Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1889-04-25
RESPONSE OF
HON. LAWRENCE T. NEAL.
OF cEILIlcmHE, OHIO, TO TIE TOAST
"The Future Of the DOm0CTauC Party u
At the Fourth Annual Banquet of the
Jefferson Club, Springfield, o.,
April end, 1890.
RESPONSE OF
OF czIIIlcuTHE, OHIO, TO TIE TOAST

Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
The principles Of Democracy, as ex-
pounded by Thomas Jefferson, are as
immutable as the laws of the Medes
and Persians. They are eternal. With
out them, there can be no such thing as
human liberty, or free government.
No party, in government like ours,
can reject the principles of Democracy
and long command the support of a
majority of the people. Ignorance,
partisan prejudice, and the corruption
of the ballot may, at times, defeat the
party that advocates these principles,
but such defeats will, without excep-
ton, arouse the members of such a
party to increased activity and zeal,
awaken them to the necessity for great
er vigilance in the discharge of their
political duties, and encourage them to
redouble their efforts for the mainten-
ance of Its principles. The history of
the Democratic party. during the past
twenty-eight years proves, conclusively,
the truth of this assertion. There can
be no higher or better evidence of it
than the spirit that prompted the or
ganization Of this club, and that ami
mates you, here, tonight. And, as it is
with you, so it Is with the.D Democracy
throughout the country. t
No defeats sustained by, our party
have tended to dishearten, or discour-
age us, except those to which it has
been subjected when we have abandon
ed principle for policy; and q return at
such times, to the advocacy Ofits funda-
mental principles has, ever and always,
strengthened our organization and in
spired US with new hope for the future,
despite our failure to succeed in an
election, state or national. While we
have not, at all times, attained the full
measure of success, by the election of
our candidates, when we have contest
ed for supremacy upon Democratic
platform-and | mean by this plat
form enunciating Democratic princi-
ples-we have invariably occupied a
more commanding position, as party,
at the close, than at the commence
ment of such contest.
There is something ennoblng and in
spring in a contest involving the dis
cussiOn and determination of import
ant questions of governmental policy,
and, though defeated for time in such
a contest, we retire from it undismayed,
full of hope and courage for the future,
free from the discouraging and demora-
lizing effects of defeat in a mere strug-
gle for the spoils of office.
The National Democratic Convention
at st. Louis, by its wise declaration of
principles, laid, broad and deep, the
foundation for Democratic success in
the years to come. Time will demon
strate the wisdom of the members of
that convention in affirming anew, as
the creed of our political faith, the doc
trines and teachings of the early sages
of our party, if it is not already appar-
ent; and he will not be safe as a cOun-
seIor, or wise as leader, who will sug-
gest or advise that we again renounce
our allegiance to these principles, and
substitute for them the oft-repeated and
ever-failing experiment of political ex-
pediency.
The disappointment caused by the
| failure to elect our Presidential ticket
in the year 1888, for it amounted to this
and nothing more, was but temporary.
1t was such as we, one and all, encoun-
ter daily in the battle of life, whether
for business or for pleasure, and such
disappointments born of our hopes and
expectations in one hour are forgotten
in the next. The smoke of the conflict
had not cleared, and retrospect of the
contest had not been taken, until every
| observant, thinking man could see, and
see clearly, that an individual, and not
our party, had been beaten. .'.
Grover Cleveland was a bold and
fearless leader; he was firm in his devo-
tion to Democratic principles and the
interest of the people; and he was right,
pre-eminently right, upon the controll-
ing question of tariff and revenue re-
FORM. But his party'was stronger,than
he was. This was notably true in New
York, his own State. He failed to car
ry that State; its electoral vote was
given to the Republican candidate for
President; and yet, in the same election,
the entire Democratic State ticket was
elected. If he had received the votes of
all who thought and felt and believed
as he did, upon the question of a revis-
ion and reduction of the tariff, he would
have been triumphantly elected. But
he did not receive such votes, not be-
cause he ewas the candidate of the Demo-
cratic party, but because he had array
ed against himself, personally, antag-
onisms that even love of the Demo-
cratic party and its principles could
not, and did not overcome. He had, py
his vetoes of pension bills, become un-
popular with the soldier element of the
country. He had retained too many
Republicans in Office. By refusing ap-
pointments to Office to active and ag-
gressive workers in our own party, who
were entitled to recognition, he had
driven hundreds, if not thousands of
them, in the close and doubtful States,
to sulk in their tents, like Archilles of
old, and to remain inactive and idle,
lif not to give open and direct aid and
comfort to our opponents. And that
he was not reelected is solely attribut.
liable to these and kindred causes. He
would have been elected, in spite of
this, if our Presidents were chosen. by
the popular vote, instead of under the
electoral system, receiving as he did,
nearly one hundred thousand more
votes than the candidate of the Repub-
licaf party, the present occupant of the
White House. .......
The manufacturing States of Connec-
ticut and New Jersey cast their elec-
toral votes for him as it was; and this
together with the unprecedented gains
of the Democratic ticket in nearly every
manufacturing city in the Union. IN.
cluding this enterprising and prosper.
GUS city of Springfield. proclaims, In a
manner not to be mistaken, that the
false and fraudulent cry of "protection
tn America n Ia hor,, has caased IN ha ths