Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1882-05-26
THE PENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENTS


THE PENNSYLVANIA INDEPENDENTS.
The Independent Republicans Of Penn
sylvanis are going to work with energy
and prudence. Their Convention has
adopted platform which makes Civil
Service reform the test question of the
campaign, and which at the same time in
vites the support of all who believed in
Garfield and his policy. The denunciation
of "bossism, political assessments,
machine " politics, and all the abuses
which have come to characterize the
regular organization in Pennsylvania,
will undoubtedly appeal strongly to thou.
sands Of Republicans who have long been
dly-a.ishsd with the rule or the "a f,csses,'j
and who are now offered an opportunity to
repudiate the latter without going outside
of the party. The nominations of the In.
dependents appear to be good, and they
have an additional element of strength in
the adhesion Of United States Senator
Mitchell. This revolt is incidentally "a
condemnation Of the Administration, s,ad
it will demonstrate to what extepts stall
"wartism F" is really opposed by the masses
Of the Republicans in osne Of the great
States. 1t is the moist important political
movement that mas occurred since Grant
ism" was Eepudiated and broken down
/ az chicago, and it is in the same line.
1t must be regarded, in the light of the
Independent platform, as embodying much
more than local quarrel. 1t is the pro-
test of the Republicans who hoped that in
President Garfield they were to find a
political reformer who would put an end
to machine politics, encourage Civil
Service reform, and restore his party to
4 the vigorous and hesithy zcondssion an
which it was at the beginning of Grants
FIRST term.
Whether the optimistic view of Gar.
fields intentions was well grounded or
. not, need not be considered here. It is
enough that he had been elected on dis
tinct basis of opposition to "Grantism "
and " Bossism," and that the enthusiasm
behind him represented the hopes and ex-
pectations of the reform element in the
party. That element has reluctantly and
slowly reached the conclusion that it can
not rely upon the present Administration
to take up and carry forward the Garfield
ideas that, on the contrary, it has given
itself wholly into the hands of the i" Stall
warts" Believing, then, that it is use-
less to look for any voluntary reform in
that.direction, and unwilling longer to sup
port leaders who abuse their opportunities
and degrade their party, these Republicans
have at last determined to separate them
selves from Bossism altogether, and to
see whether it is not possible to rebuke
that faction by showing it that it neither
is nor controls the Republican party.
The Independents have taken all that is
sound in the Republican doctrine, with the
! one exception of Protection, and it could
not be expected that any party in Pennsyl-
vania would be able at present to free it.
self from that abuse. In all other respects
the platform is strong and clean and clear,
/ and Republicans can stand upon it without
any qualns or doubts. The best feature
of it is the emphatic assertion of the neces-
sity of Civil Service reform. This vital
issue is thus brought to the front and fixed
there. The voters of Pennsylvania will
have to declare themselves upon it, and the
| canvass will serve as an educational agency
For the first time the spoilsmen will be
forced on the defensive. They have never
been really troubled by their machine "
l principles before, because their only
formidable opponents were the Democrats,
and everyone knows that the Democrats
hold to the spoils doctrine quite as strongly
as the Republicans. Now, however, the
conditions are changed. The spoilsmen
are called upon to support their practice
by argument, and they assuredly have
very disagreeable task before them.
/ The force Of the new movement may be
gathered from the admissions of its sup,
porters. They declare that for many years
J past the Republicans of Pennsylvania have
! not been represented at all. Senator
| Stewart, the nominee for Governor, in
accepting the honor conferred upon him
| by the Convention, said 1.-THE honest
II
convictions of the Republicans of Penn
"sylvania have not found expression in
"any real Convention held during the last
decade" There is great deal of sig.
nifcance in this. When the intelligence
and honesty of party has submitted to
repression and Misrepresentation for ten
years, and at last revolts against corruption
and partisan tyranny, it brings to the act
of rebellion the accumulated evaporation
and indignation of those ten years Of mis-.
rule, and is thus supplied with fund of
energy very much more than sufficient to
carry it through a campaign.
So respectable, earnest, patriotic and
vigorous is this movement that it seems
| possible for it to carry the State. But
whether it can disintegrate the spoils ring
at once, or can only defeat it by handing
over the State to the Democrats, we can.
not doubt that it will destroy "Bossism
in Pennsylvania, and shake "Stalwartism"
in its intrenchments throughout the coun.
try. For the opposition dare not enter
] upon free discussion of the points in
| issue. 1t dare not undertake to defend
the spoils system and all that it involves,
openly. The justification of corruption is
beyond even the hardwood of the Bosses,
| and therefore it will be forced to let the
main question go by default. And this is
but the beginning Of the end. The reform
element of the Republican party will fol-
low the example set it in Pennsylvania,
and the attempt to- restore "Grantism "
will be condemned even more emphatically
than it was at Chicago last year. The IN
| dependent movement in Pennsylvania con-
sequently is of national interest and i'm
portance, and tens of thousands of sound
Republicans throughout the Union will
| desire the success of the bold champions of
reform and party regeneration.
y
THE ARREARS OF RENT BILL.
! So far as can be gathered from the i'm
! perfect descriptions of the measure which