The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1882-09-21
The Fusion Post Mortem

The Fusion Post Mortem.
There has been no condemnation of the
defeated Fusion party 50 severe as that
which has come from the members of that
party and from its newspaper organs. 1t
is openly admitted that money is needed
to bring out the Fusion vote: that with
out it their voters Will not come to the
| polls. Then, it is charged by the Fusion
papers that these voters were bought up
by the Republicans By the wholesale. Now
if these things be true. does not such a
party deserve to be defeated \ party
whose hopes of success are based upon
voters who will not vote their c0nvic-
tons unless they are paid for doing 50,
| and who are quite ready to vote on the
| other side for considerations is not a
! party which ought to succeed. But that
Is the position Of the Fusion party. as
stated by the Prog. Age and other pa
pers, and by Hon f. W. Hill, father in
law and chief adviser of Gov Paisted,
who, in an interview with Lewiston
journal reporter, thus explained the
Fusion defeat this year
| The chief cause of our Illusion defeat was
the difficulty in getting our men to come to the
! polls. We had very hard work in getting out
| our votes. There bad been too much money
used in 1850. lott,s haAQ track IL III, erU,,tut,ou
| q geHtog Sone moat4 bej"r. comu,g o4t
'rb;c io o.,
the Fusionsts carried the election Of le-O
with money, and that they failed to carry
it this year because they did not have
the money. As Mr.. Hill says: 'Noters
hung back in the expectation Of getting
some money before coming ont While
the Republican vote was nearly as large
as in 1880, the Fusion vote falls off over
5000 from their vote of 1850 If we are to
believe what prominent Fusionists saw
these missing voters were either bought
to vote Oh the other side, or did not vote
at all, because they were not paid by the
Fusion leaders as in 1880. The truth is
that good many Republicans who were
led astray by the Greenback craze, re-
turned to their former allegiance this
year; while many old Democrats refused
to vote because they were disguised with
Fusion. And the extent Of this sentiment
is shown by the alaclity with which GER
tain late Fusion organs denounced Flu
sion when they had the election returns
before them. The Bangor Commercial,
which had been regarded as Plaisteds
personal organ, led off in this direction,
and others followed. The ROckland
Opinion says that it is simply childish
to attribute the disaster to the Union
ticket to bribery, and that "Wlen a
party admits that its voters have been
bought up by wholesale, and is unable
to secure the punishment Of the bribers.
it may us well confess in SO many words
that it has no effective organization. and
is not worthy the confidence of the pco-
pie" And the Camden Herald saws
"Fusion has been tried and has proved
failure" This information was given
to the people by the Republican press
before the late election, and they acted
upon it, so that these post mortem reve-
latiOns are neither new nor startling.
Coming from the source they do, they
tend, however, to disprove the charge
OF bribery on The part of Republicans,
and the attacks upon the integrity and
manhood Of tue voters. TO put the whole
story in nutshell, Fusion was defeated
this year because it deserved to be-
The Bangor Wing and Courier gives a
compilation Of the election returns show.
ing the net Republican gains in the ter
ritorial limits of the five Congressional
Districts as they stand under the last APP
portionment. The gains were as follows:
First District, Republican net gain 924 :;
Second District, 1921; Third District,
2lO3; Fourth District, 1908 Fifth Dis
trict, 1921. And upon these figures the
Wing comments as follows
1t will be seen that while TIE Republicans in
every section of the State splendidly confirmed
our prophecy of their good work, the two
Eastern Districts" which were accused of de-
string to load themselves upon the general ticket
TO be pulled through" have given large Re-
publican majorities and contributed no less than
o,5A Of the nine thousand gain by which we
have SO grandly carried the State.
Hon. F. G. Parker Of Pressure Isle,
editor of the North Star, says OF his defeat
as the Fusion candidate for Representa-
tive for that town, that it is I'personalIy
boom but the blow falls upon the party"
This is the politician that speaks, as edi
tors are always modest.
Senator elect Rust does not stand
very good chance to be President of the
Maine Senate ; but he may be the leader
of the Fusion minority in that party,
which consists of three Senators, all told.