West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1886-09-17
AN IoIOTIC NOTION.

nv lOlS ~ NJ IONs
| The Idea That the Democracy would a.
/ tempt to again EnsIave the Coiored
! MRn-it Hss uone with the Bloody
shirt.
/ Another Republican State conyen-
ton. that Of Michigan, has adopted "A
/ platform without any allu,ion 10 the
right, of colored men a. distinguished
from the righl1 Of White men. Three
such platforms in two days constitute a
most striking acknowledgement of the
success OF President Cleveland
Administration in eliminating the
negro question from politics
II would not be- far out of
the way Ia say that the Republican
party has declared in thunder tones
that there is no longer any such issue,
and that the accession of the DEM
ocrats To- pOwct has been the cause OF
its disappearance. Ii * certain that
the Republicans never before failed to
make the most OF IT, II i, equally GER
tain that they would not fail now to
''wave the bloody shirt il there were
amy such thing To wave. Moreover.
the Republicans i'm convention as
dangers attending Chinese labor. and
pauper labor, "a, the Democrats 1t il
not that they have forgotten any of the
rights or wrongs of the downtroddcn
and oppressed, They have simply
recognized the fact that the ensan-
guincd 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
prophcsyings about the dreadful fate
of the negro i'm ease Mr. Cleveland
We're elected President. They mostly
believed what they said. But the truth
must he told that excessive and cxclu-
Sivc attention to one idea almost al
ways produces an un,ettlin@ of the
mental balance, and causes the thinker
to lose the sense of perspcctivc This
is what Senator Hoar said was the
matter with the Mugwumps two wears
ago. He sid that their intense men
tai strain concerning the spot on
Mr. Blaine : robe had caused them to
lose all sense of the proportion of
things. They could not see the i'm
pending fate Of the negro i'm case Mr.
Cleveland should be elected. They
could only see the Muligan letters. 1t
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 trifle to
them compared with Il few beggarlv
railroad bonds. Such obliauitv of
vision was simply astounding.
Inc Mugwump~ replied that the
Ia Ia. 4 4
If they were so inclined to Cypress the
colored man, since the first rccogniza-
BILE evidence of such intentions would
cause them TO be hurled from power
They argued that the sense of response
bilitv for order and gotSi government
which power Confers would lead this
wicked party To he extremely careful
in their ways. and that since the wei
fare of the negro, by reason of his geo
graphical situation. was more dcpen-
dent upon Democrats than upon Re
publcans any way, he would, perhaps,
he even better of when the RESPONSE
bllity for his good treatment rested
wholly upon the cN-rcbcls. 1t was
argued, aISO-and this was perhaps the
most amazing and impudent prctence
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 rs
Tins was 80 opposed to the prevail
Ing Republican, conception of things.
that no words could be found to
characterize the pcrnicious 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 Il kind of for
eigncrs reeking with Rum, Romanism
and Rebellion. striving to gain control
of the Government in order to over
throw it.. The blow that Rev. MIR.
Burchard struck was severe one i'm
it, effect upon the Irish contngent,
because IL expressed the common Re-
publican view OF the Democratic party.
The Blaine Ir,hmen recognized it,
flavor Immediately
Along with the disappearance OF the
bloody shirt and largely i'm consc-
quence Of it, there will also disappear
the fantastic notion that onc-half of
the American people are bent upon
the destruction Of the Government
and the establishment OF some indie.
,cribablc pOw-wow i'm its stead Prob
ably no one who held this belief ever
gave himself the trouble TO define i'm
his own mind what kind Of society
Mr. Cleveland aud his party would
set mp on the ruins OF the constitution.
If they should once get power For
tunately for all such, they are now
spared the necessity of doing 50. ".
J. PO,f