Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-05-11
A MATTER OF H0TORIETY

In single line OF poutlcal pleasdntryi
the RECoRD-UNIoN, quoting an item from
the San Francisco Alta concerning the
large number of men in New York city
who neither read, write nor understand the
English language, said most of such vote
the Democratic ticket. 1t was evidently a
center shot, for our esteemed and generally
amiable contemporary grows purple in the
face while denouncing at length our little
line as an example of blind partisanship,
wholly forgetful of the fact that the Alta
daily INDUCES in similar filings at polit-
zeal opponents. The fact is that the
general statement that the ignorant, and
those of the class who do not understand
the English language and who vote
mostly vote the Democratic ticket, is no.
toriously true without need of statistics to
fortify it. We may conclude that its ac-
ceptance as truth is the occasion of the
stirring Of the soul of our esteemed con-
temporary when it charges this journal
With entertaining bitter political preju-
dices. If it knows anything of the Rec
oRD-UNIoNs course it knows it is not
bnndly partisan, and that it does not and
never has feared to speak what it con-
ceiyes to be the truth of any and all polit-
zeal parties, as an Independent journal
shouid-and this in nowise contradicts the
prediction of this journal for the party
OF Intelligence, progress, freedom and fair
play. AS the San Francisco Bulletin, re-
marking upon the heat of our contempo-
rary, says:
When Democratic newspapers enters upon a
lADored argument to show that little skit of a
Republican contemporary about the proportion
OF Democrats among the illiterates of the coun-
Try is not susceptible of mathematical demon
stration, the fact may be accepted as evidence
Lhet the shot, II random, came pretty near the
mark.
Since the Alta takes the matter so seri-
ously, and despite its statement that this
journal can know nothing of the facts con-
corning the number of those in New York
who can not read, write or understand the
English language who vote, We affirm that
it is notorious, and has been for half
century, that such of that class as do vote,
IN the main are found on election days
Voting with the Democratic party In
deed, that party in the past has boosted
that it was the especial friend and safe
haven for that class But, says the AIa,
were the statement true, it would not
prove any article of Democratic faith
Erong-nor did this journal assert or i'm
ply that it would. Articles of faith, aside
from practices under them, must be esti-
mated at their own worth; must be Judged
by their reasonableness and truth or falsity,
independent of the character of those who
profess them. But when our contemporary
slys: Public policies cannot be measured
by the amount of education possessed by
the voters in any given locality who adyo-
cate them," it commits itself to at least
partial error; they can be, in a degree.
measured by their support. The creed or
platform that commands the devotion of
the Anarchists of Chicago, for that simple
reasons open it to the suspicion of all who
abhor anarchism, however fair-seeming
the announced policy of the declaration.
The doctrines Of the Democratic party
rejecting the progress Of the age that de-
nanded that no more American territory
should be dedicated to human slavery. had
the unanimous partisan support of the
slave-holding people Of the United States
and that was in itself sufficient to make
the defensive, exhaustive and temporary
policy of the party obnoxious to the lover
OF freedom.
Where the mass of the vicious and ignor-
ant attach themselves the people accept
without question that there is reason to
suspect the doctrine, policy or measure that
commands such : following. The Repub-
hcan party itself has no more dangerous
foes than are found in the vicious and such
of the ignorant as are marshaled to its
service by domestic bosses for spoils and
reward. The groundwork of all the rea-
sons advanced IN support of the Blair bill
Is that by augmenting the intelligence and
educational advantages of the colored citi-
zen in the South he will be invested with
political independence and freed from the
domination of those who now COW him.
As the Alta well enough declares, at is
idle to say that because an ignorant man
believes in the correctness of certain
proposition that proposition is wrong"
We apprehend that no one will take issue
with that abstract proposition. But
that the Democratic party is or ever has
appealed to reform sentiment; that it has
rallied the illiterate to its standards to
free them from the bondage of Ignorance
is not disclosed by political history. If it
has ever sought to enlarge the area of free
dom; II 1t has been anything else tRan a
party of obstruction and opposition; if it
has not uniformly been the ally of all op-
position to social and moral reforms and
advancement; if it is not the consort of
every class that has threatened free insti
tutions and INSTRUCTED ever path to social
betterment and the repression Of evils in
society; if its conservatism has not made
it the friend of those who stand in the
way of about all social and moral progress
that has been proposed in the United
States-then We have read the political
history of the country to poor advantage,
and are blind to every activity about us.
STATISTICS OF WOOL GROWING.
\ correspondent having asked the Rural
Ve7noater certain questions of interest to
wool-growers it made statements which
brought the Springfield Republican to its
feet with the question why it was, that
with high wool tariff New England had
lost over 100000, or one-third of the sheep
1t had before the tariff went into effect.
The response of the Vamouter is of inter-
est 10 California wool-growers, in consider
ing the question of wool on the free list.
The Ve7nonter quotes first the allegation
OF the Republican that with the exception
Of Il few northwestern rannbr,a,, mol