Year: 1875

ERSIIP.


There appears to he a difference OF opinion
among the doctors of the press as to the duty
of the hard money Democrats III the next
Congress with regard to the first function they
have to excrcise-tO wit, i'll the election OF
Speaker The hard-mOney Democrats them
selves, it may be premised have not been heard
from upon the subject, and we suspect that
whoever is waiting to hear them ask for ad-
vice upon this or any other question VIII De
woefully disappointed Indeed, so stiif-necked
and peIverse is the average politician, ana
notably the average Democrat, after he
begins to realize that he Is the
representative man of his constituents, it
would not be strange if they should
all take special pains to disregard the counsel
offered them gratuitously. We have had the
opportunity of observing several Democratic
leaders. We have seen them, and the country
has seen them, in such straits that they really
seemed to need good advice and wise instruc-
ton and when the very best advice and
wiscst instruction conceded with what they had
freely confessed to be their own notions
of right and their own convictions of
duty. We have held up our hands pre-
pared to number on the fingers those who
| had adopted the advice so freely offered them
to stand up for their beliefs and convictions,
and after taxing memory to the utmost have
| failed to find any use in a process OF enumer-
alton for the first solitary finger or thumb. The
fact is. they are not of that kind. They
/ tum things over III their minds with great
seriousness, and make up their opinions and
even 90 so far as to announce them publicly,
and then-and then-thcy lay everything down
| in front of the caucus or the convention, anu
do Just as caucus or convention says with no
regard to their own convictions or anything
| else but the success of the party.


We should like very much to see the hard
| money Democrats in the next Congress set up
| for themselves against the dictatOn of the in
| 6ationists Had we only heard the protesta-
tions and professions of some of them-Say
| some of the lOudest and most strenuous hard
money advocates in Ohio and Pennsylvania
and never seen them put to the test, we might
believe 1t probable that in the next Con
gress they would make a manly stand
for what they profess to believe ill., and refuse
to be driven to the support of imitation hereseS
and imitation candidates by the diCtum of a
| caucus But We saw them defeated in Ohio
and Pennsylvania in their state Conventions,
and saw them submit without a protest or a
/ murmur, and we have little faith that any OF
! them will bolt caucus nomination for
/ Sneaker, though the nominee should he an
outspoken inlationst There is only the
faintest shadow of a hope that in the
event Of the nomination of an avowed mfa-
ZIONIST. enough Democratic members may be
! found, who have a lively appreciation of the
peril to the party from such a course, to
stand out and make resistance to 1t by
voting for some candidate of their own
Marty who is sound and unOhcctionable.
| The suggestion has been made with apparent
| sincerity within few days by several Admin
| istratiOn Journals that the hald-mOney Demo
Gratis can do no better than give their votes
| for Mr. Blaine or whoever shall be the Repub-
lean candidate-it being taken for granted
| that the candidate of the Democratic
caucus will be an inhationist. The
argument for such a course of action is that
the Republicans are as a party in favor Of an
honest currency, and that they will offer in
their candidate the only choice between a
| Speaker who will organize the House in favor
/ of honest money and one who will give the
organization to the intationists.


! There are several reasons why this propo-
sition is not feasible, but one is sufficient, and
| that we have already named. The present
/ Democratic leaders are not OF the boiling kind,
and if they were they would not give to their
opponents the organization of Congress from
which they expect TO make so much political
capital for the Presidential campaign i'll the
prosecution of Investigations In the pres
ent condition of partisan politics they would
| say at once they could not afford it, They will
prcfer rather TO give the Administration party
/ all the capital il can make ont of the charge
that the Democrats are for initiation, and take
the chances of changing the issue and
forcing the fighting in the campaign
| of 1876 upon the results of the
coming Winters Investigations On the
other hand, the Republicans may have it in
their power to illustrate their own sincerity
and earncstness upon the financial question by
exhibiting a Willingness to assist in the cleo
ton of a hald-mOney Democrat to the Speak
ershp. From the low point of view OF
policy and party expediency it would be
shrewd; from the higher ground of patriotism
and unselfsh regard for the welfare Of the
country it would be entirely wise. The advice
so freely rendered to the hard-mOney Demo
Gratis to vote for a ard-money Republican
1 instead of an initiation Democrat does not
seem ingenious. The Democrats have n ma
iorty of the House; the organization belongs
of right to them; let them have it, and with
it the responsibility of legislation The Re-
publicans assert that they have no fear of in
vestigations; so they need not be afraid
Of committees appointed by an oppo-
nent And what is more, they cannot
! hinder tle ODpOsitiOn from investi-
eating what and as much as il pleases