The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-03-19

people, for the people, By the people,
| the people forgaYe III the worse than
| mistakes oil the first half of the sixties.
And now. thirty years after the war
| if The members of the party Will only
! be true to- themselves, whether we win
next fail or no, there il still a future
| of success and victory to follow. But
| holt or split now, and we are undone
| for all time The Democracy is des-
troyed forever, and its site sown with
salt. Ii will live only as Il memory
| like the Wings, the Federalists, and
other combinations Of a past that is
far or near. Washington Post,
WHAT is THE DEMOCRATIC OUT
LOOK?
Under this head, the Post, Of the
18th, has a long editorial from which
we quote:
''But what ut this moment is the
state of the Democratic party2 1t IN
torn by discussions and fends. 1t is on
the verge of disintegration. The fac
tional conflicts within its ranks are
bitter beyond words-appare more
irreconcilable than the hatred, twenty
five years ago, between the Southern
Democracy and the invading army Of
the carpet-baggers. We have seen the
Democracy in Maryland and in Ken
lucky sacrificing Democratic States to
their fratricidaI anirnosities. We see
them in Kentucky to-day sacrificing
a Democratic Senatorship in the same
unholy cause. Everywhere we find
embittered factions, ready to fly at
each others threats, ready to surfen-
der to the enemy rather than bow to
the majority within thmselves, ready
to wreck, to annibilate the party in the
prosecution of a senseless rancor. The
American people find nothing in the
prospect to which they can pin a hope,
however faint. As things stand now,
the Democratic party is no more fit
to make a serious contest against the
Republican party, or to impose upon
it the least restraint of prudence and
moderation. than the followers of Cox
ey or Henry George or Parkhurst are.
The Republicans have an open path be-
fore them, and at its end stands a
tyrannical, irresponsible, and reckless
oligarchy.
do the Democrats really intend to
make fight? And if they do, how
can they make it with any prospect of
success except by coming together,
sinking their quarrels, resentments,
and hatreds, and returning to the time
honored tenets and obseryances of the
party? They cannot afford to pros
cribe and prosecute each other because
Of gold and silver, or because of differ
ences as to the tariff. In Maryland
they murdered their party in order to
punish Mr.. German for having made
it compact and triumphant. In Ken
lucky they murdered their party be-
cause handful Of. fanatieal monomet-
allfsts were willing to turn the State
over to the Republicans rather than
see Blackburn, the choice Of seven
eighths of the Democracy, return to
the United States Senate. In Alabama
they are barking at the heels of Nor
gan and imperilling the integrity of the
organization because a lot Of Cuckoo
Office holders oppose his financial
views. They no longer fight within
the party and stand Loyalty by its de-
liberate and honest verdict. If they
cannot rule, they ruin. The opposing
party is nearer and dearer to them than
the hostile factions of their own. Has
this miserable madness gone too far
To be arrested? Is it impossible for
Democrats to recover themselves, to
vote together for the party's choice
without reference TO his views on sill
yer or the tariff, to leave to the Demo-
cratic convention the selection Of q
candidate and the formulation Of q
platform, and then to support the cho-
sen leaders and the authoritative ut-
terances Of the party in good faith,
Loyalty, with honest devotion and en-
thusiasm? If not, then Is the Demo
cratic party dead, indeed.