Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-04-20
Bonr3ors VS.. Independents.


It is an ingenious misrepresentation
sought to be conveyed OF Southern
politics by using the word '.Indepena-
ent'' as an antithesis TO bourbon : a
misrepre that was long ago OBJ
served and pointed out in Georgia hit
that has escaped notice in other States.
The Republicans have again fooled
themselves and committed a second
error as fatal as the first in their attempt
to strengthen their party in the South.
Bourbon" iii means any thing. means
an old man with obsolete ideas. General
Toombs, perhaps. is a 9 Bourbon, and
the mountaineers of Tennessee who still.
vote for Andrew jackson are g Bour-
bons.' The few Confederate colonies
that first went to Washington just after
the war with war claims must have
who g learn nothing and forget nothing
cessful in politics. and they have now
become the !" Independence The idea
that the Southern :. independents are
who have 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 IS indie
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 legislatis.* the
frequent misrulings and the uttes nor
ance of the simplest parliamentary rules,
bouo made tho Roo1;uctor or;c1o-
ture of Virginia the laughing stock of
the press, indicate the presence and pre-
ponderance Of Bourbons.'' In North
Carolina also aspirants for .'Independ-
ent" honors are .'Bourbons With
the exception of Mr. Speer, of Georgia,
nearly every 8. Independent leader in
| longer young who clings to old ideas.
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
| 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
/ 1ocS 10 ri
| Tennessee's prosperity than was heard
under the preceding Democratic Admin
istrations. And in Tennessee there
We're Democrats independent enough to
vote Tor Republican rather than for
reputation; but these Democrats are
not the .Independents' that are now
courted by the Republicans. The men
already spoken of as 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 'sIndependents.n A religious news
| paper, published at Augusta and edited
by colored man, in its last issue re-
spectfully declined DR.. Felton's '.Inde-
! pendent promises made to his race.
| Everywhere the ssBourbons" 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-
| eia with the dissatisfied, in Texas with
the Greenbackers Gf they are not g Bour-
bons," who are?)-such alliances no.
where gain the support of young men,
| of energetic men or of the strength and
hope of the South. And already the de-
lberately 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-
| TieaD affords more amusement than the
sight of troublesome old Bourbons' y
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
Bourbons,'' and it is relief to the
Democracy for them now to become Sc In
| dependents - Thus the ..disintegra-
tom of the Democratic party means a
| publication, for which thanks are due to
| the Republican master. of the g indie
| pendents. The secret has become so
| wall known apd tho raSr,1ts iS ca l,di.