National Republican., 1883-03-22

] llnVitS VI ConJIoliluB MS oNn lONCuloulS ior
two or three days, just as Tribune man might
do, When next he stirs out of town he
should advertise for convention of Jonk-
inscs and submit tho proposition for their
approval.
/ Concerning "Tnny" and Moral Idens.o
! The New York World made very worldly
remark the other day, which was In effect, and
very nearly in words, that "tho 'tafy >
usually given to the people is, by the repub.
lican party, named grand moral ideas. q"
| This was not only charge against the repub-
lican party of trying to pass Off "tafry rs
grand moral IDEAS" but IL was an admission
on behalf of those not of tho republican fold
| that, while thoy do not doul in grand moral
ideas, they do deal out "tafiy" to tho people,
| There is frank wickedness about tho IVorld's
saying which gives one an impression that IL
contains some honesty. 1t may be reason
ably inferred that the man of sin
who thus confounds tafly with morals has had
an unhappy experience with dabblers in the
latter-nay, more, it indicates the presence
around him of moral atmosphere wanting
in tho quality of genuine human nature
which corresponds to the oxygen in the air
we breathe. Ho finds n demand upon him
for morality which greatly exceeds the supply
possessed by him, although the honesty
of his outcry forbids the idea that
he is unusually depraved SO hope.
less is tho discrepancy, so impassable the
gulf between this supply and demand, that in
his despair he concludes that the moral ideas
with which the air is thick are spurious and
that those who uphold them are tahy-dealing
knavcs. The scoiT is bitter ono, but who
can say that IL has no ingredient of truth
French writer has analysed tho hypocrisy
which appears to him to be 81 the first fruit of
English society" He says:
| In a country where 1t Is scandalous to laugh on
Sunday, where the gloomy Puritan has preserved
something OF his old rancor against happiness,
where the critics of ancient history insert dis
sertations on the virtue of Ncbuchadnezzar It is
natural that the appearance of morality should be
serviceable. 1t Is needful coin those tUh o tack
good money coin bad; and the more public opinion
declares 1t precious, the more 1t is scounterleed.
! And so we may say that in country where,
through the agitations of a few heroic fanatics,
human slavery has but lately pitted itself
against the nation and been destroyed, and
where the condition of the freedmen COM
PEELED the consideration of moral obligations
in connection with the public safety, it Is nat
ural that the appearance Of high motives
should be serviceable. As the popularity of
negro championship increased, the moro was
the solicitude for the negro's welfare counter
feited. II was at its highest point of imitation
about the year 1870. Its noisiest champions
were first to discover the depreciation in
its value and to begin to substitute for
it in the popular esteem series of
sham reforms which should dazzle the pub.
lie eye, ravsh the public ear, aud take cap
tive the public mind The new brewers of
grand moral ideas assembled themselves to.
gether at Cincinnati in 1872 in national con-
vention, aud those stern disciples of free trade
Carl Schurz Horace White, and Joo Medill-
aided in presenting for the presidency Horace
Greeley, tho high protectionist philosopher
of the Tribune, on a platform remanding +"
the question of "revenue reform their
main issue" to the several congressional
districts" The fantastic managers of that
grand taay" campaign of 1872 were as a
drum corps noisily preceding the democrati C
procession which Jagged sulkily behind, and
led by the most gorgeous and .pompous of
drum majors in the person of Whitcaw Reid.
The public appetite for goodness has become
SO depraved by such mountebankery that it
can be made to demand in unlimited quantities
almost any sort of food which these political
PecksnilIs will declare to bo moral. The man
of tho World must admit that it is chiefly
that sort of republicans with which the
democracy consorted in 1872, and with which
they still coquette which has undertaken to
cheat the people of their good will with coun-
terleit morality coined from "tafy." But we
do not say that no other republicans havo so
offended. 1t is too much the tendency of the
times to manufacture seeming virtues and pay
them seeming tribute. The veriest knaycs in
the land erect standards which are impossible,
and affect Il sanctimony which Is hateful be-
cause hypocritical. Sensible men, instead of
tearing down these common swindlers, give
them currency by falling in with those who
exalt them, until King Sham appears to
reign triumphant So far as the World means
to denounce as "tafy" such pretended "mora
IDEAS" we concur So far as it mocks at the
existence of "grand moral IDEAS" we dis
sent. And, in conclusion, if those who are
not republicans have been administering
tafy to the people, as our New York contem.
porary would seem to admit, we exhort them
to reform it altogether,
The Eight-HOur Law.
H. IL L..