The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1885-05-16
Chances of Democratic EInIty.
Galveston News.

The chicago ITt0atne felIcltute
itself on the pleasing prospect Of .
tremendous uproar of dissension an,
conflict in the Democratic party. l
assumes that the Eustis broadside wa
but the signal for the disappointed al
over the country TO beIch forth thei
walls, and that by the time Congress
meets the President will find fully bal
his party arrsyed against him. saTheri
are many signs that the Democrats
cannot stand prosperity" says th'
Tribune. "Amnng the uses of the long
adversely which has chung to then
party was the suppression to large
extent of their factIonal quarrels and
personal animosities. Nothing was tG
be gained by pressing these cOnten,
tions while the party was out of power,
and all the factions we're willing to
unite in a common scramble for the
spoils. This tendency had an excellent
Illustration in the treatment of the
vexed tariff question in the Chicago
convention. A nOndescript platform
was patched up, and the rampant pro-
tectionist and the enthusiastic revenue
reformer pooled their issues and went
in to win. But now that the offices
are at the disposal of the Democratic
party and the Democratic President
turns out to be for few months a
mugwump with a disgusting bias in
favor of GiviI-Service Reform, the fac
ton leaders are beginning to assert
themselves, and tie personal animosi-
ties are coming ont strong" This is
a very plausible view, but the general
tenor of the Democratic party as re-
fiected by the Democratic press does
not bear it out. The Republicans are
as badly divided on the tariff question
as the Democrats. In fact the Repnb-
lican minority favOring tariff reform is
much larger than the Democratic
minority favOrimg protection, yet the
Republicans when in power usually
managed to smother their disputes at
the vital moment and present pretty
solid front to the enemy. No doubt
there will be spirited disputes between
Democrats, but there is no reason why
Republicans should fiatter themselves
that these disputes cannot be healed
as successfully as the Republicans
healed their disputes. 1t must not be
forgotten that if Randall led a revolt
against a majority of his party in the
Forty-eighth Congress, Republicans of
eminence at different times leagued
with the Democrats to defeat Repub-
lican measures. Even Blaine himself
went against majority of his party
at one time, and Joined the Democrats
to defeat the force bill. In the differ
ent struggles for the repeal of the re-
sumption act the two parties were
badly divided. A large majority of
the Republicans under the general
lead of John Sherman favored resnmp-
ton, while a good healthy minority
leagued with a majority of the Dem
ocrats to pass the repeal bill, On the
other hand, Eastern Democrats, like
Bayard, Hewitt and Barnum, Joined
with the Republican majority to force
resumption at the specified time. So
far as the struggle for office is con-
cerned, our Chicago contemporary
should remember that Washington is
a little paradise at the present time
compared to what it was two or three
months after Garfield become Pres
ideDt. The Democratic stalwarts, like
the Republican stalwarts, will be a
lively and noisy minority, but the
noisiest will be ready to subside when
ever the distribution of Offices takes
them in. Day by day the "rascals"
are being turned out, not in great
numbers at time, it is true, but the
constant dripping will eventually drain
the fountain. His adhesion to the
fountain. His adhesion to the sound
practice of Civil-Service Reform will
not weaken President Cleveland with
his party. Before Congress meets the
country will become so accustomed to
Cleveland's methods of removal and
that there can hardly be
any serious disaffection on that score
by the most ardent supporters of the
spoils system in Congress. Another
test awaits the President, however,
and on that will depend the SUCCESS of
his administration. Will he align him
self with the majority of his party on
the tariff and silver questions! Here
is where the rub will come. While
two factions of the party could manage
to maintain a sort of mechanical unity
in Congress, the spectacle of a Pres
ident opposing the majority of his
party on leading questions of the day
has seldom been presented, and never
without political disaster 10 him or
the party, or to both. No; if Cleve-
lands administration is to be failure
the failure will proceed from some
thing else than Civil-Service methods
and distribution of offices one way
or another.