New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1885-01-23
Nv JyTERESTING CONFESSION.

Every time the question is mooted, Can the
Democratic party be trusted with the manage
ment OF the public affairs of the Nation ! ex-
ponents of the Democratic faith spring to their
feet and emphatically argue that their party
can be trusted. The question is of vital import
ance to the American people. Can the Demo-
cratic party be trusted, and if not, why not
THE TRIBUNE holds that it cannot, and has
frequently presented the cOgent reasons upon
which its distrust of Democracy rests. They
are reasons furnished by n careful and candid
examination of the Democratic record on
such crucial tests as slavery, emancipation,
National banks, reputation, reconstruction. re-
sumption. the ballot-box. To-day we reafrm
the proposition, and in order to establish 1t, lay
ing the reasons we have advanced on the table
we content ourselves with placing before our
readers the testimony of competent Demo
cratic witness The witness Is The Rochester
Union. 1t il valiant for the Democracy and yet
unconsciously but forcibly it demonstrates that,
on its own showing, Democracy cannot be
trusted.
Let us look at this demonstration. The Union
i'm an article on the electoral system quotes from
the official stenographic report of the proceed
ings of the Democratic National Convention of
1884 10 show two things first, that delegate
Judge Doolittle, of Wisconsin, in open cOnyen-
ton advanced the amazing blunder 4" that the
theory and the law of the electoral system are
=" that the State is required to vote rs a unit,
"and that a majority OF the electors in State
/. are permitted to cast its vote n unit y; and
second. that among all the debaters III all that
- vast body of $50 representative men there
u. ,.In ,,,roctaI TuIoa nnnliftla IN
- the floor OF course The Union does not
mention these extraordinary circumstances III
order TO discrcdit its own party. Its object in
doing 80 was simply to Illustrate remark
made by Mr. Purcell in his able paper i'll the
current number of The North american. that the
working of the present electoral system is an
enigma to tho people, and that some even
/. among the statesmen Of the land forget their
4knowledgc of it and confound Others by their
misunderstanding of its operations"
This. we submit, is practical demonstration
of tbe untrustworthiness of the Democratic
marty. II must be conceded by every fair man
that no party can safely be handed the reins of
government whose leaders are ignorant OF the
very rudiments of our governmental system.
The consulnmatc flower of Democracy was sent
TO represent tho Democracy in its National
convention of last summer; nevertheless, when
Judge Doolittle went glaringy wrong in his
account of the working of the electoral system
not a man was found of all the debaters of the
whole $40 delegates capable of setting him
right Ignorance is the mother of error, and
the grandmother of sin. Common prudence sug-
gests that a political party that does not know
enough to know how our electoral machinery
works is not to be trusted.
Incidentally The Unions article is an eloquent
argument in favor of making compulsory edu-
cation part of the Democratic policy.