The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1895-09-11
NO FUSION IN OURS
THE DEMOCRATIC PARRY is NOT
READY TO ENDORSE BE-
TRAYALOF PRINCIPLE.
HAVE WE FLaNNIGaRS HERE


ing Tnfamy of the Age-- Honest DEM
ocrats are willing Again TO Battle
Principle, but They are Unwilling
to Dishonor Themselves to get Offices
for a Few Leaders.
G0LDsBOnO, N. c., Sept, nth.
To the Editor of the News and Observer.
From time to time, and of late quite
frequently, intimations are given out
through the press Of the State to the
effect that a movement is on foot to
secure fusion or CO operation between
Democrats and Populists in the next
election. It is said that certain great
leaders of the Democratic party are
making approaches to the great man
who so successfully co-0perated with the
Republicans last year in the now historic
raid upon the Offices then in sight, and
that the great co-operator is not ayerse
to the affectionate wooing of the atore-
said great Democratic leaders. For pur-
poses of dramatic effect, it is supposed,
these leaders are clothed with the shroud
of mystery and can only be partly made
out after much straining of the mental
vision, in dim and shadoWy shape hang
ing upon the distant horizon, in such
position that they may, if their dallying
should prove agreeble to the father of
fusion, float gently down and encircle
the offices, or, if their advances should
meet with repulse vanish away leaving
no trace Of name or feature.
1t is, perhaps, permissible to one at so
rxrao+ Iictonoa from, fha canup 0f SIch
mysterious though gigantic movements,
involving as they do the present welfare
as well as the future destiny OF his
party, to express his regret that the
great agents engaged in this stupendous
work could not be more clearly revealed
to the gaze of an admiring world to the
end that the reward destined to crown
the noblest endeavor should not be too
long delayed. He does most earnestly
desire that clouds and darkness may no
longer be the habitation Of these patri
otto leaders, and he would appreciate
most highly the genius of the newspaper
reporter who could penetrate the thick
darkness, brush away the obscurlng
mists, and exhibit them in all their orig
nal brightness
Oar condition at this most painful
period is that of the gentleman who read
history, emitting all the names of the
prominent actors in the great and stir
ring events which have made and mar
red the destiny of nations, and remained
utterly oblivious of the years of our Lord
in which they lived and moved, and 80
lost tle enjoyment which comes from
linking great events with the names of
the men who produced or guided and
controlled them. And thus it las be-
fallen US in these latter days, nearing
the end Of the world, that we know not
the appearance or the countenance OF
these, our benefactors. 1t may be, so
far as we can learn, in the gloomy space
in which we dwell, that it is the hand of
Jacob or it may be the hand of Fsau.
If surmise could be tolerated in so
weighty matter, one might be permit
ted TO guess that the gentlemen referred
to were of the number who admired the
talent which conceived and the boldness
which executed the latest achievement
10 fusion, and who were captiyated by
the delicate and refined sense of
honor which dictated the movement
and carried it to SO laudable conclu-
sion. He might further guess that they
are progressive gentlemen who, living
in prac .ical age in which political AZ
stractions and obsolete principles ought
to be sent to the rear, and when all ser
sible men are expected to look rather
closely after their personal interests as
contradistinguished from the poorly de
fined and frequently mistaken interests
Of the public, endorsed cooperation as
being a practical, sensible way of get
ting, without needless decentralization
the real benefits of the political activity,
and he might reasonably conclude that
they had the faith that once dwelt in a
gentleman who, in the day of his pros
perlty, enjoyed the musical name of
Flanagan, and whose simple and beau
ii al creed was announced in the form
ola question {often the most perfect
method of impressing truth and for that
reason employed by the great philoso-
pher Socrates} which demanded what we
are here for If not for the Offices They
might be supposed, too, to have been in
sympathy with the cardinal principle
which underlaid the 60 operative move
ment, and found its highest expression
in the lines of New Eogland's sweet,
though somewhat business like, singer:
"'Tis not by principles nor men my onward
course is steadied,
] scents what pays the best and goes for it
bald-headed.h
But such vain imaginiDgs might posi-
bly, be Injurious to the originator of the
new Fusion movement and the writer
feels impelled to warn any unwary per-
son who NAV fer a moment have fallen
into such train of thought, TO beware
of giving the credit to any except the
rightful owner and he AYERS his solemn
belief that there was no Democrat who,
last year entertained the supposed opin
ions, and, consequently, if time and
space were at his command, that he
could, he believes, satisfy any reasonable
mind that these cloudy statesmen are
not Democrats at all.
This conclusion is greatly strength
ened by the fact universally known
throughout the State that every Demo
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