED opinion of the intelligence of
men whs wsuld be led by such . news.
paper as 1t has depicted eur German
contemporary to be. 1t 10 for the rea-
IONS here given that We expressed our
Istonishmsnt, at the outset, at finding
two contemporaries raising = tenn
pest in tho same teapot. |,
Let us analyzs the sentence in quss-
ion. The first assertion il, that the re-
publican vots of tho county consists
argely OF negroes. IL this not trusp (.
Both Of our contemporaries boast that
ne negro vote is solidly republican.
There are 1890 republican votes in the
At least sne.half oil. these are
negroes. We should say. then. that the
irst assertion is trus. The secoad
assertion is. that the republican party
If the county IL composed largely T.,
II ignorant people. The wsrd white il
'swhere to be found, and the sratuitous
that the Germans are intend. I
ID. is = voluntary insult to that nation.
BY our republican contemporaries. !:
As q great percentage of the blacks are
llitsrats; and As they form a large part
If the party. il 1t not true that the party
s largely composed Of Ignorant people,
considering q single white man2 !
But We would not do the blacks the in.
u'tios Of saying that they are all igns-
ant, or that they have ne white rspub-
lcaa friends whs are Ignorant. Indeed,
are net 50 bigotsd Is not to know |,
hat there are democrats who are vo-
July ignorant. But in this county a. in