Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-11-09
A Few After-Thoughts and Sug-
gestiOns to the Union
LabOrites.

The smallness Of the Union Labor
vote in this county must be surpris-
ing to those Of that faith. There are
many reasons why they did not poll a
larger vote One Is that the leaders
"Over-did the thing" Now ali can
did well informed persons must admit
that they hold to many good princi-
pies, and further more that the Re
publican party made bIunders in the
past and is not altogether what it
ought to be, but those blunders and
those errors Of the party are not half
so serious as the Z. L. leaders tried
to make people believe. Men can get
SO wrought up, so excited over some
real or fancied wrongs, that they be-
come fanatical and Iop-sided; they
lose sight of everything seemingly
but the one idea that dominates them.
If one were to believe all that a Union
Labor orator or paper asserted to be
true, he would leave the meeting or
quit the reading of the paper with
the full conviction that the Republi-
can party had been and is now guilty
Of every crime known to the moral
and civil law, and that from Abraham
Lincoln to Benjamin Harrison the
Republican statesmen We're the wick
eldest Of men; he would believe that
the masses of American citizens are
in abject slavery and that the repub-
lie is Just on the brink Of inevitable
destruction. Now we freely cOncede
that there have been some bad pub
lie, men, some crOOkedness in legisla-
ton, and that wealthy men. sOulIess
corporations, and grasping Shylocks
are entirely too numerous and have
too much power in this country, and
that the laboring classes are often
swindled and deprived of their just
rights, but the situation is not half so
bad as the I. L. orators seem to be
ieve. Why, evil has plagued the
race in all ages, but to-day the gov
eminent of the United States with all
its defects is the grandest, purest and
best that ever existed on earth. Gov
ernments and political parties are the
fruits of all past struggles Of patriots.
Parties are no better nor worse than
are the people who compose them
and the people of this country are the
most intelligent, and the most phiIan-
thrOpic that can be found on the
globe. 1t IS said by scientists that
the earth and all material things. are.
by law of evolution, growing more
refined, and that the race of man
kind IS progressing, becoming more
intellectual and moral; so it is with
governments. This republic is the
grandest and best OF all that have
proceeded it; and is not as one would
infer from hearing a U. L. orator, so
utterly bad, so hopelessly corrupt and
despOtic- We suggest to our friends
to open wider their eyes and take
more extended view Of things as they
exist, and do not become fanaticaI
and men of but one idea. Oppose
wrong, contend for the right, but be
patient. The world IS advancing; we
have more asylums and humanitarian
institutions and colleges, and homes
for the friendless, and benevolent as
sOciations, and our contributions of
money for the relief Of the needy are
larger and the people have greater
liberty and there is a higher standard
Ofpubhc morality than has existed in
any other period Of the worlds his
tory. Let us help to make the world
better and still better, and do not let
US become misanthrOpic and sour, and
imagine that the country is going to
ruin and that the world is drifting
backwards, because our favorite party
does not succeed at the polls in elect
ing the particular candidate we pre-
fer. Parties rise an fall; they come
and go; they are but a collection of
individuals associated together to
carry out certain principles; they
amount to but little when measured
by centuries. Principles and truths
are all important, they live forever.
" y Car1 oe TOl,;I1.-,t.-