Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-01-04
REPUBLICAN REFORM,
EFFORTS TO RESTORE HARMONY AND
UNITY IN THE PARTY.-ADDREsS
OF THE CONFERENCE COM
MITTEE.

The Committee of the independent
Republicans of the State have issued
the following address:
To the Republicans Of Pennsy ranld !:
We address you in the interest OF
that political organization, to which
we are alike attached. and whose con-
tinued supremacy in both State and
Nation we alike desire.
We share with you just pride 10
our party's past achievements, and
believe with you that, signal and hon.
orable as these have been, its mission
is not vet complete. The present has
political issues of magnitude and i'm
portance, and the near future will un-
| fold others which must challenge equal,
if not greater, attention and states
menship. Through more than twenty
years of the greatest epoch in our an
nails, the onward march of the country
has been the history Of the Republican
party, and by its unvarying devotion
to human liberty and equal rights, by
its character and its inspirations, this
party is best qualified to settle and ad-
Just these questions as they arise, and
TO give to the country continued safe
repose. So you believe. and so do we.
No one can be indifferent to such con-
siderations as these, and it is, there
fore, with deep concern for the future
usefulness of our party that we assume
to address you at this time. What
we have more directly and immediate
ly in view is to keep, if possible, our
own State fixed and steadfast in her
party allegiance The Importance OF
PENNSYLVANIA as factor in national
politics is manifest In the present
condition of things Republican ascend
ency in the general Government can
only be maintained by her continued
support, and the question which pre-
sents itself to your consideration is
how can this be secured!
That great majority of the voters
of PENNSYLVANIA are thoroughly anu
earnestly Republican in their views
and sympathies we donot doubt. The
political record of twenty years attests
their approval and acceptance of the
doctrines and principles of the party.
But while this is true, it is equally
manifest that their party allegiance has
been weakened, and that discomfort
and dissatisfaction prevail.
We need no other evidence of this
than the fact that at the last general
election over 10000 Republicans refus-
ed their support to the party's candi-
date, and gave it to another, while
still asserting their devotion to Repub-
lican principles and their earnest de-
sire for the party's ascendency. Ex-
perience shows that men are not easi-
ly shaken in their party allegiance. and
when dissatisfaction finds expression
in such emphatic tone it may safely be
assumed that evils exist in the party
that need to be corrected. This pro-
test was not against repugnant meth
ods of party management. 1t was an
earnest demand. pregnant with warn.
ing, that the REPUBLICAN party should
henceforth be true to itself; that it's
convictions and preferences should find
free aH honest expression, and that
its representative conventions should
reflect and record the will of the party
AAher than the DEGREES of a political
junta.
The truth is not to be disguised, nor
indeed, can it be- Repeated instances
of our State Conventions violently dis
regarding the popular preference in
candidates, and assuming powers
which did not rightfully belong to
them, at the dictation of few, are
fresh in your recollection. This SUBJ
serviencv, it is true, was followed by
your just Indignation but only to be
repeated by succeeding conventions
The result is before you in the last
general election. Whether the exist
ing grievances and abuses justified
such action, or whether such action
was the best method TO correct them,
it is no part of our purpose to inquire.
1t was the protest of the men who
made it, and they alone are RESPONSE
BILE for it. Others, equally sincere In
their condemnation, preferred other
remedies 1t is not our business to
approve or censure. All we desire
and seek to accomplish is restored har-
mony, united party and better meth
DDS. These can be secured In no other
way than by the removal of all just
cause of complaint. The party needs,
and, if 1t is to succeed in the future,
must have, sure and speedy deliver
ance from the tyranny of personal die
tation; the policy of prescription and
punishment for those who dare to op-
pose the rule of an oligarchy must be
abandoned the popular will must be
consulted and respected, and the power
of the party be used for higher pur-
poses than the bestowal of offices upon
unworthy favorites and dependents.
That so much can be accomplished
bv proper effort, without resorting to
revolutionary methods, we do not
doubt. Political control becomes Gen.
tered in the hands of fhe few only by
the neglect and Indifference of the
many. The source of political power
is in the primaries. These give ex-
preston and character to your large
conventions. If they are committed
to the management and control of men
whose interest in politics rises no high
er than the hope of Office or patronage
for themselves. no reform can be ex-
pected. But they need not be, and
should not. 1t is only because those
most interested in the cause of good
government fail to participate in these
important assemblies that they are so
often prevented and made to work such
great evils. If by any effort the mass
es of the Republican party can be in
cited to active participation in these
primary contests the work of reforma-
| tion will not only have begun, but will
be completed. The selfish few will be