The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1881-02-12
The Foundation On Which Our POliti.
cal Parties Rest.


The country hasrecentlv been favored
nv Senator Edmunds with his views of
the nolit;cal history of the United States
in GENERAL and of the Democratic party.
Senator Fdmunds is not and does not
Affect IN he q historian He thinks and
he admits that he thinks the Democratic
marty to be wholly WRONG alike IN its
aims and its methods and the Repub-
lcan party to be wholly right. OF
course this yitiates the views Of Senator
Edmunds Int IL does not necessgr;lv
vitiate the value of these views to
thouohtful men who will bear the no.
sition of Senator Edmunds we'll in
mind.
Senator Edmunds divides the life of
the country under our existing Consti-
tuition into three periods-the first be-
pinnipg with the Administration of
WASHINGTON and ending with that of
John Onincv Adams. the second beoin-
nino with Andrew jackson and ending
with James Buchanan. and the third be,
ginning with Abraham Lincoln to end
with Rutherford Il. HAYES. In the first
period Mr.. Edmunds thinks that marty
divisions "arose from necessary and
INTELLIGENT differences of opiniop', about
the rights and duties of the several
States which had established American
,ndepcndence on the one hand. and
the new Government created by them
on the other hard. In his treatment
of the second period. the partisan-
shin of Mr.. Edmunds becomes fiaprant.
He assumes the Democratic party to
have been devoted from 1929 to 1861 to
the protection or extension of slave
labor. to free trade "under which" as
he orotesouelv savs ait ,Uas sunnosad
thar the slaveholdino cotton-rrower
could exchange his nroducts for those
of the underpaid labor of Europe with
ont pivinr anv encouraoement tn the
free labor and free schools of the nom
slayehold;no .States.'' to the eonf;ne-
ment of Federal anthor;tv- within the
narrowest limits. and finally to seces-
sion and civil war. The first and fourth
of these objects. Senator Edmunds half
admits. are no LONGER held in view nv
the Democratic Marty. Int the second
and third endure He considers the
Democracv in CONGRESS- tn he .still in
favor of lav;ng cusfoms duties in sucb a
wav as IN nro3uce the greatest ravanne
from a given commod;tv w;tbont anv
reference IN secnr;ng tIe labor If o,;r
c;,;zens aya;nst Unfair and ;n;nr;ons
comnet;t;on in fore;gn countries -
Wm,Id chat tharo ,vero M. doubt .s 70
thisI The Democratic hostility tn Nss
tional autbor;tv Mr. Edmnnds d;scovors
in the nrasanf Demccrat;c ras;stancs
tn FederaI laws Intended IN regnlate
in a Renuhl;can sansa the choice II
members of Con0ress NV the several
States
He steers w,de of the differences be-
tween the white and hlack races and
ALSO of the rather ;mnortant fact that
President Grants NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. con-
stantlv souoht IN use the negro vote in
the Sopth az a marty ;nstr,nent What
wopld Senator Edmnnds have said n the
tremendous machinery of the Federal
Covernment had been emnloced in Ver.
mont and in New Erolard year after
year tn array the Canadian vote the
irish vote and the Catholic vote aya;nst
the native New ENGLAND protestant Re-
publican voter RE time NAV Vet come n
when this will he done And what will
Senator Edmuuds saw Il the power of
General Garfield's Administration shall
be exercised to aid the manufacturinc
industry Of the land to orcanize lie
workmen against tariff reformP
As matter of fact Senator Edmunds
admits, by his line of thought, that DO
Etical parties in this country. as 81 En-
GLAND. rest upon historical and natural
xonpdet;crs erd Mt ~, an, +or,v,or.,.,,
and artificial foundation. The modern
Conservative and Liberal parties IN En-
gland rest on the same foundations in
English history and in certain antithet-
icai forms in which the human mind is
cast with the Wing and Tory parties of
the past. just as parties divided on
State rights in the Presidential election
of 1900 in the United States, SO do
they divide to-day. What but a Con-
stitutional principle underlies the tariff
question, which involves the right of
the Federal Government to substitute