Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1888-02-01
BURLEIGH 4 FLYNT, Pubs,
Augusta, Maine.
Waterman What OF the Night?

II il Just aud eXpedient to discharge
present duties and to grapple with the
facts of the actual situation. \ political
party which j. directed by the conscience
and common sense of the Nation, must
ever be ready to deal with live issues,
while il is bound to hold in veueraton its
memories. II must be apparent to the
most thoughtful and observing that two
issues are now assuming commanding I'M
portanre before the American people.
These two issues are those of Free Trade
aud Free saloons, against American Pro-
lection and Temperance Laws. By the
inevitable logic OF their position and the
force of their best inspirations the Republic
cans must stand for the latter. BY the
very nature of its predominating elements
and the strength of its antecedents, the
Democratic party defends the former.
In protecting American Labor against
Free Trade, and American homes against
the deadly traffic Of the saloons, the Re
pnhlicans can appeal successfully to white
citizens aud to colored citizens alike in the
south rs well AS in the North. These are
issues that know of no imaginary lines of
Mason and Dixon, of latitude and
longitude, Even more than the
North the states of the south need pro-
tective tariff to improve their labor and to
dcvelope their vast resources, whose riches
are Just becoming known to the wisest and
most cnterprising of their people. The
spirit of Clay. of Prentice, and of Bell
still lives in the South, and recent events
are bringing out its power aud mvigorat-
ing its life. The strong and widely eN-
tended protest from the South against
Cleveland's Free Trade manifesto is
welcomed by the Republicans of the North
rs the dawn of new political era. This
issue as we'll as that of temperance divide
the colored vote rs well as the white vote
OF the south This division is better for
both races, better for the nation at large.
And in this way will the colored citizens
be the more likely to secure their rights.
In this way also will the truly conservative
men of the South he enabled to have their
kept down by the sectional appeals of
demagogues and the political brigands
who have SO often successfully resorted
to fraud, violence, and murder. In boldly
taking hold of new and pending issues,
the Republicans show no want Of regard
for their past work, for the
ideas which they have made so potential
in recent decades of American history.
We are bound to take facts aud the situa-
ton rs they are. We surrender none Of
our self-rcspect, and we ask the Tariff men
and the Temperance citizens of the South
to sacrifice none of their sclf-respect, when
we offer to unite our hands with theirs on
equal terms in defense of American homes
and American industry against the or
ganixed assaults of British Free Trade and
of the Liquor Saloons.
We believe the time has fully come when
those in the South and those in the North,
who think alike on these two great issues,
should act together, As to the Civil Ser
vice Reform the true men of the South and
the true men of the North are pledged to
equal fidelity. Cleveland's Administra- |
ton having been even more partisan |
than the most proscriptive of its pre-
decessors. il devolves on all its opponents
to stand firmly together in unyielding ad- |
vocacy of the best possible civil service in
all departments of the Government, car
rying the reform to its logical conclusions.
For the views which we have in this
brief article, but imperfectly outlined, the
writer is alone responsible. He has spoken
what seems to be the practical duty of the
hour, such as the condition of the country |
and the best interests of the Republican
party require. There are always times in
the affairs of nations and in the policies of |
parties when success is secured by boldly |
grasping the situation and turning to adj
vantage and to victory the new facts and
the special circumstances.