Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-07-02
The CHANCES.

uCut bh0h hShtihS iahN III A
Presidential election of this year is now
conceded on all hands. Those who
thought that its career was ended after
the elections of 1891, and that it might
retire from the field of practical politics,
had short memories. They forgot in
how much worse condition the Presiden-
tial election of 1872 left the Democratic
party. Yet that party in 1876 came near
to electing Mr., Tilden to the Presidency. +,
and many of them believe he was elect
ed.
The one hope for every political party
lies in the fact that there Is no infallible
or ~impeccable party array ed against it,
1t may have Numbered its rivals are
sure to do the same. 1t may have black
sheep in its ranks but it never will have
a monopoly of black sheep. And the
Republican party is fortunate in having
against it q party with such a splendid
capacity for laundering as the Demo-
cratic party has shown. Its voluntary
and rejoicing alliance with the Mug
wumps, its infatuation for a leader with
so few claims as Mr.. Cleveland to either
admiration or respect, and its wild rush
after Free-Trade are features of Demo
CIdtlC pUIfSy NHtCu are sure " De leu III
their effects on our politics for a whole
generation to come, just as the attitude
of the party during the Wan for the
Union crippled it for two decades after
wards. If that alienated the fighters,
this has alienated all the more thought
full men among the workers of the coun-
thy.
In estimating the prospect of the party
n IL or tho lnn1nrc n1nCn NJ MtnpnnDo-
lis, we must have regard to what its riv-
ais have done and are going to do. Look
at their recent and their probable blum
Gers in party policy.
a. They staked their credit in 1891
upon a Free Trade attack on the McKin-
ley Tariff, which has broken down utter
ly. A large dealer in a class of goods
never made in this country before last
year said to a friend of mine ~ al
most could have killed Mr.. Mckinley for
getting that bill passed. l felt sure that
my capital was sunk and my business
ruined forever. But the only difference
it has made is that l now am selling the
American article instead of the imported.
The new Tariff forced the English max
ers to.bring over their plant and set up
in this country an industry we never
had or thought to have. | now think
Mr.. Mckinley is one of the farthest
seeing statesmen we ever had" And
this straw shows how the wind has
blown. The most pronounced Free
Trader know admits that the predictions
as to a rise in prices has failed utterly, he
cannot tell why. The country knows
that the Democratic party obtained its
present majority in Ii branch of Con
gress, and the increase of its vote in the
other, by false pretenses.
t. The use made of that ma jority has
been another blunder. The Free Silver
legislation favored by a majority of the
House, and only STAYED off for a time by
skIllful tihbustering, was a threat to ev-
cry nottingham who had a deposit in
the savings banks. The bills to amend
the Mckinley Tariff. while they showed
the tmidity. the lack of consistency. and
the flibustering of the majority, were a
threat to the farmers and other produC-
ers of such materials. The refusal to
lend a Government vessel to carry grain
to the starving millions of Russia was
Il BIZ of Democratic narrow heartedness.
which recalls some of the worst features
of the party S record. And after all the
cutlery against The Billion Dollar Con
gress " of 1890 81. the scale of appropria-
lions probable will exceed the last. So
the worst thing that could happen to
the Democracy was precisely what did
happen to them in an eff year they got
control of n branch of Congress. and
mus OBTAINED rope enough TO hang
themselves
g. The most curious of all their blum
ders is their fatuous loyalty TO the for
tunes Of Mr.. Grover Cleveland. What
there is in the man to rouse any feeling
OF enthusiastic loyalty 1t passes my wit
tell. He is a heavy ,concelted, pompous.
TO commonplace lawyer, who might have
oeen an admirable justice OF the peace
Tor a country own and have earned a
olg tombstone IN ne town cemetery by
the styl lie of his services to the little com
munlty IN which he posed as Its biggest
man. But when such a man is brought
INTO the larger horizon OF the nation. he
shrlIiks to InSlgElfcance. 1t is true that
at times q country tires OF brilliant men
and begins to worship eminent exam
pies OF the ordinary virtues. But hlsto-
ry VIII not permit US TO give Mr.. CIeve'
land the distinction England gave to her
dr. Pcrcival, whom she glorified for go-
ing to church every Sunday with his
prayer BOOK undef his arm. n seven
smaller Perclvals trotting behind the
AA'ho III SiV1Stahd uOSS
not stand on ever a pedestal OF respecta-
ollIty and as for his intellectual pow
ers. they remind us of Mr.. Birrell S wit
W deiInltlon or the legal mind, VIZ, that
IL was the capacity to explain the OBJ
Vlous ana enlarge upon the common
place.
IA The fourth blunder OF the Demo-
cratic side has been the cherishinp of
needless political OuarrpIs even in douht- |
ful States. In Pennsylvania we have had
some lively differences within the party; but
the State is safe to the party OF Protection in
every national campaign. Our quarrels do
not count. except In State elections. Butjust
the blunders made by the Republicans in
New York in lsSl-Sl, have been repeated in
that State by the Democrats in 1S9l-92. There
are now two Democratic parties in New York,
each r~atronizing its own organs, following its
own leaders, and holding its own Convention.
rms State ofthings was made possible by The
National Convention oflSSS. which practical
ly recognized Tammany Hall IS the Demo-
cratic party, and thus put off indefinitely the
reorganization of the party in that STATE on
any regular basis.
II Mr.. CleVeland's friends-as now seems