The new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1876-1904, 1889-11-09
Presidential Pledges Repudiated.

Mr.. Henry Z. Lea has long been a
shining light in the Republican par
ty of Philadelphia. He is protec-
zionist of the extremist type. But
he has also been prominent as a
civil-servicc reformer. When Mr..
Harrison was nominated Mr.. Lea
was among his most earnest support
ers, relying on the pledges made in
the Republican platform and on Mr..
Harrison's Endorsement of them in
his letter of acceptance. Mr.. Lea is
a Republican still, but, TO him, the
drift of the Republican party is to-
wards lower level of politics. and
while he does not wish to see it ut
terly defeated, he holds that only by
ii vigorous chastisement can ii be
lifted to that lighter moral and poll
tical plane which would commend il
to the confidence of the country.
His arraignment of President Harri-
son and of the men to whom he has
given his support and all the power
and influence that federal patronage
carries with it is particularly strong.
'lf the Republican party he says,
sis to remain in power it can only
hope for supremacy by deserving ii.
Unfortunately the President seems
to have misunderstood wholly the
lesson taught by the last election.
He has abused the appointing power
to place the party in New York I'M
der the domination of Tom Plattism,
in Pennsylvania under Quayism, in
Virginia under Mahoneism. He has
degraded it and himself in obedience
TO a hort-sighted opportunism which
seeks to utilize the baser element of
the party at the expense Of the prin-
ciples to which it and he alike are
pledged. Unless his course can be
arrested it needs no prophet to fore
tell that by the end of his admins
tration he will have sunk the party |
so low in the estimation of its honest |
members that even the phenomenal
capacity for laundering Of the Dem
ocracy will, in all human probability,
not save it. If it would teach him
wisdom, the most wholesome thing
for the party this year would be de-
feat in New York, Pennsylvania and
Ohio" Mr.. Lea suggests that the
most eiieetual rebukc to the admin
istration would be Republican re-
volt against Mr.. Quay in Pennsyl-
vana, and bossism generally. Con
sidering the large Republican ma
jority in Pennsylvania he believes
that revolt of thousands of self
respecting Republicans could be in
dulged in as a warning without en-
tirely sacrificing party control in
the State "a marked cutting down
of the majority" he says, "would
signify that an important element of
the party is not prepared to wear
the yoke of Mr.. Quay, and that if
its ascendency is to be maintained
the conscience Of the party must he
consulted" Having given the
strong reasons quoted above for
such revolt, he urges that "all Re
publicans who can rise above blind
partianship should omit to vote the
State ticket. In no other way can
they avoid sharing responsibility for
the degradation Of the party, which,
if not promptly arrested, will newt
ably eonsign it to defeat in 1892.
In no other way, also, can they pro
test against the disregard of politi
cal morality into which Mr.. Harri-
son has been led The same rea-
sons, according to his own showing,
apply also to the degradation of the
Republican party in New York I'M
der the leadership Of Mr.. Platt, and
in Virginia under that of Gen. Ma
hone, while in Maryland they offer
an instructive lesson as to what the
State might become under similar
circum stances.
If some enterprising fellow could
now corner the market on DIR. Bulls