Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1884-12-12
Old and New Democracy

FRIDAY, Dec. I2. 1854.
Old and New Democracy
They are as unlike as any two
things susceptible of comparison.
What Governor Wise used to call
sold fashioned Tom JetlerSon-Si-
mon Snyder, -waistcoat Demo
cracy,p no more resembles the
Democracy of the Manhattan Club
pattern, or that preached by the
organs and Oracles of modern
Democracy than refined gold re-
sembles purified brass.
How can it be otherwise than a
sham articlewhen lifelong Federal
lists, who revile the name Of JET
fersOn, and who would delile the
very bones of Jackson, are per
mitted to become the prophets and
priests of Democracy ? For it ap-
pears that the sO-called lndepen-
dent Republicans have assumed to
exercise the exclusiveright to inter
pet the meaning OF the victory which
they helped Democrats to secure
The utterances of the Independent
Republicans are interesting reao-
ing; are clear and able n state
ment, and are married only by an
inSolent spirit of dictation to the
sOcalled Democrats who were
their allies in the recent fght.-
Hereis declaration of the New
York Evening Post, when discuss
lug the corporations Of the East
and South in electing Cleveland;
"Their alliance has already
secured the civil service reform,
which has incurred the steady
hostility of the West, in spite OF
Mr.. PeudletOn'S part in giving us
what we now enjoy. IL has also
made possible the miracle of a
change Of Administration without
rotation IN Oilice-nOt simply 10y
virtue of the civil service statutes.
but because the successful candl-
date has the SOundest notions OF 1
the business nature and needs OF
government, and has given the /
most uneQuivOcal pledges to eli
mate partisanship from the trusts .
of Office
That statement contains only /
cool assumption as to the position |
not only Of Democrats but of others /
in the South. IL does not state |
the real attitude ofany large seq !
ment of political belief in Virginia.
Southern men of all shades OF pO- /
litical faith have been suspicious I
of the civil-service legislation. /
They have been suspicious that in /
many respects it was an intended /
snare and delusiOn, and there has
been large sympathy with the
view of it taken by Senator Vest |
of Missouri, when he SAID that !
"Civil.service Reform was mis-
homer for s'Snivel- service Reform
But the cool assumption Of the
Posts statement is still more
yauutingly assertedgin the phrase
as to the "unequivOcal pledges
made by hePresident-elect. When
were there pledges madef To
whom, and in what precise terms,
and with what avOwed purpose
There is another phrase in the
Posts article that Is familiar to
old-lashiOned Democrats, however
repellant to the new oracles Of new
Democracy the idea it conveys.
"Rotation in office" is the phrase of
Thomas jefferson used by him
eighty-threc years ago, when upon
his accession to the Presidency,
after his first great victory over
federalism, he founded American
Democracy. No two men ever
hated mouarchical form or monar-
chical institutions more than
Thomas Jefferson and Andrew
Jackson. Virginia followed them
both with unfalteIing faith in their
noble scorn of selfshness, the cru
city and the pretentiOns OF aristoc-
racy. Jefferson and Jackson both
believed that the mOnarchical prac-
tiee Of not only filling Offices but
even Of multiplying them in order
To retain in power dynasty or a
faction was inconsistent with the
safety of republican institutions.
Nc. Jefferson and General Jackson
believed that all citizens are ell
titled to hold Office. Mr.. jefferson
fading all the offices filed on his
accession to power by his I'M
pllcable enemies, asked "lfa due
participation in Office is a matter OF
nsht. how are vacancies % be Oh.
taihri Those by death are few,
by resignation noac.' The policy
thus indicated was also carried out
by that sterling Democrat, Andrew
jackson, with the high courage
which marked alike his military
and civil career.
n the Posts suggestions are to
be logically interpreted they mean
that the Democracy, which itself
and its Independent Republican
associates compelled to accept
Cleveland rs a candidate over the
heads Of veteran Democratic lead
ers, is now to be subjected TO the
humiliation and apostacy Of open
repudia;iOn of the tcnetS and ira
ditions OF Democracy when Jeiler-
son and Jackson were lis prophets
and exuOuldprs.