The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1886-01-29

usas No. nalns1 ~ Country.
There b hardly any good Repnb-
llcan. who voted for Blaine IN leol.
Who may not do something for his own
political education BY giving = portion
q whatever time he sets apart for mod
itation AZ tho beginning Of the .
year 70 the consideration Of the fears
about his country from which the ex-
perience Of 1885 has delivered him.
There were intelligent men-we know
many Of them ourselves personally
who thought n year ago that me
election Of . Democrat 20 the frosi-
dency would produce some terrible
financial disaster 80 great ns 70 threaten
eocial order. We can recall one
wealthy and still active and prominent
Republican who predicted with much
solemnity In November. 1884. tina In
one wear from that date w~orkingmen
would. Ia the bitterness OF their suffer-
inc. be knocking down and robbing the
well-to-do in the streets Of this city, with
out interference from the police. We
know Of another who in q ht Of mingled
rage and despair offered to sell his So
curities at fifty cents on the dollar.
All through the country districts.
particularly in New England. there
rested on the souls Of Republican men.
and particularly on the souls OF kepub-
lican women. the shadow Of q great
fear. with which the Republican ora
tors and journalists had for many years
filed the air. The old gentleman who
predicted the great robberies and the
gentleman who offered to sell his prop
erty at half price. had In their minds
eve a general closing Of the factories
brought about by some mysterious
move Of Z Democratic Administration,
she exact nature Of which they had
Srobably never thought out for them
selves. The bulk Of the party was in
fact in that most melancholy Of all sit
+ nations in which the citizens Of a free
democratic country can find himself
q situation in which he ices ut every
election all that he holds dear put In
imminent peril, in which the question
Is mo- which Of two parties will best
| administer the Government, but wheth-
| err the Government itself will last more
| than three months.
The result was that Republicans went
to the polls and mounted the stump in
| the alarmed. II not desperate and reck-
less frame of mind. Of men whofecl that
they are on the eve Of a battle which
will dispose Of both life and fortune. A
long succession Of political contests
conducted under such conditions would
Of course in the end have proved fatal
to constitutional government Men
long tormented by such fears finally
become ready for any refuge from them
even despotism itself. The deliver
ance Of the country from this hideous
nightmare during the past year Is, We
do moi hesitate to say, a blessing only
second in Importance to the suppression
Of the rebellion. and hardly less neces-
sary to the safety. honor and welfare
Of the Nation. For il all Americans,
Of all parties. ought at the opening Of
the new year to be profoundly thank.
full. 1t means at last real peace and
real security.
Only one degree less valuable is the
deliverance from the Southern bug
bear, which also the past year has wit
messed. Nothing but actual expert
ment would have suficcd to destroy
the old tradition Of the slavery periot
that the Southern people had Interests
different from or opposed to those o
the North. There was in the Repub
lican party q widespread belief that !
they got into power. or II a Presiden
were elected BY means Of their vote
they would in some manner take i'm
mense sums Of money out Of the Treas
ury-one estimate Of the amount wa
$4,000. 900. OOO-and divide II anon,
themselves, partly as compensation 10
the emancipated slaves and partly a
compensation for other damage sus
tanned during the war. How the
would get hold Of this money, how the
would persuade people to lend II 70 I'll
United States, II il were not TO be s.
cured by taxation and how they woul
manage to have the taxation borne y
the North exclusively and mo by n
South. was never explained. and prof
ably few people ever asked hem selves
: The phrase, 1.-THE Confederacy again J
} the saddle was in fact considered
! sufficient answer 10 all cynical d
Z mands for minute particulars.
I Moreover although il was the prid
l and boast Of the Republican party th'
! the war had destroyed slavery. and .
I though Il was q cardinal article IN u
I Republican. creed that u was siaveI
! which made the South hostile to u
I Union. nevertheless until last year Il
| fact that slavery was really dead WI
: ' thoroughly brought home TO 4
!, minds Of the voters. Very much II
the man who still feels pains In the i
4 he has lost by a~mputation, the par
: still felt the pangs Of the old South
: their bones. and nothing but . Dem
!. cratic triumph would v e have reliev'
y them. In the imagination Of mul
4 tudes, the Yanceys, the Rhetts. :
= Brookses, and all the other fire-eate
4 were still brandishing their plantati
I. whips, and preaching the dcgradati
y OF labor, and threatening dissoluti
" for the sake Of the peculiar institutio
"a Cleveland's election may be said
er have banished all these phantoms fro
T. the Northern brain.-N. y. Post