The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-03-01

The origin of Some Phrases in
Comm on Use.


false In politicalcontests as''roorbacks"
owes its origin to a publication in the
Albany Evening Journal, then, if
serves Us, edited by the late
Thurlow Weed. Mr.. Polk was then
the Democratic candidate for President
aud was the owner of small number
of slaves, as was also Henry Clay, his
To show how bad and
brutal master Mr.. Polk was, the AL
bany Journal published lengthy ex-
tract from the travels of Herr Roorback I
an eminent German professor, in the
United States, In which he gave q !
scene he had witnessed early one morn
ing'of drove Of slaves, chained each
to the other, crossing Duck river, and
on the bare shoulders of each were
branded with hot iron the initials
81. K. Planes X. Polk. AS Mr..
Polk lived near Duck river, and as
these were the initials of his own name,
it was charged that Mr.. Polk was the
owner of the chattels, and that the
bra nding was to show his title to the
property. Soon after the publication
some Democrat, turning to a book OF
travels in the United States by Mr..
Featherstonehough, an English geolo
gist, discovered the same pen.picturs
of slave-driving, save that the location
was different, being on New, not on
Duck river, and that there was no
branding with hot iron ON the shoul-
ders or other part of the chattels. Pub.
lished side by side, the forgery was
apparent. Ne Mr.. Roorback had pub
lished book of travels in the United
States, and no man could be found
who had ever heard of him. The Eve.
ming Journal was forced to confess the
forgery, and for excuse claimed that it
had been imposed upon by some ras-
cally Democrat, but it never gave his
name, and hence the Albany Evening
Journal and Thurlow Weed got the
full credit for the clumsy forgery and
for the injury it did the Whig candi-
date. Since that day political false
heods are called C. Roorbackn and so
common is it that the term has place
in Webster's unabridged, where it is
defined as "a q forgery or fictitious
story, published for purposes of politi-
cal intrigue"
-"Canard" is another oft-quoted word
used to brand an assertion false. 1t is
the French for" Duck" and has its
origin in French wag fooling the
learned men Of the French capital by
publishing as a remarkable fact that
twenty ducks were each carefully
weighed one of them was killed and
cut into thin slices, which were thrown
into the coop and speedily devoured
by the other nineteen. Another and
still another was killed aud eaten, until
but one duck remained. That one
/ was then carefully weighed and found
not to have gained single ounce.
i This statement set the wisely learned
men of Paris all agog with philosoph-
ical and scientific reasons why the
duck who had eaten nineteen of his
! fellow ducks had not increased in
weight. The reasons given were all
ON scientific principles, scarce aay two
of them agreeing. The laugh wal
against the French savants when II
I. was proclaimed that the whole tale
was hoax--not word of truth in it
Z After that all tales void of truth were
pronounced canards-duck stories. II
has since been adopted in the United
states as name for q political false
hood.
1 AS the opponents of the Democratic
party change their party name almost
at every reverse they fancy the Dem.
] ocracy should do the same thing, and
4 hence, almost from the days when
parties formed, they have ransacked
their brains to find names for their op
ponents. In the days of Jefferson they
dubbed their opponents Jacobins, after
the famous Jacobinl club that ruled
/ France IN the days of Robespiere,
/ Danton and .Marat, and in later days
| they Dubbed the Democracy Loco
/ focss,p which later, name became SC
universal, fora time, that a portion OF
the New York Democracy adopted it
1 as a nickname. 1t had its origin in
one of the numerous contests in New
York City. when fight was on hand
/ between different segments of the
| Democratic party in 1884, in a differ
enceJ of opinian on, / think, the
bank notes and hard money. The
nesting was in Tamnany Hall, which
was crowded to excess. The soft mon
ey men, if that was the question at
Tissue, after stormy session, finding
themselves outnumbered, secretly had
the gas turned off. leaving the vast
mass of men IN the hall in utter dark
ness. Anticipating some scheme Of
this kind, the majority of the meeting,
composed of workingmen-they were
branded the Subterranean Democra-
cy,n because, as their more aristocratic
adversaries said, some of them lived in
Enthusiastically produced loco-foco
matches and pieces OF candle from
their pockets, and with these lighted
up the hall, and putting in new OFF,
GERS, proceeded with the meeting, and
passed their resolutions. From this
the anti bank Democracy were dubbed
Locofocos, and in many parts of the
union the radical Democracy laugh
ingly acquiesced in the name. Find
ing nickname received in good temper
the ultra state bank men changed it to
Barn-burners," and for several years
this name was a common one. It's Or
iyiu II write from memory and may
Lot be strictly correcD was this:
A leading Democrat of New York,
of the school sympathizing with the
Radicals, in speech ON the subject
involved in the then controversy, said
that he would sooner be caught burn