Morning journal and courier., 1883-04-27
PoLIrIcAL PARTIES

There are some people who seem to believe that political parties are really necessary to good government. This is in effect believing that the voters ought to disagree. There can never be but one right side to any public question, and the assumption that political parties ought always to exist simply means that portion of the people ought to take the wrong side, and that it would actually be a public calamity for people to be generally united in it's views of national policy. It means that the prejudice, the bigotfy, and the meanness of party strife are desirable and that it is good thing that the press is parti- san and that it presents oolored and prsju- diced views of political events and that the extreme difficulty of gettingythe plainitruth about party men and party measures is blessing rather than an evil. This theory goes even farther than that It would as- sume that political parties ought to exist even when there is no question of importance on which to divide. The idea is that political parties ought to exist not alone for the prin- ciples they advocate, but because it is good thing in itself to have political parties.
 Whether those politicians who run the party machines have got as far as to distinctly formulate this creed is doubtful, but this is the faith they practice. That they put the party above it's principles is clear everyday fact. Scarcely platform has been written since the old anti-slavery contest in which principle has not been in some measure sac | riiced to party success. Their motto seems 1 to be success first and principle afterwards. ! They regard independence as bad judgment. Boiling is unmitigated folly, no matter what the justification, because it brings defeat to | the party. Scratching a candidate may or may not be violation of principle, but it 1 $ always treachery to the party. It never | seems to occur to them that there can be any thing more important than party or that the l only excuse for party at all is the principles | it professes.
 The best that can ever be said for polit- ical parties is that they are 8 necessary evil They exist because human na- | ture is imperfect. Men do not dis agree because they ought to, but because I they will. Parties are formed to carry out principles, and the only justification for the existence of party is the necessity of com
 bining for such purpose. Loyalty to party ought to mean loyalty to principle. In fact | 1t is getting to mean that. In these days outside the ranks of the machine party no longer stands first and principle second. The mass of citizens who vote independently if constantly growing and it is one of the hap piest signs of the times. We seldom heal ! now days the boast, once 50 common, thai 1 one has never voted anything but the party ticket. Partisans do not advertise their stu pidity any longer in that way.
 There will perhaps always be reason for
 the existence of parties in national politics But why should there be parties in State pol
 itics? Why shoulda governor be chosen be- 1 cause he has certain views about nationa
 politics. If there are to bs parties in State politics why should they divide on national questions? Why, above all, should there bs l parties in town and city affairs? Whl l should man be chosen mayor, selectmap,
 assessor or constable becsuse he is Rspub
 lican or Democrat {? Where Is the necessi
 ty for party division on matters purely 10
 cal? In some of the large cities of the coun
 try the absurdity and positive evil of sucl
 division is already felt and citizens com
 mittees have been formed to deliver the yot
 CTS from the necessity Of choosing between
 the evils of caucus nomination. Sooner O
 later this feeling will extend to State politics
 and more or less affect national politics.
 The party system is good thing for tn
 politicians It is the only scheme by whiel
 unworthy and incompetent men can be per
 sistently elected to office. The caucus nom-