New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-07-30
THE "R4SC4Lv BUSINESS

THE "RASCAL" BCSiNESS
1t may be as well for our Democratic fellow
citizens to remember that no Presidential
election has ever been decided ia this country
on the plea that the men in Office must be put
out in order that the men out of Office should
have n chance. aPut the rascais out" when
boiled down, amounts to this: 1t is our turn to
have the Offices" For century, the people out
of Office have always referred TO the people In
office as the "rascals,' aDd public opinion has
invariably treated that argument with deseI we'd
contempt.
President Jackson gained reelection by
popular approval OF his opposition to the Ma
tional bank. But when his course had broken
down the bank, and thrown the business OF the
country into confusion a reaction OF public
feeling threw his party out of power and Mr..
Van Buren, was overwhelmingly defeated.
Hostility to the course of the WING party in
respect to slavery gave Mr. Polk the election in
1874. but resentment because of the tariff of
1916 operated powerfully to cause the defeat
of Cas- two years later The Free-Soil party
defeated the Wig candidate in 1852, and the
people declined in 1886 to put the Democratic
party out of power, notwithstanding its corrup-
ton and the great strength of the Free-SOil
sentiment. But the Republicans prevailed in
1860 because of that sentiment. and in every
election since the Democrats have shouted
Pat The rascals out " with no effect. Ii is
possible, of course, that persistent refusal OF
the party in power to check corruption or re-
form abuses might cause popular verdict
against it, even in Presidential election, but
the people have never yet been convinced that
half of their number were so much more honest,
or so much more anxious for honest govern
ment than the other half. that the people out
of Office should ON that account be intrusted
with power.
On the face of it, this plea is childish and
silly. Every voter who knows anything of the
affairs of his country knows that the large
majority of voters in both parties desire good
government. Republican taxpayers do Lot
want tn be robbed, even by Republicans, nor
Democratic taxpayers by Democrats. No
party has ever manifested disposition to
shield or perpetuate corruption, ard the near
est approach to it was when the Democrats In
1856 and 1860 voted to continue the same ele-
ment in control of the country, though even
then they insisted upon a change of candidates
in both cases and doubtless hoped that the
change might bring more honest government
without reversal Of policy. Parties come into
being and continue IN being for the purpose OF
carrying into effect certain policies in the con-
duct of public affairs. Caring infinitely more
for these ideas than for the minor details
of administration, and believing that they are
every bit as honest as their opponents, the
voters of each party adhere to their principles,
even though they find that in the past their
servants have abused their trust. The remedy
for that difficulty is the selection Of better can
didates, they instinctively decide, ana not
transfer of power from set of meu with right
principles to set of men with wrong piinci-
pies.
The Republican vuters, moreover, have
especial reasons for treating the Democratic plea
with contempt at this time. They know that
the administration of public affairs, if not in all
respects what it should be, has been for years
and is now iDcomparably cleaner, purer, and
more honorable than it was under the latest
Democratic Presidents. They know that great
measures of reform have been urged by Repub-
lican Presidents, and enacted by Republican
voters, which were never proposed by any
Democratic Administration. They know that
there is to-day at least as strong and general a
desire to have the Government pure aud honest
among Republican voters as there is or at any
time has been among voters of the Democratic
party. They were in the majority, and know
ii. They arc not afraid to trust themselves.
7 he one thing entirely certain is that they will
not turn themselves out of power, and sacrifice
all their principles, because they fancy that
honest government can be had only by putting
Democrats into Office.