Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1892-08-21
what e the Paramount Jssue ?


The Third-psrtyites contend that The
great economic necessity Of the present Il
financial relief for the farmers and labor
Ing classes. and that the paramount issue
Of the campaign Is che fnsnciaI question
All who have studied carefully the condi
tions which environ the farmers and the
leboring classes will be inclined 20 recog.
nize that there Is great deal Of truth IN
the first proposition. The second propo-
sstion, however, is not true. The force bill
"a the paramount issue of the campaign,
and until that is buried beyond the posi-
bility OF resurrection financial relief IL
impossible.
The more closely thinking-men ex-
amino the political situation the more
completely are they shut up 10 the con-
clusion that there IL no possibility for the
triumph Of the Third-party ticket. There
Is nc reasonable ground for believing that
tho Third-partyites viii return their cleo
tors in single State. But there is proof
that the Republican party hope. through
the movement. 10 divide the Democrats
and break the solid South. This Is SO
plain that "he who runs may read"
There is proof that IL Third-partyism Is
potent for anything ii Is potent for aiding
the Republican party to renew lite ma
lignant grip upon tho South.
And would that bring financial or any
other sort OF reliefg We have only to glance
back 10 the DAYS OF reconstruction and of
negro and carpet-bag rule 10 appreciate
thst the interroeatory isa horrible mock
cry. During that period the debts of
many of the southern States were increased
enormously. ignorance and vice held high
carnival. the wheels Of financial and CON-
mercial progress aud material develop
ment were clogged, insoieDce reigned In
public office, and a Federal bayonet was
virtually at the throat of every citizen
who would not bow the knee to radicalism.
cal orgie prevailed that was travesty
upon every principle of good government.
Do the Third-partyites desire a repati-
ton OF this experience for the South We
can, we believe, answer for the vast ma
jority OF them. They do not. Heverthe-
less such is the contamination the future
has In store If by their aid-and 1t can
only be by their aid-HARRIsoS shall be
reelected and Republican House Of Re-
personalities DO returned. That this
result will carry with it the enact
ment of the force bin into law
is as certain as anything human can
be. The efforts OF some of the northern
Republican journals to obscure the force
bill by pressing the tanf and financial
problems TO the front and harping upon
the necessity of an educational campaign
are but trick TO blind the Third-party
adherents until they have become so
entangled in the Republican meshes
that they cannot extncate themselves.
The Republican national platform declares
intentionally in favor of the force bill,
and MIR. HARRISON stands upon that plat
form the embodiment of this iniquity and
in the fullest sympathy with any outrage
which its passage would enable his party
to perpetrate upon the rights Of the south
ern people. The papers that are now. for
the purpose of deceiving the Third-party-
ties, giving the force bill wide berth,
would be the first to urge MIR. HARRISON
to rigorous execution OF it.
These are the plain, unyarnished facts OF
the situation, and we earnestly appeal to
our Third-party friends to give them the
weightiest consideration. II they will do
this they cannot. to use homely illustra-
ton. fail to recognize that to follow the
Omaha movement further would be to bite
off their noses to spite their faces. They
cannot fail by any course Of reasoning to
reach conclusion other than that there Is
no relief for them except through reunitng
with the Democratic party and stamp
ing out the force bill forever. As long
as that hydra-headed monster has vitality
there is imminent danger of infinitely
worse ills overtaking them than they are
row called upon to endure. With its
quckening into active life they may not
only expect their financial burdens to
increase, but may look for demoraliza-
ton of both the social and the labor
systems of the South.