The Rock Island Argus., 1882-03-01


as much as we depreeiate the appliances
and tendencies OF the Arthur -Mahone alli
ance in Virginia, and the proposed Arthur
Longstreet alliance in Georgia, we shall be
as little disturbed by the success of the lat
ter as we were by success Of the former
compensations; and, while the
policy of fusion, the liaison, let US call it.
between the machine and the mob, is ags
grarian in every respect, and menacing to
the public credit, IT it bury sectionalism
and restore the South, it viii have done a
great good.
One thing is certain, the democratic
party will never win Presidential battle
on the vote of the Solid South and two or
three Northern States thrown in at the
tail of the count. 1t can not possibly come
into power as the representative of any of
the old issues. It can only succeed, and it
| ought onlyto succeed, as the party of
action and reform, the party of the public
credit, maintaining sound, economic prfn-
ciples; in word, the party of to-day, not
of yesterday, abjuring dry-bcnes, renounc-
ing dead languages, speaking living words
with a. tongue of flame, as it delivered
them when it was the party of progress
and freedom in the brave days of the
young republic.
The mossy marbles begin to press upon
the messy backs of the leaders who for so
lad 4lea Il
The moss-coye1'ed leaders who yet survive
have had good deal of moss scraped off
New men are pressing to the front, who
realize the changes which have entered
into our political life These new men
perfectly understand that, as demagogue,
the party stands no sort of show. In the
arts and uses of electioneering the repub-
licans can always double discount us.
The truth is, a mere commotion will not
answer. A simple ground swell will fall
short. As the deligetful Hop Price OBJ
served on a certain occasion. it must be
IAN earthquakep And this can not be
produced by tinkering and jobbing. 1t
can not be produced by ad hominem
predictions and ad captandum argu-
ments. It can alone be produced by
harnessing live ideas and hitehing them to
the moral forces which lie beneath the
foundations Of the State; the maintenance
of the public credit and the national honor
by thrifty legislation and clean administra
ton; the development of the vast energies
of the people by the direction and under
the influence of the enlightened and enlight
ening principles of domestic and interna-
tional economy, which modern thought and
research have brought into being; the ad
justment of the country and ourselves to
the new and extraordinary conditions
which modern invention has wrought on
every hand, where the tinkle Of the tele-
phone is heares and and the sparkle of the
electric light is seen.
All this may and does sound magnilo-
quent, and is certainly general. We
live in a somewhat magniloquent, albeit,
a materialistic age, and, upon many points.
we must. per force, be general But there
are plenty of specifications ready at call. |
The navigation laws, which have driven
our flag from the high seas, should be
abolished. The tariff should be reduced to
a purely revenue basis The civil service |
of the Government should be divorced
from party service. The national banking
system, which is the best system of bank
ing the country has ever known and which
can not be replaced by better, should be
revised, and, thus modified, 4
should be relegated to its place in business
where it belongs. The people are being
taxed too much. The debt is being paid
too fast II should be reduced to thous-
and millions, and then funded and made |
Taxes should be levied with
sole eye to revenue, and no more revenue
should be collected than is required to
support the Government and carry the |
debt.
God Knows there is enough in all this to
engage the best talents of the best men. |
If-the democratic party will address itself
to the work, single minded and heart |
whole, it will gain new recruits all over
the land Every year colleges, big and
little, are turning out young men with
their eyes set in this direction: Eight |
tenths of these youngsters are Free Traders
and reformers. There is no moss on their
backs, and the advocates of finn -fam, the |
the robbers and the jobbers. |
can throw no dust in their eyes. Let the
President go on with his scheme 10 disin-
tegrate the South. II democrats are wise /
Tor every vote we lose South we shall gain
Two votes North, and that is what we want
Otherwise, the deluge will come sure
new combinations will be made,
Did lines and old traditions win be lost,
ind ultimately out of chaos we shall have
he form, body and spirit of the policy We
nave sketehed, organized to do late, work
which were better done early. We simply
prefer to use the weapons which are at
land and to take the short cut.
pRRuApg s0yEFFRENCF