Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1888-11-02
: LET YELL ENOUGH ALONE.

It is strange that in the presence of the
most marveiCU5 condition Of wealth and pros
peritg that ever was vouchsafed people, the
Democratic party should harp upon theory
and cling to an abstraction, that when on ac-
tual trial brought about II condition Just the
reverse. The progress of the ii,iti0n, since
| 1851, cannot be denied 1t stands as an o oet
| lesson that cannot be spongei off Yet the
| Democratic press and DemOcia,ic speakers
turn from it, and seek to delude and deceive
| the people into the acceptance of y measure Of
legislation and policy of administration that
have proven au absolute curse to the people
whenever tried. They are asked to shut iheir
| eyes to demonstrated facts; to ignore the
wonderful present and embrace q doctrine
whose fruits have proven in the past and will
| as certainly prove in the future, that it can
not be adopted without inviting ruin to our
| industrial interest; to national credit and ma
| tional prosperity. The accumulated wealth of
| the country. mostly under Democrats aus
pices, was up to 1862 sixteen thousand million
dollars. The wealth of the Nation in 1885
twenty-elght years from tho date given, i,
sixty tour thousand mi lions or au increase in
little over quarter of u century of four fold.
And yet these practical, tangible results are to
/ be passed by and the visionary distractions of
doctrinaires and political dreamers followed,
indifferent to where they may lead and reck-
less of results.
1t Is safe thing to ''let well enough alone :"
1t is wise thing to stand by the policy that
has brought the Nation out of tribulations
ana distress; of bankruptcy and prostration;
OF poverty and want, and placed it in the fore
front OF the powers of the world in wealth and
power and dignity and integrity. 1t would be
suicidal to discard principle whose practical
operation has achieved such marvellous results,
and bllndly grope In the dark after an aostrac-
ton that would prove curse were it ever APP
piled to the administrative affairs of the Ma
tion.- Valley Vi7yjsian.
We copy our neghbor'S remarks entire.
because they contain really all that Rapub-
llcans have to offer the paople as an in
ducement to restore them to TIE power
from which disappointed and indignant
people ousted them IN 1884 The old story
OF the wealth Of the Nation, the thousands
OF millions it has increased, was worn out
In The campaign Of 1881, as most Of the
other pleas OF that party for retention 10
the government, were. The people knew
then, as they have known, even better
since, that this wealth is not in their
hands; that under the present Tariff it has
been gathered into the hands of the few
and that the division Of a population into
ml!llonalres and paupers, which is so
prominent feature Of life in Europe, is
daily growing more striking here. This
country is bound to grow IN wealth ia any
event, but that isa't the question; the
question is how shat wealth shall be dis
Observation-Disclosures tbs workers Of the land.
that make it, shall have their fair share or
not. The parade of the Wealth of the Ma
ton by the Republican figure mongers is
OF 10 more consolation to the workers Of
this land, than the parade of tins Sur
plus in thu Treasury put there by a Rspub
llcan High Tariff. In both cases that
Wealth comes from ths workers of the
country; ii both Gases it has been put far
out oil their reach; in both cases it's elimina-
ton from the general comfort and welfare
OF the people has been brought about by
the policy Of the Republican party, and
III both cases the picture incites more to
anger than to admiration.
But the "Virginian" says: SIT is a safe
thing to let we'll enough alone'." So it is,
and that is what the Democratic party pro-
poses 10 the people With regard TO Cleveland.
N 10 unbiased. unsectlonal man, upon going
over his record, ca1 find any act of his
which would be an excuse for change of
administration. He has, under all Cir
mstances-sometimas in, and sometimes
out Of, accord with the majority of his
Marty q
mined, conscientious, patriotic President,
fearing neither one party nor the other,
and looking straight and unfinchiDgly to
the good of the whole country He has
been brave. clean, honest, patriotic
American President. No impartial man,
Republican or Democrat, will successfully
galnsay this. To his whole country his
administration has been a blessing, to that
portion of it which was devastated by the
civil war, it has been a peculiar one. Under
it the South has SO bloomed With prosper
ity, that it has compelled even the admira-
ton Of those opposed to il politically It
is but few days since, that our neighbor,
the VALLEY Virsinian," than which there
Is 10 journal Of more uncompromising Re-
publican convictions, paid it this tribute:
1.-THE total investments in manufactures of
were in 1880, 1851 ,S22, 128 and OF June 80
1888, they had reached $538, CTS, 656, an in
crease in eight years and half of 1916 per
cent. The greater pa3t Of this Increase has
been made aoitsjn the past thirty na2nt5s."
The administration of Cleveland com
menced on March 4, 1885, and the whole
Of that Thirty months in which that wealth
was inYested-the bulk of the Investments
of eight years-cama under his admins
tratIon. Could there be any higher iu-
ducement, to those who want the material
wealth and general prosperity of their
portion Of the country to continue, to re-
tain President Cleveland at the head OF
affairs
But to the States Of the South he
brought something of even higher value
than material pr0sp erity--something that
money cannot substitute, if lost-the, SO
i to speak, National, American rehabiIita-
ton of the Southern States. That was
/ priceless boon. To be once more recog
nzed as Americans; to once more have
Southern men representing the country
abroad as other Americans had been dc
ina; to once more see Southern men on the
bench Of the Supreme Court constituting
the laws for the Nation; to once more see
Southern men in the Cabinet; to once
more feel the thrill of National pride and
the fervor Of glorying in a great and COM
mon country as our o,cn, was something
that was priceless. No other President
since the war-though there had oeen
fige-had brought to the country the boon