The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1882-11-01
The YOUNG Nam. Political puty.

one, and as the new voter crosses the
threshold of manhood and enters the
field OF politics. he sees before him in
full panOply and gjittering array the
| various contend ng parties, one of
which he must inev tabiy enter unless
he choose to sit with the continually
lessening number of idle spectators,
who enjoy their dolcs far Hiente at
safe distance, cheering now one side,
now the other, according to which shall
! prove victorious.
! As the young novice thus stands hes
itatingly and doubtfully, embarrassed
and disconcerted at the no sy clamor
about him, he is approached by the re-
cruitng. officers of the respective hosts,
/ each anxious to secure his services.
] The claims OF each are laid before him.
and he is 10 choose with which he shall
cast his lot. Under which king, Ben
z,nan?
In this position, then, We to-day find
thousands of young men, their souls
/ kindied bv the martial sounds before
them, and their hearts filled with
/ deep determination to embrace the
cause of the right-the cause of justice.
1t is 10 such that we to-day appeal in all
sincerity, and whom we ask to delay
this step until they shall. have weighed
carefully every consideration. and in
vestigated minutely the principles of
the several parties from which they are
to choose.
The contest this year is between but
two parties. TO be sure, there are
here and there, scattered over the field,
few small bands OF helpless stragglers
who have endeayored, and sometimes
with success. to maintain separate or
! ganization, but this year the deSerters
/ who have gone overto one or the other Il
the two parties who will surely bear the
brlnt OF the conflict, have decimated
these little bodies of discontents. and
they are nearly ready for a stampede
which Will surely occur when the belch-
ings of the huge artillery of the cam
paign shall have begun. These small
and decimated bodies offer no attraction
whatever 20 the young man before
them. He must look to one or the
other of the great rivals who, having
been deserted during the past few years
by many of their followers who have
left their banners and followed after
false gods, now find their prodigals
nearly all returned. and again the old
standards are to be unfurled, the old
war cries are to be sounded, and the
struggle will not end until one or the
other OF the opposing armies shall have
been completely overthrown.
What claim has the Democratic party
on the young man to whom she now ap-
peals for aid. Let us see. 1t originated
the party maxim that ito the victor be-
long the spoils. 1t was the one firm,
unwavering, unyielding friend of human
slavery. To perpetuate this horrible
system of bondage it cast aside its
noblest leaders and its best principles.
oil e. . ~G 4
country, it nerved itself to the supreme
effort and rose in bloody rebellion
to. ruin the country it could not
rule. 1t had previously scattered
our navy to the four corners of the
earth. Ii left Northern harSors and
Northern cites defenseless, while it
concentrated the supplies necessary to
carry on rebellion where the seeding
States of the Union could lay ready
hold on them. 1t enco outraged disloy atty
in strongholds of Unionism. 1t left no
stone unturned in its effort to forward
the purposes of the rebellious South.
Such were the trea herous, the traitor
Gus acts of the Lass Democratic Admin
istration! Having sSmpathized for a
tine secretly, but none the less heartily,
with secession, it openly avowed and
championed It wherever It was popular,
and secretly ut e1ectually favored it
where it was dangerous TO openly avow
it. 1t encouraged secession to its cul-
minat on, a d when the re el guns
belchel forth their iron vomit upon
Sumter the voice of the Democratic
party sad "Amel." Beaten COM
pletely, utterly routed and d scomfited
with abundant food for remorse in hav-
Jag caused the destruction of million
human lives, t again had tha hardihood
to appeal to the people of the country
that il c allowed to control its Govern
1 nent. The country answered its re-
guest by electng to the Presidency the
gallant General who of all others had
wrenehed the bloody scepter from its
grasp.
Its career since then has teea con-
s.stelt with its previous history. 1t
has endeavored to bulldoze and dis
franchise the negro; it has opposed
nearly every project for the advance
ment of civilizat on; it has stimulated
weak-minded and ignorant men to
detract from the power of a rival
which it could not worst in direct
combat. 1t has favored foreign in
dustry at the expense of the people of
its own country; it has encouraged
every spe.ies of fraud at elections; it
has tried to reverse the will of the peo-
pie by buying a State. 1t is even
now the sworn friend of every vile
element in American politics. Wher-
ever ignorance, vice, misery or
crime prevail, there Democracy counts
its surest and safest votes; it relies on
the slums of the cities to out-yote the
intelligence of the rural districts. Does
any young man wish, by his first vote,
to signify his approval of such party?
As he hears his father or his uncle or
their comrades relate the horrors of
rebel prisons; as he sees floating round
about him the Stars and Stripes the
emblem of civil and religious freedom
such as was never before kEown; as he
sees towering before him the school
houses at which he and his comrades
have re, eived as free gift an educa-
ton which can be made n foundation on
which to erect any sort of intellectual
fabric it is in his capacity TO rear; as he
sees his ballot put into the ballot-boX
and honestly counted; as he sees the
enfranchised negro, no longer slave
to human tyranny, but free and intel
ligent human being like himself; as he
sees business revive and flourish under
the benefits of staple currency and a
judicious tariff, can he caSeshis first bal
lot for the party whose overthrow was
necessary bofore these magnificent re-
suits could be accomplished?
What claim has the Republican party
on the vote of this VOunU man2 Its