Arizona weekly citizen., 1882-03-26
! GRAVEYARD PARTY.

! iADl-
 A GRAVEYARD PARTY.
 The New York Tribune IS led by the
 letters and speeches called out by the re
 cent Chicago banquet to ask ifthere have
 been no Democratic heroes since Andrew
 Jackson. The proceedings of that af-
 fair would lead one to answer the ques-
 ton in the negative The Tribune
 further says: "No one of the speakers
 or writers referred to a Democratic
 statesman who has lived since Jackson,
 and Jackson has been dead thirty-seven
 years. Why go so far back for inspira-
 tiOn? There are Polk, Van Buren, Pierce
 and Buchanan-why not make a casual
 allusion to them, or hold an occasional
 banquet on some of their birthdays?
 They have not been dead SO longas Jack.
 son has, but they are ID many senses more dead than he will ever be. Buchanan
 as the last Democratic President de-
 serves recognition of some kind. He
 represented his party at its highest state of development He is better and truer
 representative of 1t to-day than Jackson
 IS. Jackson grappled with problems which
 were settled forever years ago. Buchan-
 an vrestled with some which were much
 nearer our own time, and We all know
 what a mess he made of them. He showed
 us what a modern Democratic states man was capable of when trusted with owersnd his memory IS therefore much
 more eloquent with Narning for the
 present generation than that of Jackson.
 If dead Democratic statesman is the only true Democratic guide, therefore, We insist that Buchanan is the proper one to be selected.
 But why take a dead statesman? The party, us We understand it, claims to be living. It has many statesmen still liv- ing, some of whom have run for the Presidency. There are Seymour, Me Clellan, Tilden and Hancock. Why not make some reference to them and tbeir deeds of glory? No one of them has ever been a President, but three Of them have been Governors, and one of them enjoys the distinction of being his party's original and only Reformer. He helped demolish the Tammany Ring, and he made great show of reforming the Canal Ring. Of course these were both Democratic institutions and in l fighting them he was fighting his own 1 party, but that only increases the heroism 1 of the act. Then there are his memor- able exploits in the campaign of 1876. | Surely his party have not forgotten those. That is the greatest reform movement in political history. He seems to have referred to 1t in his letter to the Chicago | when he spoke of the neces- sity of reforming the Government from the inside and by the active and in- Ielligent agency of the Executive" The trouble with the agency" in the fall O. 1876 was that while it was diaboGc-'1 Ih active 1t was not "intelligeI. ..
 oungled the reform" which was ,,, .L, ..;..;1.,, ,- ~ Manned Park so badly that the Presiden lost even after the price for it ha,' agreed upon. We are glad .hat NIT. Tilden IS determined thf. liter his reform movements De intelligent Yet, although ost by bad management. thi crusade was and Ia the most co act in modern Democratic h: ye are surprised that the onl 'c aD1 ; made to it at the Chicago gatI .N .iiNo-O" ( n Mir. Tilden's letter. Perhs 8 dead the party will giy. :. I ss C ognition by holding banqt s.-.n. n his birthday. But M- r.,, . ' 5 he only living Democrs..;. -.a.19- '. - n $ rho has -P ned ac I cement of the cts worthy Of con- ned his kindred ire Is General Han |. o,- .--s~o'c-y fl the fr 'a---' .--- i1r To n iesgiy local issue, and one with which le Government seldom cares to inter- ,re' Why not hold banquet on the uulkeftdTN bl IlGl NAhtDNtls Iht I arty is sorely perplered with the tarfi uestion, but here is relief. Then there C
 the Mercy letter forgery; the aE. b iversary of that might he kept. To go little further back, but still not within |, ailing distance of Jackson's time, there z the party's persistent opposition to sumption. Why not commemorate nat in some way?
 These are the more conspicuous living 'emocratic statesmen and measures. we enumerate them we are not sur risei that the party prefers to go back long way for its inspiration The best art of the Democracy does in fact ap- ear to be dead. as its leaders confess. he confession does not strike us as rst-class reason for intrusting the party nth power, but we may be wrong [ bout it" J