The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1903-11-13
BACK INTO ITS OLD LINES.

| ldCl lHdI lIiCS lIetNC llo SOP1 vi III
mortgage on all the morals of the CON.
munity, and despite all that they may
say or do, they have learned to their sor.
row that the people think for themselves
During the recent campaignin Baltimore
City, not a single paper supported the
democratic ticket. One journal was in a
that were being p"rpetratcd on the poor
innocent people Of Baltimore. AS the
election returns show, majority of the
voters, in spite Of all these warnings
went ahead and deposited their ballots
for the Democratic candidates. The
statements were absurd and an insult tC
the intelligence of every seif-respecting
man.
The Baltimore Sun, which was thefair
est in its legal columns to boti parties
recently had the following to say about
these "rctormers:
an some institutions for mental trouble S
there arc patients who suffer from what
are known as fixed ideas No matter
what may be the change that time has
wrought in their surroundings, thest
ideas cannot be cradicated, and soml
people are cruel enough to say that per
SONS thus afflicted are cranlls and that
their claim to public confidence is nil be
cause it is due to species of monomania
"Our excellent friends Of the Reform
League of this city seem to be guided il
their way through the world by sort O
fixed idea theory that nearly every
thing that is Democratic is wickcdly anC
irrctrivabiy wrong, andif anything hap
pens which at all meets their APPROVAL
and such things, fortunately, seldom hap
pen-they cackle over it much as CHECKER
cock cacklcs after the hen has laid an egg
They fill the land with the din of theil
noisy cxuberance. 1t is diTerting to OBJ
serve tie regularity with which thest
good people emerge from their Pick
wickian debating society at the beginning
of each campaign armed with their be il
resolved and 'whcrcaseS, and hold W
their hands in pious horror at the genera
wickcdness, cxclaimiug i'll the languag,
of the Psalmist. There is none that doctl
goud--no, not One'-eXcept those who
agree to our way OF thinking. Ard theI
they proceed i'll an indiscrimiuate on
slaught upon character and reputation
\ ,rcI,, 10
parison. Everybody is dishonest; that is
if he is suspected OF being Democrat ; anc
the familiar charges which were timel,
years ago are brought forth and care
fully brushed up for further use. If thes'
charges could be applied at the presen
time they would be effective, but as tn,
public doubts their application 'hxec
ideas suffer. Members of their OWL
league fare no better than outsiders.
they happen to differ in opinion all TIL
rest turn and try to rend them.
At the approach of the recent election
we were solemnly warned that ifthe party
which comprises the large majority OF TIL
vi lHlS OldlC NClIly "
gain power, or continue i'll power, popu
lar institutions would fall with a crash
that the heavens would roll up like {
scroll and the elements melt with ferven
heat. Long reports were published ant
the people were urged to be good. Blu
it was as when good St. Anthony preach
| ed reform, +o tho fSbsc.
Much delighted were they.
But they preferred the old way.
"Some seven or eight years ago, whei
the padded registration lists from thu
taverns on The Space were first discov
cred, the public was much interested
But without facts with which to sub
stantiate fixed idea people grew tiret
and yawned when they saw the picture
of the house from which, in the mind:
eye of the Reform League, several thous
and Democrats were registered.
Then again, when registered letter:
were sent out to Democratic suspects
and incidentally letters to Republican
suspects wereforgotten, some people (not
members of the Reform League were o.
the opinion that that theory of reform
was of particular brand not known as
altogether of Il fair variety. The public
| also absolutely refused to be interested
in the discovery that the word has beer
passed down the line quietly to the police
to rough the city; that countless hordes
of reporters were preparing for business
and that all the Democratic election
officials had lead rings to deface andknives
to mutilatc the ballots, and were general
" making ready to count the Republi'
cans out and to perjurc themselves. The
people ceased to be alarmed at the annual
prediction of eternal smash and straight.
way elected their candidates in the most
defiant manner. After the smoke of the
battle rolled away people went about
their business as ifno thing had happened
and every thing continued to move along
to the apparent satisfaction ofevery body.
Even the political spinsters of the Re.
| form League returned to their Pickwick-
ian sanctum, where they will remain until
the next campaign begins. People are
often moved to consider the final end of
the Reform League and their journalistic
side partner when in the course ofrevolv-
ing years the city people and the State
crowd shall be no more. We have it
upon the authority of Holy Writ that
| our days have been made, as it were, a
span long; that the days of our age are
three score years and ten, and though
men be SO strong that they come to four
score years. yet is their strength then but
labor and sorrow, so soon passeth it
away, and we are gone. The painful re-
Fiction, therefore. is forced upon us that
the time will finally come when German
and Rasin will be no more. What, then,
will become of the present members of
the estimable Reform League, with their
fixed ideas? Who will furnish burning
thoughts for editorial leaders to mold
public thought and sentiment in the jour
nalistic Reformer? We cannot contem-
plate such a catastrophe with equamnlity.
What will the Democratic party do with
out them? To deprive the party ofthem
would be nothing less thanparty suicide.
For it is we'll known that nothing stands
more irnmOyably between he Republican