The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1882-06-03
Governor Seymour on the state
OF Parties

Ex-Cioy. Seymour. u Nsw Yark, has filled
50 large = spaee for many years IN the paalse
eve, and his conservative opinions are 80 aell
known. that anything he may have 20 say ga
public affairs i sssre Ia bc read with interest.
Removed a. be has been By azs and has own
inclination from the actiye sphere Of politics
be has continued TO be CLOSE observer II she
drih VI things and Of the condition Of parties,
aud Il Is as philoSoPhie critic studying the
current OF public thought and the quality Of
the political machinery IN action AZ this time
in SO far as il may affect the future IF the
country that he must be regarded. On Wed
nesday last a correspondent OF the New \ ork
World had an interview Eiih Governor Sey-
mour at his home near Utica, which Is thas
summarized:
He touched on many OF the te9ies Of the
day, hut more particularly on the existing
state Of affairs and the changes they indicated
Coming down 20 this later day. he said, Il
feel assured that the democratic party has i in
It's power to regain lis supremacy in the State
and in the country. Il max BE- said tina, It's
organization Is bad, and 80 il Is. But the re
publican party is ia mach worse state, and
that party is without the power 20 nehabiliiaie
itself II can take no step backward. II =
impelled forward by lis own weigh to disso-
luton. Its tendencies, unhappily. are all to-
wards Capitalization, and the machinery of
our government has grown 50 enormous and
complex in IFS hands that il has got beyond
control. The constant shifting Of senators
and Congressman on both sides he holds 70 be
one of the serious features ofthe tiFses- They
are not left long enough in Congress 10 enable
them, in his opinion, to legislate thonghttully
and wisely. "Ehey cannot keep Peaee with
the present. be said. much less study the
past and learn experience from il. There have
been six or seven thousand bills introduced
at Washington during this session, and II Is
impossible for the men who are called upon
20 vote upon the bills to know ANYTHING pFae-
tically about them. Their legislation must
necessarily be at haphazaFd.' The result IS
that both Legislators and officials, being in of
fee only temporarily, are brought under the
influence Of the lobby. Il Is these men who
know all about the bills before Congress, and
practically do the work. .'lhe lobby, said
Gov. Seymour, SIS the great evil of the day at
Washington. II may not be wholly the fault
Of the Republican party-as men they are
probably not better or worse than other men
but it is inseparably connected with their
system of policy. II has grown with their
growth and they cannot shake il off, Their
tendency has been to centralize power at the
general capital and to swell the bulk of legis-
I lation transacted there, until 1t has not only
I gone beyond their control but beyond the
{ comprehension OF anybody Dut the lie-fneu-
/ bers Of the lobby. The consequence of this
state of affairs can only be disastrous, as II has
already proved, and it now threatens the Re
\ publican party with dissolution. That organ
/ ization has no remedy within its reach. 1t
I has found il impossible to return to eonstitu-
4 tional methods 1t has sought to eentralize
1 everything, and it is overwhelmed by the gi-
( gantie superstrueture of corruption IT has
/ reared.
The only remedy for these evils Governor
4 Seymour finds in a return to the wise and con-
1 seryative ways Of the constitution, which left
/ to the control of the local authorities all ques-
! tons that directly affect them as communities,
| and sought, in all its provisions, to keep polit-
icaI power from concentrating at one point.
Even now he holds that ian honest eonstrue-
ton of its language and spirit would correct
4 the abuses which have grown to such threat
ening proportions within the last twenty
wears. = Gov Seymour does not think il pos
sibIe for the different factions-either in that
state or in others where the Republicans are
divided among themselves, as in Pennsylvania
for instanee-ever to come together again so
as to work in combination tremendously, and
entertaining this view he thinks that the hour Is
ripe for a return to Democratic rule land to
the powers and limitations of our social and
political institutions as set forth by the constr
tuition.