Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-02-24

Utats Of the popular mind.
b n considering our later politics we
q Ike the liberty Of saying that no party
&hloh was ever In existence had ever
larpsr political capital to bank upon
than the Democratic party in 1872, as
xesult Of the Republican excuses Of re-
o,nstruction. The Seymour campaign
was too early date to lock for the do.
vslopmont Of this fact in It's full signif-
&ancs Tint was tho transitional period,
snd II was too much to hope that the
9aes Of Deerfield would be able to over.
come tho hero OF Appomattox, flushed
= the latter was with positively epic
Military Rlories, while. at the same time,
49, people had had no opportunity Of
gernins the true character Of the man
Nv were then disposcd to apotheosize.
bar years Of Grant gave the Demo.
elAtIc party precisely the chance It
tAould have sought, had the option been
ivsn to II. Possessed Of principles dis
lnotivsly antsgonizsd to pseudo Caesar.
IN and shoddyism, with capital op.
pertunity Of rallying the masses to the
kt1Alntsnance Of old and tried shib-
nelslhs. and with the further certainty
MT the so-called Liberal element Of the
epublicsn party would certainly sup.
tcst third ticket the Democratic
orty. for the time being. surrendered
~ title to self.respect by the nomina-
olpn Of Horace Greeley for President--
q ~ that Horace Greeley whose most dis
Z 1lnctive utterancc had been that, while
~ Democrats were not horse.thieves,
~ horse thieves were Democrats. Of
ceure the party rallied with remarka-
~ unanimity around such candidate,
With the result that Grant rolled up a
majority Of l37, 900 In Pennsylvania and
corresponding majorities in other States.
This was perfectly natural. The Re.
y publican sneer ran that there are still
Democrats in the Old Keystone State
who make their way to the polls to vote
4 for Andrew jackson. Such man may
Be benighted intellectually, but he pos
sssses moral vertebrae which. as COM
. pared with volatile Democrats who could
dop round to Greeley, is like the day to
night In ratio of difference.
. The Democratic party committed q
second mistake following the election of
1876. In that campaign they had the
sagacity to nominate a genuine Demo-
crat, in the person Of Mr.. Samuel j.
Tilden. who himself gave the keynotes
Of the campaign, and it goes without say
ing that they were luminous and Demo.
cratic. As it seemed to be obligatory
that tho party should make blunder of
some kind, it was then put in the form
Of allowing Mr.. Tilden to be cheated out
Of his election. Probably Mr.. Lamar, of
Mississippi, and Mr.. John Young Brown,
Of Kentucky, could tell more of the de.
tails Of this dicker than any other men
living. They may have acted from the
best personal lights that were revealed
to them. and they probably did, but the
result was to leave the Democratic party,
10 certain extent, demoralized.
This demoralization certainly had not
spent its force in 1880; and, to supplement-
thsse two several mistakes, Mr.. john Kel-
ly was allowed to appear as an honored
guest In tho Cincinnati Democratic Ma:
tional Convention which nominated Geny
Hancock, and this notwithstanding the
fact that he went there with his hands
imbrued in the political blood Of Lucius
Robinson, the Democratic candidate for
Governor of New York, whom he de.
feated by running as an Independent
Democratic candidate, thus drawing off
eighty thousand votes from candidate
who was eonfessedly one Of the purest
and ablest public men New York ever
had. This undeserved and most NAL.
apropos recognition Of double.dyed
traitor enabled Mr.. John Kelly to be-
tray the Democratic party second
time. and most effectively.
Such summary of Democratic disas-
tiers is instructive, and the party ought
TO avail itself Of the full measure of
salutary monition involved in the re.
cital. The people are to-day, to u re.
-snsrkabledegree, in the mood OF respond.
ing to sagacious and energetic Demo.
'crat initiative. All our party has to
do to succeed splendidly is to drop free
trade nonsense as thing which,
though just in the abstract, is
in the concrete absurd. Moderate |
and intelligent emendations OF the tariff |
are inevitable as an issue Of the near
future. But they should be undertaken
by the Democratic party when. ii ever,
it shall have elected its President and a |
majority Of both houses of Congress.
This 1t can easily do by remorselessly |
cutting down the expenditures of the
national government, and by showing
itself to be infexibly bent on pruning off |
all useless officials. 1t can further do it |
by hunting official thieves to their lairs,
and by showing the masses the game of
shuttle-cock and battledore OF which |
they have been made the victims in the
Star Rou trials, and pretended expos.
tulations Of the law officers of the gov
ernment with the robbers who have
spoliated upon the national treasury. A
strong aud unintermittent effort to re.
cover the public domain, as far as it is
forfeitable, TO control corporations and
to rebuks bureaucracy, will give the
Democratic party an impetus Of victory
which nothing hnman can stop.
1t is the duty, first, of Congress, and
secondly Of the Democratic National
Convention, which will assemble at Chi.
clgo on the sth Of July. to sound all
these variant notes in the gamut of
patriotic and enthusiasm inspiring pro.
gramme.
-------------------
- our telegraphic dispatches appears
4