The Louisiana Democrat., 1890-07-23
POOR OLD HARRISON.
The Doctor Repud.ated by the Colore
Voters of tho South.


That was curious and significant &C.
cident which befel the Administration
in the capital of Tennessee.
Benjamin Harrison has been Presi-
dent of the United States for a little
more than sixteen months. Though
elected as an aSowed advocate of civil
service reform, on platform sensation
ally aggressive in favor of the extern
sion of the principles of that reform to
all grades OF the public service, he has
made record never before equaled in
in the displacement of office holders
opposed to him in politics, and the ap-
polntment of party workers of his own
political faith to succeed them. This
ought to have endeared him to that ele-
ment of his party, which is numerically
much the larger part of it, which looks
upon politics as a means of getting
something for ones self. Somehow,
this result has not been achieved.
Humiliating as the confession may be,
it is certain that DR.. Harrison is not a
popular man, even in the ranks of his
own party. He has not voluntarily for
felted the respect of the rank and file
OF the g. o. p. He has, in truth, striven
hard to give satisfaction. Though a
man that has been largely advertised as
possessing piety of the most unrelent-
ing variety, he has not prescribed the
unregenerate who aided in his election.
In his official family sits a man whose
presence there is due to his success in
raising corruption funds. His most
trusted and influential adviser, outside
the Cabinet, is man who refuses to
deny the charge of having distracted
$500, 600 from State Treasury. Some
OF his appointees have been convicted
OF felonies, and a great many others
ought to have been. These facts indi-
cate that the President has been anx-
ious to show that he is not too proud or
too good to recognize the services of any
element of his party. And yet they do
not love him.
1t is significant. too, that the colored
element of the Nashville convention
was conspicuous in the opposition to
the resolution to indorse the administra.
tion. The colored voters in the South
did not contribute much to Mr.. Har-
rison's election, but those of the North
held the balance Of power in several
States, and it was their votes that made
his success possible. On the basis of
the white vote, Mr.. Harrison was
beaten badly. His presence in the
White House is due to the prejudice
which compels colored men to vote the
Republican ticket, contrary to their
own interests and the good of the coun-
try. And yet one of these Republicans
testified that there is all over the
South, under the reign of DR.. Har-
rlson, all effort to slap the negro in the
face.
Tho Democratic party is not particu-
larly interested in the unpopularity of
the President. His denomination would
not be an overwhelming misfortune for
the Democratic candidate in 1892. If
we may judge of his whole term by that
part OF it already past, we could go to
the country upon the record thus pre-
sented with the most sanguine hopes of
success. But unless he does something !
to strengthen his hold upon the dis
clement of his party his re-
nomination seems hardly among the
possibilities. The Nashville incident
s certainly ominous. Heretofore the
Federal otfice-holders have generally
oeen omnipotent in Republican councils
in the South, but all their influence at
The Nashville meeting was. exerted in
vain. There are many indications that
The sentiments expressed there are
shared by Republicans in every Sec
ion of the ountry.-Louisville Courier
Journal