St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-12-04
Among the Poll
IicianS.

|
Thanksgiving Among the Poll
IicianS.
By WASHINGTON GLADDEN., LII. D.
To the great majority of hon
est republicans this festival will wear
an unwOnted shade of gloom. The
party to which they belong. and which
they have long regarded as the only
trustworthy custodian of the national
honor and prosperity, has lost control
of the executive department of the
government. 4 very large share of
all these voters have no recollection of
ever having lived under any other
than republican administration. They
are scarcely able tn conceive of the
government its being in other hands.
| With those who are older, the recol
lectiOns of the civil war, and of the
conflicts preceding it, form Il stubborn
element of suspicion and apprehen
sion. The great mass of the republi
cans entertain dstrust of the demo
cratic party that is well-nigh invinci-
bic. This distrust has, of course, been
strengthened and intensified in every
possible way 10y campaign orators and
editors. At the close of il bitter and
! exciting contest, the republicans have
seen the power pass into the hands of
their ndversaries. They have been
told over and over again, with strenu-
ous iteration aud solemn emphasis,
that the success of the democratic par
! ty would involve the prostration of
our Industries, the ruin of our COM
merce, the utter corruption of the ex-
ecutive branch of the government, the
complete suppression and practical re
ensIavement of the blacks in the south
ern states, and, possibly. the pension
ing of confederate soldiers, and the
I pdyII1nr of the war debts of the south
ern states. These last two calanities
are not, probably, regarded as probable
by the majority of republicans the
others are apprehended, with more or
less solicitude by most of them. I'm
der such circumstances. it is not to he
expected that Thanksgiving day will
prove IA very iubilant festival among
good republicans. Many of them will l..
no doubt, feel that Il Fast day would
be mnch more appropriate under the
circumstances. Ii will not be very
easy for them to recall many reasons
for thanktulness.
Ny first clear recollection of a presi-
dental campaign reaches back to 1874.
Well do remember the heated talk of
the wings. from whom my political
knowledge was derived, respecting
their democratic opponents and the
democratic candidate. My childish
mind was filed with the gravest APP
prehension of the mischiefs that must
ems e if Polk were elected. felt per
fectly sure that he WAS IL dangerous
man, aud tha., if he became president,
ruin must speedily overtake the ma
: ton. Nor have ! forgotten my sur
prise when my whig friends and polit-
) ical instructors sat down, after the
inauguration, with the Tribune in
; their hands, To read the first message
f of this bad man. | did not quite I'M
+ derstand how they could pernse with
such apparent cquanimity what mnsi
be an evil communication. And when
t / heard them asking one another about
it afterward, and heard the cheerful
D answers "Pretty good - "Talks like
4 IA sensible man y "Guess he'll make
I very fair president, after allm | re
D ceived my first impression Of the diff
S ference between the campaign view
e an impression that has never faded
from my mind. Doubtless, it woulC
: greatly conducG to the enjoyment o
{ the Thanksgiving festival if good re
S publicans every where could manag'
a to put out of their minds the somewha
i heated rhetoric of the campaign, an,
= to look at the facts as they exist.
7 The expectation that financial ruiz
e VIII result from the democratic victo
o ry is hardly rational. 1t is easy t,
+ bri:g about great financial depression
t by talking in Il lugubrious tone, an,
b predicting all sorts of calamitIes. "Ac
IL cording to your faith is the law u
}. commercial as we'll us of spiritual life
s Ii the republican business men of thi
:. country unite in prophesying disaster
5 it will. come speedily. Confidence
g the basis of trade and those who d
e what they can TO impair contidenc
y are helping to bring about finaucii
|, ruin. Most of the leading busines
It men are talking, however, III muc
q more sensible tome.
l. With respect, also, to the future 4
k the negro, the apprehension of on
y republican friends are more gloom
,r than rational. Among the poor peepl
e themselves there is, in some quarter
Ie quite a panic, largely engendered b
1f the OutgiyiDgs of the campaign. Man
1t of them have been made to belior
g that democratic success would resu
If in their re-enslavement; and they al
le full of anxiety and alarm. One VIII
Of knows anything of the. present state {
is opinion at the South knows that thes
is fears are. gUoundiess. Ny Ow
j, clear expectation is that the next tou
je years viii witness u great improvemeI
lo III the social and political condition Z
D. the Southern negroes that the SOnti
&c. ern whites. freed from the empty mer
4 ace of executive interference, Will ca
,g tiyate kindlier relations with the
ia humber neighbors that such Tesol,
til tions as those lately passed at the gre;
u democratic Jubilee at Savannah, prom
ising justice and equal rights to a
citizens, white or black, VIII often fin
expression and that, through the ne'
essary political readjustments at Il