The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1882-05-13
Bouroons vs.. Independents.

emit" as an antithesis to Bourbon a
Misrepresentation that was long ago OBJ
served and pointed out in Georgia but
hat has escaped notice in other States
The Republicans have again fooled
themselves and committed second
error as fatal as the first in their attempt
to strengthen their party in the South.
bourbon, lift means anything. means
an old man with obsolete ideas. General
Toombs, perhaps, is Bourbon" and
the mountaineers of Tennessee who still
vote for Andrew jackson are " Bour-
bons." The few Confederate colonies
that first went to Washington Just after
the war with war claims must have
been " Bourbons." Men of this kind
who "learn nothing and forget nothing"
naturally enough have not been sue
cessful in politics, and they have now
become the g Independents. The idea
that the Southern :. independents are
young men. and that the old gentlemen
who hare outlived their ideas are the
leaders of the Southern Democratic
party, is the mistake that the Admins
tration is making. During the last
State campaign in Georgia the Inde-
pendents' were the obsolete men. In
Virginia the Democrats that were de-
luded by Malone were obsolete men
men who do not at all understand the
present problems of the State. The
ludicrous blunders of legislation, the
frequent misrulings and the utter ignor-
ance of the simplest parliamentary rules,
that have made the Readjuster Legisla-
ture Of Virginia the langhing-stock of
the press. indicate the presence and pre-
ponderance of :" Bourbons." In North
Carolina also aspirants for "Indcpend-
ent" honors are Bourbons." With
the exception of Mr.. Speer. of Georgia,
nearly every Independent leader in
the South is an old man or a man no
longer young who clings to old ideas.
Almost every one. too, is q political
malcontent and their followers are not
the youth.
Evidences of the independence and
energy of the Democrats, on the other
hand, are not lacking. Georgia's pros
perity and the satisfactory and perma-
nent solution of all the difficulties, po-
litical, educational and social, that arise
in other States from SO large popula-
ton of negroes, are evidences that the
Democrats are not the "Bourbons.
The men who are building railroads and
cotton mills in Georgia are Democrats.
In South Carolina the rebuilding of cit
les and the construction of railroads is
the work of Democrats and shows prog
ress. On the other hand, in Tennessee,
since Governor Hawkins, Republican,
was elected. and the unhappy financial
complications arose, less is heard of
Tennessee's prosperity than was heard
under the preceding Democratic Admin
istrations. And in Tennessee there
were Democrats independent enough to
vote for Republican rather than for
Reputation; but these Democrats are
not the independents that are now
courted by the Republicans. The men
already spoken of rs probable can
didates for the next Democratic
nomination for Governor in North
Carolina, Mr.. Thomas M. Holt and
Mr.. A. b. Andrews, have probably
done more within the last ten years to
develop the agricultural, the manufact-
uring and the railroad interests in the
State than any other two men. They
are independent and energetic, but not
Independents. In Mississippi the
Democratic press is Independent enough
to chastise the recent Democratic Leg
islature for not making more liberal APP
preparations for the common schools.
In Georgia even the negroes are laugh
ing at the obsolete ideas and methods of
the independents" A religious news
paper, published at Augusta and edited
by q colored man, in its last issue re-
spectfully declined DIR. Felton's '.Inde-
pendent promises made to his race.
Everywhere the 'sBourbons'' and the
independents are the same.
The fatal mistake, or perhaps the ia
tai necessity, of the Republicans, there
fore, is in allying themselves with these
persons with the hope of gaining re-
spectacle following in the South--a mis-
take of the same kind as the mistake
made with the carpet-baggers and out
casts. In Virginia with regulators. in
Tennessee with the debt-payers, in Geor-
gia with the dissatisfied, in Texas with
the Greenbackers (if they are not Bour-
bons," who are?)-such alliances mo-
where gain the support of young men,
of energetic men or OF the strength and
hope of the South. And already the de-
libcrately laid plan of strengthening the
Republican party by giving Federal Of
ces to Independents" has had ludi-
crous results. Not even Mr.. Mahone's
letter of grand platitudes to Boston
committee nor Mr.. Riddleberger's fes-
tive nonsense in the North American Re
Uiew affords more amusement than the
sight of troublesome old Bourbons
becoming Independents" The truth
is, the Republicans are succeeding in
doing precisely what they do not wish
to do. The hindrance of Southern DEM
ocratic politics for a long time has been
the presence of obsolete men whose pc
culiar position, but not whose ideas,
commanded . certain respect. They
have been conciliated too often by gifts
of good places. These men are the
Z" Bourbons," and it is a relief to the
Democracy for them now to become In
Thus the "disintegra-