The Windham County reformer. (Battleboro, Vt.) 1876-1897, 1891-05-29
The New Party and Its Meaning.

expects the third party, launched at Gin
clnnati last week, to be more than ephemeral
1t Is interesting only in the rebound eiect
that may be looked for from 1t, IN the educa
tlonal power away from old prejudices ant
ties that 1t will have over large masses o
men, and In the good things that 1t may
drive the politicians of the old parties init
doing. In this way 1t will leave an impress
of good on American ideas long after Its eX
travagances, Its sub.treasury schemes, III
socialistic and nationalist!c notions, have dis
appeared In the rubbish of history. 1t is Q
cheap and easy way OF course to bllnk the
meaning OF such a movement as this, to cal
It one of scranks"; but 1t Is such only be-
cause It Is a reaction from extremes OF
wrong and the result of It. Is bound to be the
uprootipg Of the false systems that could
beget such fanaticlsm. And In accomplish
ing this 1t is going to relieve an abnormal
condition of politics on several sides.
Ultimately 1t is going to furnish a half way
house for Southern Democrats to get away
the color line in politics. But before doing
that good 1t Is going to break down utterly
the Republican strength In the west
1t Is barely possible of course that
1t may Develop strength enough In
both sections to confuse all calculations as to
the next presidential election. But all the
indications now are that the south will hold
to the Democracy through one more cam
paign, thanks to the fatuous folly Of the force
bill, and of the last congress In Its partisan
p%rolonging of the sectional issue, while the
strength Of the new party will be confined
to the states of the northwest that have been
counted as sure Republican, like Nebraska.
Kansas, Iowa, Ohio, Illinois, ,the Dakotas,
Montana. Idaho, Wymolng, MichiganI and
| Wisconsin. Very likely 1t will not carry any
of these states, but If 1t does not divert Re.
publican strength enough to give half a doz'
en- of them TO the Democrats, all the signs
fall. The only possible way to avoid this Is
for the Republicans to abandon their high
tariff or fer If there was ever G thing
evident In human affairs, there is no mistak.
Ing the tact that the northwestern farmer
will not vote for any more protection"
which, he has come to understand, simply
means his paying tribute to others. But we
have only to ask what, If the Republican par
ty should do this, would be left out of 1t,
where would it get the "sinews Of war" that
carried the last election, what In the present
or future would 1t represent?-to see how
hopelessly desperate this alternative Is.
How wonderfully do men in their blind
ness work out the purposes OF. righteous
ness! The Republican leaders In the last
sowed the wind to reap the whirl.
with their tariff bill. At the same time,
calculating to intrench themselves in power
Tor the next half century, they cut off with
force bill, as Is now apparent, the one
lope of the new movement, which this tariff
ill precipitated, injuring their opponents as
much as themselves. And the new states
which they manufactured, as a part of their
Ian of permanent seizure OF W will
n all likelihood only turn In to help bury
Never was there a more impressive
essen that honesty and fair dealing are the
policy in politics as elsewhere, and that
hicane even when 1t seems most successful
defeating itself.
l. NAo thlo 10 SSAthihS tuaU |
he new party Is capable of will be done en-
rely to the Republican party. Not only is
his evident from the character of the late
onvention, the fact that its strength all
anne from the Republican states, that its
of Republican antecedents were the
mes that insisted on a new party, while
hose of Democratic antecedents opposed,
nd that it Is the Democratic element In the
armers' Alliance that now stands aloOf, but
is easy to see that in the nature of =
le case this must be so, and the r
storical presidents all confirm the view. r
evils which the alliance and the new par. q
want to combat are none of them 7
Democratic creation. The Demo. g
attic farmer who wants to fight r
gh tariff or railroad monopoly or any kin. h
ed wrongs sees no necessity OF going out II
the Democratic party to do It. Tnird b
lrty movements have never injured the +,
as much as the opposing party. n
he Democracy has sometimes bent to them T.
I'd dalied with them, as in the Greenback n
'ys, but in the emf it has always resisted >,
lem, and through all its errors and f%ollies, W
u WI hihSG6 I III n
cas-, has maintained a continuous organic. h
ion ever since the adoption of the constitu- n
IN, because there was the vitality Of an i'm. NJ
ortal principle In it. Know nottingham, n
ti-masonry and all the other isms with ls
hich politics have been afflicted have beaten re-
ainst an ~impregnable Democracy while n,
ey have swept away the Federalists, the Of
,tional Republicans and the Wings one if,
Ter another. The American party had Its ~
rise In 1858, In a condition OF w
airs very like the present. Its ideas and la
rposes were temporary like those of the RI
esent new party. 1t followed an eight r,
ar period when the two parties had alter. IN
ted In power and when the Issue was the IN
If, as at the present, and the people had TO
er a long struggle been educated up to the or
view. 1t utterly ruined the Wing nj,
after compelling 1t to throw over its MI
if baggage. an
The party that succeeded was one with a 70,
yhty moral purpose 70 fulfill. If history re. m,
It's itself and the defeat In the next campaign 49,
In the dissolution of the Republican ID
,anizatioD, what will be its successor? Toe
party?