Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1895-05-16

time when ne was the only man in a
position to 90 50 with resulting effects.
He struck it as effectively as though its
dissolution had followed dramatically
the act performed. At the end Of the
Free-SOil campaign he quit politics Ior
the time and devoted himself 10 ms
profession. lie aid not so into the re
publican party, but remained Demo
crat voting his party ticket, still the
Zoe of slavery, waiting for the tine
when on the abolition Of it the Demo-
cratic party would be resusciated. lie
eupported the war heartily, none more
I so. with advice and with money but he
kept inside the ranks Of the Democra-
tic party.
OF the second of the
DEMOCRATIC CARDINAL PRINCl-
Piles,
the idea of cheapening govern
ment and making rs little OF
it as possible and eXalting the indiYl-
dual in contrast, in whichever OF its
various phases it is considered, and by
whichever Of it's various terms II is
/ cailed-local State government, state
rights, government Tor the people-the
best government is that which gov
erns least" Mr.. Tilden had been
THOROUGHLY INSTRUCTED,
and it was probably TO him the most
vivid and iifelike Of his principles To
pun down everything which was spec
/ t2cular and heroic in government and
/ 10 make every Office holder understand
! that he was q mere servant Of The peo-
/ ple 10 make the government nothing
/ more than was absolutely necessary,
| sinDly DQrsimOnious-thus he lived
| and acted. and this iC was he embodied
[ IN the great war cry Reform. To use
mis- own language, he expressed It,
/ FIRST 20 limit as much as possible al
! government power charging aIWays
/ and everywhere the domain OF lndlNl-
/ dual judgment and action; secondly,
| to throw back the government powers
| necessary to be exercised as much as
possible upon the states and localities,
approaching in every case the indIyl-
duals to be affected. These ideas dom
mate over the Democratic party and
find in it their best representative.
J The opposite ideas-to NEEDLE with
everything properly belonging to in
dividuals and to centraiize all govern
mental powers, express the tendencies
OF The Republican party.
1T is time now TO proclaim and en-
force the decree that whoever plumbers
the people, though he steal the livery OF
Heaven 10 serve the devil il, is no
Democrat
Mr.. TMdens leadership Of his
1 un
Of his overthrow Of the Tweed
| following. During those shame
full years in which it was in pow
er. he vas in the State Committee sup
n0rted there against all the attempts Of
/ those allied with Tweed to GUST him.
He was kept there by the mass OF the
people throughout the State, 10 whom
HE CONSTANTLY APPEALED.
Again and again he went to Albany
alone to oppose before the legislative
committee some odious bill for the City
of New York or one in some way furth-
ering some of their lundoring schemes.
lie knew perfectly well chat his oppo-
ston would be wholly futile, that he
would be scarcely listened to, his sug-
gesti0n treated with contempt, but
nothing could make him give up, his
persistence amounting even TO Obstin-
acy. 1t was the same spirit which had
animated him in the days Of the Barn
Burners and the events which fol-
lowed. He knew that the end must
come, just as quarter Of century
before MI Van Buren, and himself had
known that an end would come to
slavery, and the end did come, and it
came through him.
The story of that which he accom-
plished is known Of all men. The
natural and inevitable result of it was
to make nina the leader OF the Demo-
cratic party in New York. He was
elected Governor in 1874 by what was
then supposed to be q phenomenal ma
jcrity. Twice since then however, in
the same State we have seen MAORI
ties to which his was insignificant.
In view Of the conditions which now
confront the country il is interesting
to note that when Mr.. Tilden was a
candidate for Governor in the fall Of
| 1874 the greenback delusi0n was then
I beginning to assume large proportions
and it would not have been Mr. Tilden
& he had not struck straight at it, and
struck strong and hard lie did SO
without hesitation. without eGuivOca-
ton and in such a forcefUl way that 1t
| brought to him and to his party in the
State many clements which thought
that even then the maintenance O.
sound system of currency was the first
and most important OF the problems
/ with which the general government
| had to deal. He had been carefully
| instructed in the the third Of
THE CARDINAL PRINCIPLES.
of the Democratic party, as Mr.. Van
Buren, stated il. "a dollar worth dol
/ lar He had been all his life fighting
for it and living for it.
The first planks of the platform up
on winch he stood in 1874, repeated
| during every year CT his leadership,
We're:
"First-C0ld and silver fhe only
1 legal tcnder.NO currency inconuover-
tiJle with coin.
"Second-Steady steps toward specie
payments. No step backward.
"Thjrd-Houest payment OF all pub
| lie debts in coin. Sacred preservation
of the public faith.
| These words were substantially taken
/ from a resolution which he had pro-
posed to the Young Meme Democratic
| Club of New York q short time prev
/ ious. In the light of recent events it
| seems almost a pity that he saw reason
4 TO vary from the old phrase "a dollar
/ worth a dollar" but 10 one could have
then foreseon that silver, the produc-
/ ti,,, OF which like that Of gold has
/ Just kept even with the use and waste