The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-29
H VITAL ISSUE.

Democratic nominees now find them
selves distinctly divided into two
classes, viz: Those who prefer their
principles to their party, and those
who prefer their party to their prln-
ciples; those who determine their party
by their principles, and those who de
termine their principles by their party !;
those who put their horse before their
cart. and those who put their cart be-
fore their horse. Most of the politicians
have put their party before their prin-
cipIes. In fact their main principle is
simply adhering to some organization.
They call it Joining" or belonging ="
to a party. Their faith is what a con-
v~ention tells them to believe, or rather
what they tell a convention to believe.
This they call the policy" of the
party. Before they open their bat
t~eries" (as they sometimes call their
organs of abuse they wait for a pro
nunciamento from headquarters. Then
they fire all along the line" They
examine every proposition for relief to
see how it affects the party's chances
for holding or obtaining the spOlis of
office. With them every agitation
is dangerous which they cannot see
will add to their chances Of election.
But the politicians say, wait with
your reforms. Be quiet till we can slip
in president" and all will be at
tended to. In 1884 we were all howl
ing for Grover Cleveland and for the
repeal of the internal revenue tax.
After the election it appeared our
President was opposed to it's re
peal. That the politicians knew
of this misfit beforehand can hardly
be doubted. But see what the
result was upon this demand for
relief: In 1888, the same man was
again put forward for President and
the internal revenue cut the poorest
figure imaginable in the campaign.
The politicians slipped in their Presi
dent, but the people did not slip in
their relief. The friends of this iniqui-
tOus species of taxation stole a march
on us and we were so completely dis
comfitted that one hardly even hears
the subject mentioned now. With the
assistance of New York guiding our
tender footed delegates in the national
nominating convention, we elected a
man who made it a Waterloo for us,
on this subject. The satisfaction of
seeing our half starved politicians tax
ing the place of the ''redlegged grass
hoppers" they had so often denounced
was rather poor compensation for the
| C4ShO VI OCA L11AilNO11 OOlICtIS "n1Cll dIO
annually taxed out of this State by this
method of taxation. The readiness
with which the average politician
changed the livery of a principle he
had so long and so furiously inculcated
shows how lightly the cause sat in his
heart.
Wall street gently led our delegates
into the selection of Mr.. Hancock in
1880. He was trying to win by keep
ing quiet on the main issue 0he tariff
quite a c~Ommendable way of getting
an Office among professional spoil
hunters. At last he was forced to take
a stand and he decided with Wall street
that the tariff was "Only a local oues-
tiOn" Whistled it down the wind. Yet
public sentiment was worked I'D to
such a pitch here in favor Of this con
ventiOn named opponent of Southern
interests that if any one had proposed
not to send delegates to the mob that
betrayed us, he might have peer tarred
and feathered!
This then is a specimen of the work
Of politicians who wanted ito win"
This is what was accomplished by the
regulation tactics of convention man
ipulatOrs.
The Pharisees used to send delegates
occasionally to Jesus Christ. Probably
one of their purposes was to get him to
join their political party with them
selves as the chief recipients of the
spolls of office 1t appears that they
had been laying heavy burdens On men
takes, probably, had separated them
selves from the rank and file of the
people q. e. were ari6tOcratic) had con
fined all the paying Offices to a few
select families and had became as I'M
| nnD711nr &C Dn1T+iO1O-- oo~,o.11I- -
who forget the peoples interest. They
wanted and needed a winning card
and they would have been willing to
put up with a good many disagreeable
features if they could have added the
popularity of the reform from Galilee
to their party. Neither one of the
great Judean parties could make any
terms with the Great RefOrmer, SO a.
IS customary IN such cases among spoil
hunters they pooled their issues and
fused their ticket" and went in to |
Ebeat him.
The other day when a spoil hunting
adhGrent of the Democratic party said
to me that he would vote the straight
out radical ticket before he would vote |
for electors who were not pledged to
the Chicago Convention nominee, I
thought Of his ancient pharisaian pro
tOtype, and Of this old fusion of the
self-seekers of all parties against a re-
form which struck at the root of all
selfishness. w. J. PEELE.
P. Sit seems strange that the
fossil politicians of the State should be |
80 much distressed over my proposition
to secede from the Wall street conven- |
ton They have always assured me
privately, when I protested against the |
works of that convention, that it did
not matter so much what those Yankees |
did up there, the big thing for us was
to save u State from negro rule. I
took them at their word and have s11o-
gested a plan by which we can cnrtniS-