Year: 1878

The Republican Canvass-The Republican


Alliance With the BondhoIders In Op.


position to the WOrklngmen of the


Country.


| Especial Correspondence of the Democrat
| NEW YORK, July 3d.
| Judging from appearances, no less than
from the declarations Of the Interested par
ties, | think 1t safe to say that there will be
NO RECURRENCE THIS YEAR OF THE sTRtK Es
OF 1877. The workinRmen have come to the
conclusion that for the present at least, and
under existing political conditions. no sub
stantial relief is to be expected from violent


measures of any kind. They agree that In
the abstract the system OF labor unions and
the method Of striking against reductions Of
wages are calculated to impress employers
and the public generally with the
power and consequence of the working
classes rs a factor In the body politic.
but the experience Of last summer demon
strated that the machinery Of great strike
Is not easily susceptible of control when once
| set In motion, and that It's operations are as
| likely to initiate against as in favor Of the
| interests which 1t Ia designed to subserve
whatever may be the average lack Of in
formation and want Of prudence among the
workingmen of the North as elass-traits
sufficiently attested by the tenacity with
which they have voted the Radical ticket in
the past, year after year, in face of the plain
fact that the Radical party, as organized and
operated at Washington, was their deadliest
enemy-whatever lack Of discernment among
them may have been attested by this fact it
i
skulls have been drilled through by adver-
stty, and that, after several abortive move
mentS In various directions, they have adopted
that course in which alone lies the hope Of
success.


They have discovered the great truth that
In this country the force Of public opinion
and


THE DECISION OF THE BALLOT BOX
are the only sure methods for the reCtifica-
ton OF wrong and the only reliable remedies
for Injustice Accordingly the tendency Of
the labor organizations this year Is entirely
political. OF course a movement so wide
spread as the labor movement In the North
must begin it's political existence in struR-
CLING and desultOry fashion. Great national
organizations do not spring full panOpied
from the brow Of the popular Jove, but must
gain strength by processes Of growth and
learn wisdom from misfortune. Thus far the
lnhor movement has only reached that stage
Of development W lich distinctly marks it's





at the most 1t Is vast, vague pOtentiality,
suspected Of infinite possibilities and
source Of disquiet to the neI yes of the old
party managers but not sufficiently fOrnid.
able either in known numbers or in visible
organization to be deemed a political power
Its national Importance will, OF course, lie
wholly in the extent to which 1t may be able
to impress Itself upon the incoming House Of
Representatives, either by electi6g its own
representatives outright or by forcing coali-
tiOn5 and concessions in isolated districts
with one or the other Of the old organizations


BEN BUTLER,
with something Of the enthusiasm common to
new converts, declares his fixed belief that the
new movement under its various names Ofthe |
Nationalist" the "Greenback party" etc, |
all Of which mean substantially y the same thing,
will easily acquire
THE BALANCE OF POWER IN THE NEXT HOUSE


This belief Is shared by many Democratic |
politicians of discernment; men who have no |
party sympathy with the movement, except
In so far as it may operate to complete the |
and downfall Of Radicaism. |
Ii the calculations Of these astute gentlemen |
be accurate, the next House will stand about
thus: Democrats, from 1870 to 40; RepubIi- |
cans, from 100 to 1870; Nationals, Greenback-
erS, etc, from 25 to 35


These are round figures The total repre-
sentation in the next Housewife be 293, requr-
ing lat to constitute bare majority. That |
the Democratic caucus will contain from $50 |





House, Is proposition which consider as
sured beyond any disturbing peradventure
more likely to come to pass than the MiIerite |
But that there will be number
OF distinctive Greenbackers, Nationals, etc,
elected together with good sprinkling of |
the same sort OF prOclivitieS In the two old |
parties, consider equally well assured.


THE DISTINCTIVE GREENBACKERs
will come mainly from Ohio, Illinois, Indi-
ana, Iowa and Missouri, and may be twelve
or fourteen in number, about equally divided
as to prior party affiliations. But the men
VINO, still clinging to the caucus, cherish affil-
latlons with the new movement. will be found
much more numerous on the Democratic
than on the Republican side of the House.


THE RADICAL PARTY,


50 far as the old machine is concerned, is
going into this canvass entirely on the princi-
pie, Quem Deus .yntt perdere, T)riGs deHe1otat.
At no period In it's history was the influence
of the national banks more active than in the
preliminaries OF the pending canvass. The
watchword Is Put none but bOndholders on
guard, and nothing Is palmer than the fact
that the 0iigarchy of bankers who have
5wayed the country for the last ten
years, and whose only hope for the future is
n restoration OF the Grant dynasty, have
determined, as preliminary movement, to
carry the House OF the Forty y-sixth Congress
at any expense and all hazards. Nothing
could be farther from their calculations than
the thought OF compromise with or conces-
sion to the new power that is looming up for
their destruction. Reasoning that what
money has done money can do again, these
people delude themselves with the hope that
they will see another such a House OF Repre-
3entatlves in Washington as that which
passed the Infamous public credit act OF 1862
Thus, while new agitations surge in the pub
ic heart and strange theories thicken in the
atmosphere, every throb and every breeze of
which is Of hatred toward them and their in
the bankers and bondhoIders are
orming schemes and laying plans for secu-
ing majority in the next House which
3hall obey them and their agents as q drove
II cattle Obeys the herdsman and his dogs.


It might seem remarkable that men shrewd
,nough to amass the millions these men DOS
ess should be so shOrt-sighted and even pur-
blind in crisis. But, upon second thought, :
he fact appears to be natural consequence; Z
or when in history, or when in the existence 7