Year: 1879

Principles Before Candidates.


The most of the leading journals, if
we may Judge from their columns, the
only question of Importance as to the
next Presidential campaign seems to be
this: Who will be nominatedP Possibly
there is a tendency to overlook the fact
that nine-tenths of the votes cast, at
any National election, are cast with
sole regard to the political principles
involved.


The Importance of recent elections
lies mainly in the fact that they have
done much to determine the principles
upon which the contending parties shall
appeal to the people at the next cleo
ton. The Democrats have hoped TO
succeed by appealing to the people on
the financial questions. But their de-
feat, in that quarter, has been decisive.
The Greenback party has been extin-
guished, and the soft-money Democrats
have been everywhere defeated, until it
is doubtful whether any Democratic
Convention or candidate will be rash
enough to go before the people with
any form of initiation. 1t is not to
be supposed that there has been any
change in the general tendency of the
party. Neither has there been q ma
terial change in the temper of Repub-
| lican voters. The victories of hard
money have convinced managers of
both parties that it is not safe and will
not pay to favor imitation, and both
will do whatever they can to win the
confidence of hard-money voters.


Again, the Democrats hoped to sue
ceed by appealing to public opinion
against the election laws. Some jour-
nails in this neighborhood made this a
speciality, and went into frequent hys-
cages. There Is no sort Of doubt that
public opinion at the North heartily
sustains all measures that have yet
been adopted to secure fair and honest
elections. The outcry of the Democrats
ON that point has cost them votes. 1t
has advertised the fact that there was,
and is yet, great need of sharp restraint
to prevent Democratic frauds at the
ballOt-boX. Inasmuch as a desire TO
prevent fraud is shared not only by all
Republicans, but by many Democrats
for no voter can tell how soon his
political freedom may depend upon his
ability to resist at the ballot-box the
managers of his own party-this dis
pute has drawn votes to the support of
Republican candidates. 1t ought to be
accepted as an axiom in politics that
any party will lose votes which at
tempts to break down barriers erected
to prevent illegal voting.


Still less can the Democrats afford to
face another election as the party of
nullification. All the " tall talk" all
the hot words and loud threats, uttered
by Democratic members of Congress,
in respect to the Executive veto and
the right way of meeting it, will be
noted by capable historians as the main
cause of the remarkable Democratic de-
feat in 1879. The party did not have
sense enough to suppress its nullitiers or
its revolutionists, and the natural re-
suit was that sober and sagacious men
determined not to intrust power to a
party so reckless. If the Democrats
hope to succeed at all they must begin
by driving out of their counsels men
who hippantly threaten revolutionary
measures in order to hear applause
from aconvocation of weak-headed and
hot-tempered partisans.


The Democratic party goes forward
| to the next Presidential campaign with
out single idea for which it has con-
| Icnu6u, anu udIGS SIlll 10 COHVbnu.
There is talk of q vigorous campaign
in Congress this winter on questions of
taxation. Republicans may heartily
hope that this blunder also will be COM
mitted by party which can serve the
country only by abolishing itself. The
revenue laws of the United States are
not perfect, but they compare credita-
bly, with the best ever framed under
| Democratic rule. The worst and most
vicious changes in them, for ten years
past, have been made mainly by Demo-
cratic votes.


But if the Democratic party has not
a single principle for which it can con-
tend with hope of success, what differ
ence does it make whether it names one
man or another as its eandidateP The
great tide of public opinion, which
/ Democrats have discovered that moth
! ing can resist, is moved scarcely at all
by any liking OF disliking for candi-
date. Personal popularity is only the
foam on the crest of the wave. The
Democratic party may nominate any
man it pleases, as long as it holds its
present position with respect to the
graver questions of public policy, and
the Republican party will defeat 1T
easily with either of several candi-
dates. IN. Y. Tribune.