The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1884-05-12
THE FIRST VOTER.


The time is at hand in the politics of the
country when first voters must choose be-
tween the two great parties their candidates
and principles. Since the last presidential
campaign, resulting in the election of Garfield
tens of thousands of young men have come to
the legal age and are voters for the first time
great events that preceded and TRANSFERRED
during the war of rebellion is but tradi-
ton imperfectly understood The legislation
effected since is not as we'll understood by
them as by men of ripper age Yet the intel
lgence of the rising generation is so general,
and the education of young Americans so
universal that it is exceptional to find men of
from twenty to thirty years of age who have
not good idea of the merits of the two par
ties that now appeal for the peoples suffrage.
The Republican party occupies the point of
vantage both in position and in strength. Its
work endures, and its vitality is not yet spent.
The purposes for which the party was organ
lied, and the events which have demanded its
perpetuation, have been, and are, of supremest
importance. A quarter of century of the
country's greatest and most momentous his
tory is the history of the Republican party, as
distinguishing it from all other political organ
izations. The record of the Democratic party
must be sought in the refuse, the wrecks and
failures that have strewed the path of national
progress. Not one of the living principles of
the American republic is Democratic in its
origin. The attitude of that party has been
one of open hostility to all that is excellent
and desirable in public polity. 1t is needless
to recount the things that have been done by
the former and opposed by the latter. With
out exception the record has been made up in
the manner above indicated.
For the man about to cast his first vote and
to offer his allegiance to one or the other of
the two parties this is time for seri-
GUS deliberation. The country needs the help
of every true, strong, patriotic citizen; and
no less does the conscientious citizen need the
fellowship of men Of principle, composing a
party whose purposes are good and whose char
acter is established. It is parallel to going
into busincss-and politics is most serious
business On the one hand there is house
established and successful in every undertake
ing during twenty-four years On the other
is a firm bankrupted in 1860, devoid of prin-
ciple, without commercial sagacity, and
whose paper has been protested all over the
land. Which firm will you enter! Under the
tutorship of which will you begin the serious
business of citizenship?
This is matter that each must canvass for
himself. The young voter will be met with
plausible arguments and specious pleas on
every side. His it is to sift the good out Of
the bad; to investigate, and, as the truth APP
pears, to act for himself. The record is open
NOT in political pamphlets, nor in campaign
speeches alone, but in the written laws of the
land and in the platforms of principles that
shall be enunciated in the near future. The
Republican party has left its impress on every
page of history for nearly quarter of cen
fury, and is willing to be judged by any or
all Yet it does not live in the past; but,
strengthened and emboldened by past achieve
ments, it grapples with the questions of
to-day, and presents chart for future
work. Its principles are for to-day, to NOR
row and all time to come. Grounded on JUS
tice and right, they must endure. Its candi-
dates are living men, chosen for present worth
rather than as means of securing success by
more than questionable methods. These are
things for the young man to consider care
fully and candidly A misalliance would
ever be humiliating and harmful. 1t should
be the ambition of every live, clear-headed
young man to start right after which it will
be an easy thing to continue right. Let
prejudice be dismissed, let intelligence tli-
umph over sophistry, and let your resolve be
to declare in favor Of that which is best for
the welfare Of the people and the perpetuity
of our hard earned free institutions.
In the Superior Court, Judge Howe has
affirmed the law limiting the number of JUS