Waterbury evening Democrat., 1894-11-02
LETTERS FROM THE PEOPLE
Why the Irish People Vote the Demo- x cratic Ticket.
 Editor of the DEMOCRAT:

why the Irish People Vote the Demo- < cratic Ticket.
 Editor of the DEMOCRAT: 7' Dear sir:-There is at the present time a good deal said about all Catholics belong inc to the democratic party. I believe it is true that the bulk of the Irish Catholic population is attached to this party. But I do not know if the same can be said of the German or French Catholics. or of any other section of our cosmopolitan popula- ton, which includes persons of nearly every nationality. As regards the Irish. if the bulk of them are attached to tie demo- cratic party. the fact is capable of a very simple explanation. and is very creditable to both. When the great immigration from Ireland to this country took place fifty years ago. the new arrivals found that one party. the democratic, was in favor of granting to all who came to help and build up the country. all the privileges of Ameri- can citizens on easy terms. and they found that the opposite party was more narrow minded and not so generous, consequently they naturally attached themselves to the more generous and more liberal party, those who were their friends. Their de- scendants naturally have the same political affinities. This is the real explanation.
 To imagine that the pope or tue sacred college of cardinals have anything to do with it. or that they care anything about who is to be our next president, would be the acme of absurdity. Yet, the famous A. P. A. draws dark pictures of gloomy plots. concocted at Rome. to destroy American liberty. and of alliances entered into with political parties to obtain the control of American cities by foreign power. and similar rubbish too absurd to be believed. we should think. even by old women, and yet these lucubrations are spread before the people, and swallowed by many who ought to be more intelli- gent. But there are vicious bigots, men of small brains and smaller hearts, men of more gall than blood. who even here assert that love to Ireland. devotion to her cause, active sympathy with the protracted con- test for her redemption. involve an equiyo- cal allegiance to the United States Out upon the alleged Americanism that spews this imputatIon in the face of the gallant race whose blood, shed in torrents for its inSiolability and its glory, has impsrted a brighter crimson to the stripes and made the stars of that triumphant flag irradIate with keener radiance.
 appeal not to the burning sands, the cactus cireled fortresses. the gates and towers ot Mexico. Let the woods and swamps of tho deadly Chiekahominy, the l sAoRts OA AiAlls khc "attAS Ol Antietam, the defiant heights oi
 Fredericksburg. the thickets of the wilder
 ness--a thousand fields, now billowed witt
 Irish graves, declare that love for Ireland
 blends in ecstacy with loyalty to America
 and that America has been served by nont
 more truly than by those who carried 1T
 their impetuous hearts the memories anC
 the hopes of Ireland. No true American
 looks otherwise than with full trustfulnes, I Nhn kAnr E.fl s.l
 manifestations of Irish heart, Irish piety
 and Irish remembrance of the Irish birth
 place that was the cradle of our childhood
 the playground of our boyhood, the thea
 tre of our manhood. It is the American
 who has no heart, who has no thought be
 yond putting a dollar out at mighty Tn
 terest; who has no zest for any other bool
 than bis easy account or his soulles
 ledger who hatet the Irish for their gen
 erous qualities. their infaliable religion
 and their inyeterate democracy.
 And now. fellow democrats. the election
 is close upon us and our blood should bea with its laws which all good citizen helped to make. still gives scope for talen
 and energy. So all should grasp the occa
 sion, and shoulder to shoulder marc
 together for freedom and equality befor
 the law. One vital question of the hour why the Irish should vote the demo
 cratic ticket. The Irish American el, ment and the democratic party have bee { closely allied during the century. Tn principles of the democracy afe identicS with the free idea of the Irish peopl, while the republican party is and hlway has been entirely adverse to Irish conceI , ton of progress. The Irish have come | , this free country to escape centraliEe despotlsm as exercised by foreign powe
 in their own land. and they naturally joi , that party which is a specialization of the opinions of free and just government. l