Daily Republican., 1886-07-24
Is This What / he niasses Want !?

What is there in the record OF the
Democracy of Delaware that the masses
Of the people should cling to 1t? The
party has been In power Tor more than
thirty years In the State and what have
we to recommend 1t to favor? There
are fifty Thousand disfranchised citizsnsl
In New Castle county alone, who have
neither vote nor voice in the Legisla
ture OF the State. The Democratic
party has had over thirty years in
which to remedy this crying evil, but
the evil still exists and grows more
onerous every year. Worse than that,
when the proposition was before the
Legislature TO increase representation
that body was unanimously Democratic
and voted down the measure. Is this
the kind OF Democracy the people who
vote the Democratic ticket want? That
Is what they have been voting for,
whether they want it or not. The
Democratic party has been in power
long enough to give the people the
power TO elect their own county officers,
but 1t has not done so. All the people
need bother themselves about OF the
county officers is the election of a
sheriff, q coroner, and levy court,
The Clerk of the Peace, the Prothonc-
tary, the Recorder of Deeds, the Regis
ter OF Wills and the Clerk OF the Or.
phsns Court are all appointed by the
Governor. In Pennsylvania, Ropub-
ucan State, and in Maryland and New
Jersey, Democratic States, all adjoining
Delaware, such officers are all elected
by the people. That principle is good
enough for both Democrats and Repub-
licans in those States, but this is not
Democracy In Delaware. The people
of Delaware cannot be entrusted with
officers. They must be held back for
the Governor to appoint. There are
rich favorltes to be rewarded, and the
Governor puts them into these offices.
A poor map but seldom slips
in. For thirty years the Demo.
cracy Of Delaware has sanctioned
this principle of appointed officers. Il.
has had time enough TO give the people
this power, but 1t has used that time in
defeating the weak efforts made to refer
Tito the people. This is called Democracy
in Delaware; In other States it would
be called tyranny. And yet the NJ asses
OF the poorer people, the workiugmen
who have no sympathy in company
with tyranny laud and applaud, and
vote for this very Democracy that has
its feet upon their necka Is this
actually what the Democratic masses
mean? Do they really desire to have
10000 d!sfranchised citizens In New
Castle County-yes, and all of them in
Wilmington? Do they really mean that
1t 9 right that the Governor should sp-
point all the principal county Office
holders instead of the people electing
them? Is 1t their wish that the county
offices shall be filled with officials born
with silver spoons In their mouths, III
stead OF qualified, honest, poor men
elected by themselves? We can seal ely
believe that men, who the Democratic
leaders term the proletariats in their
speeches, that is the common people, te-
lieve in this; but this Is just what they
have been doing for thirty years. By
continuing to support the Democratic
party they show that they are still
willing the Democracy shall rule as 1t
has ruled. They say that fifty Thousand
people shall remain DISTINGUISHED; that
1t is right that they should not be per.
United to elect county cfiicerf; that
those offices shall be filed by rich peo-
pie; that county collectors shall have
the power to say who shall or shall not
vote; that the people of Wilmington
shall be governed by commissioners ap.
pointed by the Legislature, and that the
masses OF the people are opposed tc
local self-government.