The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1884-08-09
I" LET 1T DIE -

"LET 1T DIE -
The Democratic Party Never Can aud
Never Ought to Win Another National
Victory.
[From the Chicago Times (Der,. } Nov. 1ssOJ
The recent presidential election has
shown that there is an invincible reason
why the Democratic party can never
win a national victory. 1t is that the
youths of this republic are not Demo
cratic. The sons of Democratic fathers
have grown up Republicans. SO long
as slavery and the war hnger within the
memory of Americans, the youths of
the republic will continue to grow up
Republicans; and slavery and the war
will be remembered as long as the
public school system exists. The public
schools have slain the Democratic party
with the textbooks. 1t is in vain for
statesmen to declare that there were as
many Democrats as Republicans in the
Union army. 1t is vain to affirm that
the war for the preservation of the
Union could not have been carried to
successful close without the aid
of the Democratic party. 1t is
idle for philanthropy to suggest
that the attitude of that party toward
the war In the beginning was humane
one; that it was inspired by the higher
and better wish that the cause of the
conflict should be peaceably removed,
and the spilling of brothers blood by
brothers hands avoided. The Demo.
cratic party has been ideally identified
with slavery and slaveholding. The
Republican party is ideally identified
with emancipation and the war. There
fore are the youths of the country in
capable of being Democratic. There
fore the Democratic party can never
win national victory. Its old men are
dying away. The boys who catch the
ballots that fall from their stilfened
hands are Republicans. This fact can
not be denied. 1t viii do no good to
quarrel with it. All other causes which
have operated to diminish the number
of Democrats and increase the number
of Republicans are insignificant be-
side this one tremendous and in
vIncible fact. The curse of slavery has
poisoned the blood and rotted the bone
of the Democratic party. The maledic
tion of the war has palsied its brain.
The young wife who held the babe up
to kiss the father as he hurried to the
tap of his departing regiment has not
sucked Democrat. The weary foot
of the gray grandmother who watched
the children while the wife was busy
has not rocked the cradle of Democrats.
The chair that the soldier father never
came back to fill has not been climbed
upon by Democrats. The old blue coat
that his comrades carried back was cut
up for little jackets, but net one covered
the heart of Democrat. The ratified
musket that fell from him with his last
shot became the thoughtless toys of his
boys; but not a hand that played with
it was the hand of a Democrat. The
babe he kissed crowed and crowed for
his return, and it's unwilling and unan-
swered notes were not from the throat
of Democrat. The tear-soiled camp
letters which the mother read aloud
In the long, bitter evenings while
the boys clustered at her knees
did not fall upon Democratic
ears. The girls sobs, blending
with the mothers weeping, did not make
Democrats of their brothers. Perhaps
the father had been a Democrat all his
hfel
The children go to school. There is
not a Democrat on its benches. The
first reader contains the portrait of
Abraham Lincoln-that kind and sturdy
face never made Democrat. On its
simple pages, in words of one or two
syllAbles, is told the story of his birth
and death. That story never made a
Democrat. In the pranks of the play
ground the name sileuces the froicsome
and makes the jolhest grave. The name
never made a Democrat. In the pict-
ures that light up the geography are
the firing on Fort Sumter and the
death of Ellsworth. Those pictures
make no Democrats. The first page
of the history contains a representation
No boy gazes on that and ever after
avows himself Democrat.
IA the higher grades the same subtle
and unreslsted influence IS ut work.
The textbook contains extracts from
patriots speeches during the war. Those
speeches makeno Democrats. The great
battles are briefly described; the nara
tive has no Democratic listeners. The
strain of martial music runs through
the readers, and that music makes no
Democrats. Sketches of the great gen
erals are given; the brave deeds arouse
the enthusiasm of the lads, but there is
no Democrat among them. The hor-
rors and sutferings Of the slaves are told;
the maddened blood that mounts the
boys cheeks is not Democratic blood
The curse of slavery has pursued the
Democratic party, and bounded it to
death. Therefore let it die; and no lip
will be found 10 say prayer over the
grass on its grave.
The late defeat need not be at5ribut-
ed to any other causes. Other causes
were at work, but they were only Incl
dental. The tariff WAS one. Sectional
ism was a second. "Let well enough
alone" was third. The October fail
ure in Indiana was a fourth. But all
these were trivial, and together could
not have accomplished the result. The
result was accomplished because the
youths of the Republic are not Demo
cratic. That party is therefore without
a future and without hope. The male
diction of the war has palsied it's
brain. The curse of slavery has poi
soned its blood and rotted its home.
Let it die.
EXPLORERS say that no better graz
ing lands exist than the eight thousand
acres of grass found on the Aleutian or
Fox Islands, which lie to the west of