St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-11-22
PROMOTES GOOD FEELING.

In the early history of the politics of
the country there was a time when one
of the great parties of the time was so
nearly knocked out of time that there
was not enough Of it left to do much
mourning. and period ensued called
the EZRA of good feeling" PartiSanship
mellOwed down, and people had time to
remember that they had common citi-
Zenship and mutual interests. Whether
the Republicans are now-Dadly enough
beaten 10 feel periodically hilarious,
and realize that they will be very
largely sharerS in the beneficent effects
OF the new deal in affairs is not alto
gether certain, but it is believed
that very great number of Republic
ans who did not vote against the
a still larger number are pleased that
they voted against the party, and that
they still are with the people. One of
the latter number relates his experience
in the matter, which is, no doubt,
widely that of the men who have been
Republicans from intelligent, patriotic
motives. For near full decade. he re-
lates, he had been growing in doubt as
to the wisdom of the policies of his
party, with diminishing confidence in
the integrity of the methods of many of
those in the most responsible positions
in the party councils. He had failed to
see that sensitiveness to imputations
of corruption in the management
of politics that he believed in.
1t had seemed to him that the
eagerness to gather the spoils
was not widely discountenanced by the
practical men who used civil service re-
form professions as part of their CAPT.
tai in campaigns. He was not pleased
that the economic policies of the
party, whatever their purpose, operated
to concentrate capital into the hands of
the few, while the great number had
no alienation of the hardships of life,
and failed to share eQuitably the grow
ing wealth of the country. He had
been thoroughly indoctrinated with the
dogmas of the school of protection in
earlier years, and it was by the slowest
and most reluctant conviction that
he persuaded himself that soph-
iSmS and deluSionS had larger
space than sound principles. The
educational process, however, had
been going Oh in his mind, and when
he was confronted with the MCKINLEY
bill he cut loose from all his old moor
lngS. He became thoroughly impressed
that he had been the sharer of delu-
sions that were costly to him nd the
masses, while the assets about all ac-
crued to the few who fattened at the
general expense. The tariff had been
the chief contributor to the formation
of pools, combines and trusts, and their
potency IN the legislation of the party
was palpable. The Republicans who
have taken views of this character of
the drift of their party tide have been
chief agencies in the results that have
surprised so many of the undlscerning.
The issue has been made in all the states
distinctly on the tariff policy, with some
partial exception in Pennsylvania and
Wisconsin. In the former the Demo-
Gratis are solidly and sturdily tariff 1e-
formers. The new governor was st,g-
matized by Mr.. BLAINE as a free
trader" one as pronounced in his views
as GROVER CLEVELAND, and whose
election would leave mo balm in Gil
cad" for the protectionists. But Mr..
BLAINE spoke as the politician in a
tight place. and not like all honest.
truthful Democrat. Tariff reduction
was not the chief question there. Wis
consin had school house muddle, but
the best analysis of the situation
since the election shows that if
was rather a source of weakness
than strength to the Democrats.
The vote on congressman was the best
index of the popular disposition. Wis
consin is tariff reform state as dis
tinctly as Minnesota. There is no rea-
sonable doubt that with but the two
parties IN the field, dividing on that