The Austin weekly statesman. (Austin, Tex.) 1883-1898, 1884-06-19
The South in the Race.

he bareSt suggestion of a southern ~
nan On the national ticket, is likely IL
o have its feelings severely jolted by y
he democratic national convention :.
'oon to meet in Chicago. The time =
has come, is fully ripe, indeed, for the
national democracy to administer n
lifting rebuke to the feeling which, if =
it were carried further, or to its logi-
ical result, would rip up reconscruc-
ton, destroy the fruits of victory and
restore the horrors of war, with all
the malignant passions which atten-
ded it, in full play again. The repub- .
lican party claims its consideration at {
the hands of the people because
of vast victory it falsely claims to
have won. That victory'S principal
fruit of value, is supposed to be res
tored, reunited, chastened and a
thoroughly reconstructed nationality.
If no southern man is eligible to any
place on the national ticket because of
his origin, history or previous sympa-
thy with secession, then indeed was
all the blood, the vast treasure and all |
the long years of havoc and sacrifice, a |
useless expenditure and the authors |
of the policy opposing the efforts of |
the south for a separate nationality,
oppressors and tyrants, There is alb
solutely no escaping from this conclu
sion. 1t is as inevitable as fate, when
honest logic heads the effort to unearth
the truth. Then If we are in the union
again at all, we are back with all our
rights unimpaired, with all stains
wiped out and upon an exact level
with the people of Massachusetts,
New York, or any other, even the
most loyal state IN the union. 1t is
this or nothing. There can be no con-
gressional action had to establish this
fact more perfectly than it has already
been established there can be no ac-
ton by the states looking to such an
end; but either one or both of the
great national political parties may
take the step properly, which indi-
Gates plainly such contamination of
the patriotic determination to defend
the integrity of the union with
every available man and dollar. We
contend that the time has fully
come when such step is
not only wise and safe
policy, but it is imperatively demand
ed by the circumstances surrounding
: US. We desire, of all things, to see
: the full acknowledgment, even in
: the south, of the completeness of the
success of the effort to restore the
union. We would see this acknowl-
O edgement full and complete, with NJ
= circumstance of doubt or INDIGESTION
q. lingering about it in any way. To d.
8 this effectively is for one or both of thu
parties to wipe out the line drawn by
partizan phrensy between the north ant
g south, by constructing a ticket, and b!
t supporting it. too. which represents il
its body the healing of all thu
gaping wounds of war, by taking tn,
IL first man from one section, and tn
Il second from the other. This cours
will do the work with a smaller out
q lay of time than it can be done in an,
Il other way, and with such an inten
" plainly seen through it all, ther
/ would be given head to the feeling s.
/ recently and so favorably entertaine'
at the north to the effect that the las
il vestige of the recent fratricidal strif
st be forever wiped out and destroyed
ID 1t is rather the province of the dem
E. ocratic party to make this step frs
k because it amounts TO nothing whel
J. the republican party takes its candi
le date from our section. Their
is no breach-healing, no bridging O
bloody chasms in southern reput
lican nomination on the natlons
e n ticket, but there is, where it occurs i
&c the democratic ticket. Hence the pro
6 priety with which the democracy ma
G act in this matter. There are vas
IN numbers of original democrats at tn
north who have been acting eve
since the commencement of the wa
to with the republican party. These, t
to a man, will come back just as soon a
lie they are convinced that the cause TO
a. which they sacrifice even their part
g affiliations, was, and is, perfectly safe
IS Such nomination followed by tri
umphant election, which would oc
cur, we havn't doubt, would brin,
~ these old, and for so long time, husk
- fed democrats back to tn
~ true fold again in larg
= numbers and the trembling result
= in several of the doubtful states, sucl
as Ohio and Indiana, would be NJ
longer doubtful, and the domination
D. of democratic theories be assured TO
1. a long time, if not permanently.
l. this a consummation to be wished
; fer7 Is it desirable? If so, ther
ic there is but one thing to do, and tina
is, to put on the man. That will b,
done whenever the democracy of tn,
J. south as unit demands it. We hav,
Il been held back and banked in thi.
E. policy by the over-fearful policy mer
It of our own section-men too much
e. inclined to defer and pander to the
selfshness which has, at many peri
DDS since the war, cropped out in the
. councils of the party, with its abso.
~ Lutte, and very nearly irrepressible
= power to control party action in the
nation.
We have arrived at point in the
e party history, as well as the history of
s the nation, where the correctness of
:, the policy of putting a southern dem
]. ocrat on the ticket, can be no longer
denied. 1t ought to be done, and the
national convention will be recreant
to high trust if it fails to comply.
In that event John Hancock of Texas
is the man of all others for the place
and true wisdom will dictate his Sc
lection for the post. 1t will be said of
us that, being southern democrats, we
could have put southern soldier on
the ticket, but being southern soldiers
we put on southern man who was a
union soldier. It will look well for