St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1888-07-19
Manhood i'm Politics.


The question is pertinent which Mr..
Curtis put some time ago. Which is
better, saloon politics or Sunday school
politics2 We say nothing as to the
wisdom of Mr.. Lows views on the sub
ject of protection. We should be
equally emphatic if he were following
his convictions out of the democratic
party. But we desire to be promptly
i'll the field in commencing to all young
men the course of Il young man who
resolves to be true to his convictions at
whatever cost. In this case the cost is
considerable. Mr.. Low cannot expect
the support of republicans, for he re-
pudiatcs the fundamental plank in the
republican INSTRUMENTATION for thu
sake of protection. He cannot expect
the support of the democrats, for he
declares his sympathies with and his
readiness to support the republican
party on state issues. With notable
political capabilities, with worthy pO-
litical ambitions, he steps out of the
connections which alone afford a hope
of political preferment, because his
convictions summon him, and is jeered
at asa Sunday school politician. And
this Jeer comes from Il paper which was
founded and built up by a man who,
with all his faults, won the respect of
both friends and enemies by his own
stalwart courage of convictions by a
paper which is years ago abandoned
the republican party to advocate the
election of the democratic nominees.
The New York Tribune has short
memory. In jeering at political indie
pendence it jeers at its own founder
and its own history.
There is no lesson American voters
more need to have inculcated than that
parties exist for principles, not princi-
pies for parties that political Organi
cations are the servants, not the mas
tiers, of the people that it is the duty
of the voter, disregarding every bribe,
whether the vulg gar one of a s. bill at
the polls, or the more reputable one of
political preferment at the primary, to
vote for and with that party whose
purposes and principles commend
themselves to his judgment. And
there are no men more needed in
American politics than leaders who are
worthy to be followed because they
dare themselves to be led by their own
convictions. He who is dislOyal to
himself is never truly loyal to his par
ty. He who, believing in the princi-
pies of one party, votes for the candl
dates of the other, does so at the haZ-
ard of either his self-respect or his
power of intellectual discernment. And
any man who, for partisan reasons,
hazards either his self-respect or his
power of intelligent disceTnment, for
feits the right to lead men who are
seIf-respecting and intelligent. We
open here roll of Sunday school pol
iticians, with Mr.. Low at the head of
the column, and shall be glad to add to
the list the name of any man who fol-
lows his example by following his own
convictions, from and into what pOliti
cal party they may lead him.
Clergyman on the Platform.
Rev Theodore L. CuyLer IN Nel0 York Evangelist
| am not the only dissentient against
the extreme high tariff heTesies of the
late convention. Many of the most
powerful republican journals are pro-
testing against them, and such stanch
and thoughtful republicans as ex- May
or Seth Low and Rev. DR.. StOrrs, and
many others of our Brooklyn citizens,
are in open revolt against them. DIR.
StOrrs said to me yesterday, that as he
cOuld not turn democrat, he should i'm
itate Sambo in the story, and "take to
the wOods.n If all of us republicans
who are opposed to free trade and free
whisky, and yet are strenuOusly in IA
vOr of reducing the present outrageous
~ oppressive tariff, should follow the
example of DR.. StOrrs, the "wOods" will
be pretty full by next November. The
immense surplus in the national treas
ury is fraught with increasing evils and
dangers There is growing discon-
tent among the intelligent working
classes with high taxes on the necessa-
ries of life. The many are now bur-
dened for the benefit of the few 1t is
III the power of the republicans in the
present congress to correct Immediate
1y many of the unjust features of this
odious ''war tariff" if they will set res
Olutely and boldly about it. They will
thus spike the guns" of the free trad
ers. They will neutralize the unhappy
effect of that pronunciamento in favor
of free whisky as an alternative. They
will prevent a political cyclone that will
gather volume as the season rolls on.
This is ii question that deeply concerns
both the financial stability and the
public morality of the nation. For
party politics in the narrow sense L