Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1892-03-23
Stallrltolt Speftator.
WEDNESDAY,. MARCH 2srd.
Political Folly.

expected to endorse all tnaI III says,
vet its article will be read with inter
est, and possibly profit. 1t says, there
have been few shrewder politicians in
this country than Thuriow Weed, who
was master OF the art OF conducting
political campaign. In the days of the
anti Masonic excitement it was thought
to be all-important to show that Will
liam Morgan, who was about to pub
lish book betraying the secrets of the
order, had been killed by the members
who sought to restrain his action. If
he really was put to death it is proba
BILE that he was taken in a small boat
out upon Lake Ontario and sunk in
deep water. Of course heavy weight
would be attached to the body and
the waves would never betray the
secret. So a dead body was found
nearer home and identified by parties
in interest as the remains of the Ba-
tavia mechanic. There was no great
resemblance between the corpse and
the missing traitor, and some one called
Mr.. Weeds attention to this fact and
TO the certainty that the imposition
would finally be exposed. "Never
mind" said the famous leader, sit will
be a good enough Morgan until after
the election y
On another occasion there seemed to
be no good campaign cry, and his party
had no exciting issue with which to
stir up the minds of the voters and
thus bring out the whole strength Of
the organization. at will come soon
enough" said Weed, 1.-The Democrats
can always be depended on to make
fools of themselves just as they have a
sure thing of it, There was never a
truer description of the habitual folly
of his great antagonists. Another
keen observer remarked that the Dem
ocrats were like pigs. When hungry
with nothing to eat before them the
occupants of the pen would act together
and respect each others rights. But
once fill the trough and some greedy
fellow would put his foot in it and up
set the pre- missed meal. The history of
the party from that day to this has
justified the description.
In, the earlier days of the republic
the follt wers of Jefferson were not
only the most honest but by far the
shrewdest of the active politicians
Their sagacity in adapting their policy
to the popular taste kept them in
power for a generation. They began
their decline with the Charleston con-
vention. A quarter of century after
ward in picturing the situation we
made the remark, which was severely
criticised at the time, but was true be-
yond all question, that for twenty-five
years the Democratic party, reckoning
the entire body together, had not
shown as much sense as would once
have been thought necessary to set up
in the election business a single old
fashioned ward politician in this city.
The campaign committees had a spasm
OF returning reason when they nomi-
mated Cleveland, but they soon wenr
back on him for the very virtues that
made his administration most admire
BILE.
That eminent man himself began to
show the hereditary faint. He might
have conciliated his most prominent
supporters without betraying the pub
lie interests, and he might have been
less self-sufficient in his treatment OF
the tariff question. When Waldo
Hutchins brought back from Washing
ton the proposition of the President to
begin the crusade of tariff reform in
the face of the coming election, he
found that every man of sense in this
city agreed with him that it was I'M
timely and the very essence of political
stupidity. We exhausted all our elo-
quence in opposition to it, and the best
friends of the President characterized
the scheme as one of supremest folly.
The opposition had no important issue
upon which to go before the people,
They had not administered the govern
ment, when in possession, to the pub
lie satisfaction. A long lease of power
had brought corrupt men into office,
and foul odors had come up from every
bureau and station. The three years
of Cleveland had been clean and whole
some, and there was a universal sense
of relief. No one except those of his
followers he had sighted, and his ex-
IRENE partisan opponents, saw any
crnn1 h ho Oh al l,
elected.
But he would not be advised, and he
sprung the tariff agitation upon the
country. The Republicans seized upon
the project as godsend to them, dis
torted it, lnisrepresented it, christened
it Free Trade, thinly disguised" and
with the cry of Ruin ruin to all
don estic interests, collected from the
manufacturers and lubricants and
their agents an enormous amount of
money, which they used most freely
throughout the campaign. Men of
business resented the introduction of
the firebrand, and began to cherish an
unfriendly feeling toward the party
from which it had come. The luke
warm who had failed of recognition at
the hands of the President sulked in
their tents, and the Republican Presi-
dent was elected. He is a man of in
tegrity and of no little power and
ability. But the managers on his side,
like the old Bourbons, showed fre IN
the outset that they had learned moth
ing and forgotten nothing Their
high-handed proceedings in Congress
disguised the best of their own sup
porters. They turned out members
elect from the House and admitted
members from new States to the Senate
on the slightest pretense, and in some
cases where there was no pretense that
made show of plausibility.