Clarksville weekly chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1873-1890, 1885-07-11
Shall We Risk ItsI
Naallvtlla Iynion


Il
81 Tile Democratic party Ia Tennessee
seems 70 he IN 4 perilons eonditiol--
periiDns. becnuse certain gcntleman
who think they ought 10 eontral tIie
4 party will listen To nothing except ID
accords with their own line OF policy.
Take one feature of the policy which
| these gentlemen propose to graft upon
the Democratic tree They say there
l1must be araiiroad commission with
4 plenary power. This they hvae deelar-
ed. anl this they will have. Nothing
else win do.
Nov, is this wise rs party meas
ure We doshot propose in this arti-
Gle to.discuss. the law Of it, the power
| under our Tennessee constitution to
create such a commission, nor the JUS
tice Of it the toraiIroads, nor the effect
of it upon our industrial interests
throughout the state, but only to in.
quire, Is it wise as a party measure?
| Did not the last election prove con-
clusively that We cannot carry this
question After two days of intense
excitement and aRxiety. over athes tariff
issue in the state convention, the COM
mission feature OF the platform was
adopted without debate, ostensiblv
without opposition; so it became part
OF the Demoeratic platform and tick
etTa railroad commission-was .regu-
larly nominated and the Sailing seem
ed smooth This gave the question 4
the sanction and force OF the entire
party A few newspapers in the state
took it up and treated it as a mistake,
a mistake of the. convention, assuming
that convention, like Legislature or
any other body, might make a mistake.
These, newspapers took the ground
that there was but one mode of meet
ing the issue by which dire calamity
would be prevented-that was for
enough Democrats TO refuse to vote
for the Democratic railroad commits
sion ticket to defeat it and let the Re |
publicans be elected as the, surest |
means OF getting the bill repealed.
This was an extraordinary step and
met the bltterests opposition. Gov.
Bate came to the rescue of the ticket /
and stood by it on every stump in the |
State The executive Committee up-t
held il with their intiuence and with 1
"a considerable coApai gnl fund. The
action of the convention and the US
ages of the party We're pointed TO, and
Democrats everywhere were implored
to stand by the party nomination.. If
it had been an ordinary question with
only ordinary surroundings the party
would have stood by the convention 10
a man.
BUTT WAS deemed by all thinking, +
quiet business men OF the state as an
egregious blunder--one from which
the state was not likely to .recover-a
mistake which puts us in the attitude
of defying the courts, of paying large
to officers who could do no
thing, OF getting into long and fruit
less litigation with the railroads, of
checking up all progress in the state,
and OF openly proposing to take private
without paying for it.
The result was that thousands and
tens of thousands of the best Demo
Gratis in the sttte--in fact nearly all
the business men OF the state-posi-
lively refused to support the ticket and
it was Overwhelmingly defeated and
the Republicans elected and the law
repealed. In the face of these facts is
il wise to graft this doctrine on the
party and undertake to carry it? II
this is done, does not defeat stare us in
the face Would any man of sense
in his own private affairs risk his es7
tate or his reputation upon such a
state OF facts +