.
'i ' V.
Conservative.'i
. . ' 1
"CALLING NAMES. "
"I cnuuot account for it , " snid a Chin
ese general , called to book for an appar
ently needless defeat in the Tonquin
war ; "we made the most hideous faces
and uttered terrifying cries , but the en
emy bore down on us like bees in a
swarm , and we were swept away. "
This seems amusing , ganged by our
standards of warfare , yet Chinese meth
ods are in constant use by champions of
unsound ideas in this heart of Western
civilization. They do not literally con
tort their features and pierce the air
with shrieks , but they do what amounts
to the same thing , when they invent a
name of derision for their opponents
and try to kill them with it ; neverthe
less , American history fails to record
the case where a man or a party repre
senting a good cause was over driven
from the field by such means. When
Washington was president , his political
foes tried to destroy his influence by
styling him in mockery the "stepfather
of his people. " The name "democrat"
when first used as a party title , carried
with it a taint of reproach because of
the association in the popular mind of
sans-culottism with democracy ; and Jef
ferson , now idolized in the democratic
system of ancestor-worship , scorned the
word , insisting that he belonged to the
republican party , which then stood for
nearly everything a good republican
now abhors.
By Jackson's time , however , the re
publicans had become democrats in
name as well as in fact , and not long
afterwards they were quarreling among
themselves with a bitterness hardly
equalled in the party warfare of a few
years before. This feeling reached its
most intense stage in New York , when
the name "barnburners" was applied in
contempt to the "free-soil democrats"
who followed Silas Wright , because ,
like the farmer in the story who burned
his barn down to rid it of vermin , they
were willing to sacrifice their party to
their principles. The collapse of the
American party was due not at all to
the nickname "know-nothing , " applied
to it on account of its oath-bound se
crecy , but to the fact that any kind of
mystery and mummery in connection
with politics on the larger scale is repug
nant to the common souse of our people.
During the civil war , the Northern sym
pathisers with secession and slavery
came to grief on account of their un
happy alliance , not because the term
"copperhead" was applied to them ; a
snake may not bo a widely popular sym
bol , yet the coiled rattlesnake flag of the
revolution carried inspiration with it ,
and the flag raised over the first Ameri
can warship commanded by Paul Jones
had a serpent stretched across the thir
teen bars. The "black republicans"
and "rail-splitters" of 1800 would have
gone down before the "little giants" if
there had been anything in nicknames ,
just as "Prince Hal" Genet and "Thun
derbolt" Norton of the Tweed ring
might have passed , ten years later , for
setter citizens than "Whispering Sam"
Tildeu , the ring's inveterate enemy.
About 1879 both the great parties were
ripe for another factional split. The
democrats made theirs memorable in
S"ew York by throwing away the state
with the Kelly bolt. The republicans ,
the same year nominated Cornell for
governor. Coukliiig was then at the
iieight of his power , and Cornell , as his
friend , was objectionable to a large and
important minority of the party.
They did not feel well enough organized
for a general revolt , but a little band of
resolute young men took their political
fortunes in their hands , and led a for
lorn hope of protest at the polls. Be
cause they advised the sympathizers
with their movement to erase Cornell's
name from the head of the party ticket ,
they earned the designation of the
"young scratchers" and the "hen party. "
They could scarcely get a hearing in
any newspaper in the state , much less
command editorial support. Thanks to
the democratic defection , they did not de
feat Cornell ; but they cut enough votes
from his total to leave him nearly 17,000
behind the republican candidate for lieu
tenant-governor. The breaches opened
that year grew steadily wider. The
Tilden democrats in 1880 were out
manoeuvred in the national convention ,
and Hancock , a good citizen , but a weak
candidate , was nominated for president.
The republicans , taking heart of hope
from this , bridged over their difficulties
for the time being , and won the election
with Garfield ; but at the first clash over
patronage , apart went the two factious
once more. The Colliding contingent
fell back upon a warfare of names.
They were "stalwart" republicans , their
foes were "halfbreeds" or "feather-
heads. " This quarrel cost the republi
cans the presidency in 1884 , but when
the party was reorganized , it was found
that the stalwarts had disappeared ,
while the despised halfbreeds filled the
center of the foreground.
It was the campaign of 1884 , by the
way , which raised up a now political
group , composed of republicans , who ,
for couscientioiis reasons , could not vote
for Elaine , yet were not ready to throw
themselves into the democratic party
without reserve. The republican cam
paigners hated them for stepping out of
the ranks at this critical stage , and dub
bed them "dudes and Pharisees ; " the
old-school democrats , who dreaded the
influence they might exert upon Mr.
Cleveland if he were elected president ,
but did not care to go to the length of
offending them , styled them , half-jocu-
larly , ' 'mugwumps. " The independents
did not seem at all disturbed. They hac
a purpose in view , and , as long as they
accomplished it , they wera willing not
only to endure these nicknames but to
adopt them as titles of honor.
The Spanish war and its legacy in the
Philippines have brought out another
crop of denunciatory titles. On the one
side "annexationist" and "
, "expansion
ist" have generally made way for "im
perialist , " none of those being necessar
ily a term of reproach in the sense of
having anything derisive in it. On the
other side , names which show great bit
terness are used , "traitor , " "little Amer
ican , " and "tory" being prime favorites.
Commander Dyer of the cruiser Balti
more adds to these the epithet "goody
goodies. " Anybody renders himself
liable to one of these designations if he
declines to support a policy which ho be
lieves unconstitutional and destructive
of the safeguards of American liberty.
But what of it ? A good cause can be no
more destroyed by hurling bad names at
it , than a wicked one can bo redeemed
by smothering it in incense. New York
Evening Post.
The lunatics who
COKSIBTKNT.
manage the organ
of discontent at Omaha and preach the
doctrine of their own importance at the
ratio of sixteen to one when compared
to the Omaha Daily Bee have scare
head-lines in their issue of July 12 , thus :
"CRISIS FOR OMAHA
"GREATER AMERICA HAS AN EMPTY
TREASURY AS A RESULT OF ROSE-
WATER'S CUSSEDNESS. "
If the emptiness of a treasury can bo
evolved from the will of Rosewater one
must conclude either that Rosewater is
bigger or the World-Herald smaller than
that organ of Bryanarchy has portrayed.
How could a "crisis for Omaha" be
evolved out of an editor and newspaper
small as Rosewater and the Boo are de
picted by the daily exponent of calamity ,
Coin Harvey and Bryan ?
THE CONSERVATIVE is not partial to
the Bee , but it recognizes its force and
ability as an advocate of the best inter
ests of Omaha and the state whenever
it divests itself of personal and political
bias.
A North Carolina correspondent of the
Baltimore Sun makes the positive state
ment that Senator Butler ( Pop. ) will
advocate in the two papers controlled by
him the adoption of the constitutional
amendment limiting negro suffrage.
"If Alger does not repudiate the Pin-
gree partnership , " The Minneapolis
Journal ( rep. ) says , "it will be taken by
some people , at least , that he is willing
to submit his chief , while still remain
ing in his service , to insult and dispar
agement by the potato-raiser of Michi
gan. The only pleasing promise of the
situation is the probability of Alger's
early retirement from the cabinet. "
