The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1886-09-22
AN lDIoTIc NOTION.

AN lDIOTIC NOTION.
Tho idea That the Democracy Would At
tempt to Again Enslave the Colored
Man-It Has Gone with the Bloody
Shirt. e.
Another Republican State conven-
ton. that of Michigan, has adopted q
platform without any allusion to the
rights of colored men as distinguished
from the rights of white men. Three
such platforms in two days constitute a
most striking acknowledgement Of the
success of President Cleveland's
Administration in eliminating the
negro question from politics.
1t would not be far out of
the way to say that the Republican
party has declared Sin thunder tones.
that there is no longer any such issue,
and that the accession of the DEM
ocrats to power has been the cause OF
its disappearance. 1t is certain that
the Republicans never before failed to
make the most Of it. It is equally GER
tain that they would not fail now to
''wave the bloody Shirt If there were
any such thing to wave. Moreover,
the Republicans in convention as
sembled are just as keenly alive to the
dangers attending Chinese labor, and
pauper. labor, as the Democrats. It is
not that they have forgotten any of the
rights or wrongs of the downtrodden
and oppressed. They have simply
recognized the fact that the ensan-
guined garment has gone from among
us. Surely, nothing could be more
easily spared.
The admirable disappearance sug-
gests few reflections on the last ma
tional campaign. We shall not chide
the Republicans for their gloomy
prophesyings about the dreadful fate
OF tho negro in case Mr. Cleveland
were elected President Tbey mostly
believed what they said. But the truth
must be told that excessive and exclu-
sive attention to one idea almost al
ways produces an unsettling of the
mental balance, and causes the thinker
to lose the sense of perspective. This
is what Senator Hoar said was the
matter with the Mugwumps two years
ago, He said that their intense men
tai strain concerning the "spot" on
MIR. Blaine S robe had caused them to
lose all sense of the proportion of
things. They could not see the inn
pending fate of the negro in case Mr..
Cleveland should be elected. they
could only sec the MnlHgan. letters It
was nothing to them that four millions
of freedmen were about to be handed
over to their former masters bound
hand and foot This was a trihe- to
them compared with few beggarlv
railroad bonds. Such obliquity of
vision was simply astounding. 81
The MugwumpsS replied that the
Democratic party would not dare, even
if they were so inclined, to Cypress the
colored man, since the first recogniza-
BILE evidence of such intentions would
cause them to be hurled from power;
They argued chat the sense of response.
bility for order and good government
which power confers would lead this
wicked party to be extremely careful
in their ways, and that since the well
fare OF the negro, by reason of his geo.
graphical situation, was more depen-
dent upon Democrats than upon Re
pubhcans any way, he would, perhaps,
be even better off when the RESPONSE
bllity for his good treatment rested
wholly upon the ex-rebels. 1t was
argued, also-and this was perhaps the
most amazing and impudent pretence
of all-that the Democrats were one
half Of the American people, and that
what was good for them in the long
run would be good for the rest of us
This was so opposed to the prevail
ing Republican conception of things,
that no words could be found to
characterize the pernicious folly. The
conception, shared even by some
bankers and college professors, was
that the Democrats were not Ameri-
can citizens at all, except in form;
that they were really a kind of for
eigners rocking with Rum, Romanism
and Rebellion, striving to gain control
OF the Government in order to over
throw it. The blow that Rev. Mr..
Burchard struck was a severe one in
its effect! upon the ''Irish contingent, y,
because it expressed the common Re-
publican view Of the Democratic party.
The Blaine lr.shmen recognized its
flavor immediately. .5.4
Along with the disappearance of the
bloody shirt, and largely in conse-
quence of it,-there will also disappear
the fantastlu notion that one-half of
the American people are bent upon
the destruction of the Government
and the establishment of some inde-
scribabie pow-wow in its stead. Prob
ably no one who held this belief ever
gave himself the trouble to define in
his own mind what kind of society
Nh. Cleveland and his party would
set up on the ruins of the constitution,
if they should once get power. For
for all such, they are now
spared the necessity of doing son.
Y Post.
SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.