The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1893-12-25
THE WOLFSCARE OF 1913.


cedented. To most OF us Il is a new and
somewhat heroic experience. No Ameri-
can citizen has heretofore seen or felt any
thing like ii in this generation. In 1878 and
at one or two other periods since the great
| rebellion the country has passed through
| financial tremors. but the gravest of them
| were barely perceptible to the class -
| bandly specialized by our President as tho
| plain people,
| The hard times" so long a mik-sick
| theory of demagogues and pessimists has
| bloomed into a condition The nightmare
| of the veteran calamity shrieker has at last
taken concrete form. For the first time
| in thirty years the Democratic tale OF
woe" has found the longed-for verification,
| but unhappily it comes too late to serve
| the party that evoked it. The Democratic
| Frankenstein has succeeded in creating his
| monster. and il is after him with its
yellow, watery eyes, bowling for paternal
| recognition and for appropriate social and
| political immunities.
1t is no longer a crime against society. al
| impeachment of truth or reproach to Cos
| for men to complain Of heavy times, TO criti-
else the government On TO turn their eyes
ENORMOUSLY and appealingly toward heaven.
| When the pest comes the true policy is to
note its presence. mark it's progress. warn
the people and to openly discuss the cause
and remedy. The boy that yelled "wols.
| wolf was not condemned in the fables
| moral for announcing the real presence OF
| the destroyer, but for lying about it before
| ii came.
| Now that the wolf is at our door the DEM
| ocrats are telling us the Republicans
| brought il. We are not told in the fable
| that the boy tried to hold the sheep owners
responsible for the destruction of the flock.
! Neither we advised as 20 what subse-
ouently befell the lad. We are led to infer,
however, that he was speedily relieved OF
| his job; and if his later career were known
| quite likely it would turn out that he after
wards attached his fortunes to some anti
| wool society and was duly rewarded there
| for with magstracy and possibly a mis-
| sion to Mexico.
The Democracy say the present ultra
| colicky season is traceable to Republican
| legislation. Let us Perhaps a brief re-
| view of past events will shed some light on
this subject and enable the curious student
| OF political ethics to observe the logical
| connection between Republican legislation
| and Democratic panics. And who shall say
| that the typical mugwump or renegade may
| not transpire to be the connecting link
| between these seeming incongruities? To
| attempt this ii will be our painful duty 10
4
history, which, in Difference to the present
administration is usually passed over in.
silence. 1t shall be done with delicacy and
dispatch.
Beginning with the first Republican adj
| ministration. the records show that among
| its initial acts were sundry confessedly
| austere measures designed to quelT dis
| turbance that had arisen between the North
| and South sections over slavery. The South
| desired to depart in peace from the Union,
| and pursuant to that end made a spirited
| and aggressive show Of hostility in the
| vicinity of Fort Sumter but the North, on
| behalf Of the traditional fad OF national
| autonomy, demurred, and hence the enact
ment of what has since been known as
war legislation" All these measures were
uniformly and strenuously opposed by both
factions of the Democracy, but after four
| years of continuous and distressful agita-
ton the brave Southrons reluctantly yielded
and terms favorable to the government
| party were agreed upon at a place called
| Appomattox. This result proved fortunate
for both sections. and relatively for both
| political organizations. IL not only ce-
| mented the Union-which was construed as
| a Republican triumph-but il again placed
| the national Democracy i'm a poSition to
act tremendously and unitedly, as it had
in general way prior to the Sumter in
J cident.
The purpose in referring to these harrow
ing "reminiscences is to show, il possible
that the Republican legislation of that
period could hardly have resulted in the
present pocketbook and meat-house strin-
gency. Indeed, it appears to be fact OF
history that even the Democrats. i'm the
| process of time, practically Endorsed most
of the Republican war legislation. At least
there has for years been little attempt On
their part to resume the public discussion
Of the merits of the slavery question. the
constitutional amendments. the homestead
law, the reconstruction acts, the resumption
act, the negro suffrage and civil rights laws.
| the right of secession, or, indeed, any of the
issues growing out Of the disturbances that
| harassed the government between the years
1850 and 1866. 1t is the general understand
ing that these questions have been long
| settled.
IT, then, the labor strikes, the bread riots,
the industrial distress. the trade paralysis,
the wage reductions, the soup-house expe-
| dents, the congressional incompetency and
| diplomatic idiocy of 1893 were actually pro-
duced by Republican legislation, the connec-
ton must be looked for in the more recent
enactments of that party. In order to rem
der this inquiry the more satisfactory IL
will be necessary to make somewhat cir
cumstantial review of the militant issues
of the political campaigns dating from
1864 to 1898.
| 1t will be remembered that the Democ-
racy of 1864 pronounced the failure
and predicted universal ruin and woe In the
event of Lincoln's reelection. Lincoln was
| chosen, however, and the war ended short
ly afterwards, circumstance which doubt
less caused the indefinite postponemenI Of
| the threatened dissolution. In 1868 Horatio
| SEYMOUR of New York. was selected by the
| Democracy to save the country from new
| and formidable neutrality-suspicious. General
| Grant defeated the New Yorker and sur
| prised the Democrats by serving out his
| term without assuming the imperial tiara.
| But when the Republicans, I'm 1872.
| rerominated the soldier President, the DEM
| oorats took fresh alarm, and their conster-
| nation was shared by a faction calling
| themselves liberal Republicans" The lat
| ter met in separate convention and nomi-
| mated Horace Greeley. wel-known Re-
| publican iconoclast CT New York, for Pres
| ident Their action was indorsed by the ma
| tional Democracy, who had already noted
| with gratitude Mr.. Greeley's inclination to
| be magnanimcus toward fallen foe.
| Grants re-election-this time nearly unan-
| imous-convinced the Democrats that his
kind of imperialism was a growing guam
| tity In the United States. After four more
| years of deferred ruin the Democrats Sc
| BILE parsonage In which 10 Cmbody their
Il al eNs0rr ftgaFn Loft -