The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1882-10-19

THE Springfield Republican says the
defeat in Ohio is the whirlwind which
the republican party is reaping from the
sowing of the wind. There might have
been time In tie history of the union
that any great deviation from the line OF
political rectitude by party would meet
merited punishment at the polls. But
that time is passed. Do the people care
that the republican party became so
drunk with power as to put an ass in the
speakers ehair2 Are they 30 interested
in civil service reform that they thus
testify their disapproval of the present
systism? They had occasion to admin
lister the rebuke years and years ago.
The people don't care for civil service
reform. Is it disafection with Jay Hub
bell and his assessmentsa The assess
ments are old as republican success and
HubbeD is no worse than his predeces-
sors. Is it the feting of Dorsey, the star
route frauds, the trial and practical es-
cape of the thievesa Belknap's escape
did not cause any political revolution.
The escape of the whiskey thieves made
no appreciable difference in elections.
The people don't care one fig for these
issues. Manitowoc county has as intel
ligent farmers as any county in the Unit
ed States, and not one in thousand
knows that cipher named Keifer was
speaker. Not one in 500 knows that
there are such things as internal improve
ments, or that cent is appropriated by
the general government for such purpos-
es. Not one in 1000 ever heard of Jay
Hubbell or cares one cent how much of
an assessment he made on officials. Not
one in 800 ever heard of star route frauds
or if he did he classed it with some as
Economical affair which had no concern
for him.
This theorizing as to causes is all hum
bug when it assumes political intelligence
on the part of the people, Political in
telligence is myth, 1t may do for the
scholar in politics" to frame nice theories
which have some practical bearing be-
cause it is assumed there is such thing
as political intelligence. Mother Goose's
Melodies amuse the children when it states
There was an old woman that lived in a shoe
She had so many children she didn't know what
to do,
but people of discretion know that a
shoe never was an abiding place for an
old woman or any other person. Those
who are in direct contact with the peo-
pie know that party may appropriate
millions If no direct tax is made; that
corruption may run rampant, if the price
of wheat continues good; that fools may
fill high places, if the weather continues
good and the average citizen is willing to
rub his hands and let the politicians talk.
You must touch the average citizen
directly to make him feel. Keller may
be ten times the ass he is; Dorsey
million times the swindler he is, but you
can't speak through them to the people.
A party must lay its finger on the average
citizens shoulder and speak to him di-
rectly, or he will keep on doing what he
has done for years. 1t is prohibition,
pure and simple, that brought defeat to
the republicans of Ohio. For every vote
the republican party lost in Ohio from
any other cause, it lost 500 because it
favored prohibition. This is the spot in
which the neople were tender and the
republican party placed its hand roughly
there and was knocked out of time.