Morning journal and courier., 1882-04-18
Tuesday Morning, April IS. 1882.
sonuRz ON PATTY PRospEcrs.


 In the current number of the NOrth Anaeraca1a Re0ieac Carl Schurz has something to say about the political situation which is well worth the attention of politicians and also of thoughtful men who are not poli- ticians. Mir. Schurz points out that there is no topic of general interest now exciting the feelings or absorbing the attention of the people to such degree that grave abuses or mistakes in the administration of affairs would be overlooked as of secondary impor- tance, or that men in official station would be readily acquitted of any wrong if they were only right some "main question" :" Pointing with pride" and ''viewing with alarm" in party platforms has lost it's charm with all thinking men, The Republican par ty, distracted by factious quarrels in it's reg ular organization, and not able to count un- der all circumstances upon the support of an influential and numerically considerable in- dependent element is ''upon it's good be- havior" in the strictest sense of the term. There are so many discordant forces and di- vergent tendencies in it that only the wisest management or particularly obnoxious con- duct on the part of it's opponents can keep it's line unbroken.
 But the Democratic party is also in a con- dition very unsatisfactory to itself. Says MT. Schurz: Ever since its defeat in 1860 it has been groping about for Ca policy'' with certain air of helplessness. While from time to time re-asserting it's traditional prin- ciples in theory, it abandoned them in prac- tice. It boasted once of being the hard money party, and then compromised itself with the widest paper money theories It was once the champion of free trade, and then, after having put the demand of tariff for revenue only in its platform, ran away from it at the decisive moment. It was the champion of strict construction of consti tutlonal powers, and then-its southern wing, at least-showed itself willing to accept from the Federal government aid for all sorts of internal purposes and to exert the Federal power in the regulation of internal com merce. Owing to the dissatisfaction created by Republican administrations it achieved important successes, obtaining control of both houses of Congress and then it did not know what to do with it's power. When the Republicans had made a blunder, the Democratic party seemed to be in haste to make greater one It has frequently found | itself obliged to accept as unavoidable certain points of the Republican policy, after having violently opposed them; and nov an unusual ly strong movement has been started in the Democratic ranks in favor of protection, just at the moment when reaction against the ultra protective policy of the war period is beginning, when a revision of the tariff is generally demanded, and when shrewd Re- publican politicians are preparing to take ad- | vantage of this tendency and push it toward 8 thorough reform of the system.
 MT. Schurz does not think that the fact that the two parties are on their good beha- vior is a certain guarantee that they will be, have we'll He points out that the natural tendency of the machine interest in them is | rather in the direction of the exploitation of | political power for the selfish ends of persons or cliques. His hope for the future lies in those beings so unpopular with practical politicians" the independent voters. In the present period of transition, says he, the popular mind is unusually open to the dis cussion of those great problems of govern ment which are upon us, and currents of thought and sentiment may thus bo put in motion sufficiently strong to carry one or the other of the existing parties from point to point, thus accomplishing through that in- strumentality results in detail growing in importance as they accumulate. The party which receives these influences most readily and gives them effect will thereby develop new clements of vitality-which, however, can be done only at the expense of those methods of political management which have sprung from the spells system. If, on the contrary, both of them resist those currents of opinion, the latter will probably grow powerful enough to force into existence a new formation, with courageous spirit of initiative and a programme born of the re- quirements of the times.