The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-10-09
Standing by Party
Right or Wrong
From the Post-Express.

From the Post-Express.
The presidential campaign Of 1896 seems
destined to furnish the people of the
United States with an object lesson In the
use and abuse Of parties. The idea that
party can survive its principles may
be classed with the doubt as to the uni
versaEty of the rule that when the brains
were out the man would die But 1t seems
to be seriously entertained, nevertheless,
by number of persons In this section of
the United States who have. hitherto
borne high character for shrewdness
and far-sightedness. The determination
with which these individuals cling to the
preservation OF what they are pleased
to call the regular" organization, after
1t has ceased to represent the purposes,
principles or membership of the party
which it nominally represents, Is one OF
the most grotesque spectacles In a cam
paign singularly replete with absurdities.
1t is an insult to ordinary understanding
to assume that the men who accepted the
Endorsement of the Chicago platform by
the Democratic state conventions of Penn
sylvania and New York were sincere in
their sudden change of front. For the
credit of human nature, 1t must be in
sisted that men do not suddenly become so
base as that, though the reservation must
capacity for falsehood.
But the question will arise what do the
ingenious directors of performances like
this expect to gain by the final result? II
their own professed apostacy be mostly a
sham, they can hardly expect the rank and
file OF the party who have no visible in
terest in assuming belief in errors which
they do not share. to go through the mo-
tion of sustaining them. In a campaign
of absolutely hollow pretensions, defeat
at the polls is a foregone certainty. and de-
feat probably. of the most crushing kind
What shall the thing pretext of regular
ity avail these people when 1t Is demon
strated that there Is left with them mere
ly the rump of party? Is 1t conceiv-
able that the great body of voters whose
convictions they have trampled under
foot Will make haste to acknowledge their
leadership again. after they have fairly
pulled themselves out of the morass
whether they are headed? These leaders
of the organization that has been created
to maintain what there is left of the priri-
ciples of Democracy will clearly have the
first right to be listened to in regard to
the future Of the party, and that without
much reference to the number of votes
which may be ranged behind either tick
~ ~ iHt pam uic-
tate of patriotic duty is for a Democrat to
vote the Republican ticket, the true roll
of party honor is to be found in the Dem
ocrats who, on election day, are not re-
corded as such.
BY these the treachery of their leaders
who are solicitOus about the preserva-
ton of the machine will certainly not be
forgotten Only endless dissenslOn and
continuous party impotence can result
from the persistence of the men who still
control what they call the organization
in trying to reap the only possible ad-
vantage which can be derived from their
position. The Buffalo convention was the
last of its kind to which the title Of DEM
ocratic will ever be conceded by any con-
siderable body of the party, and the pre-
cedent set by that convention will hang
Ike millstone round the necks of those
who devised it. There never has been
much real party fellowship between the
men who came to the front in Brooklyn
and those who were conspicuous In Buff
falo There will be in the future less than
ever. The party here as elsewhere will
have to go through the process of cast
ing off discredited leadership, even at the
cost OF many votes, II 1t Is to resume its
place as the acknowledged exponent of
the political convictions of large body
OF self-respecting American citizens.