Maryland Independent

The Election

The election is over and the result in every section of the country is a surprise to many of the most far-seeing politicians. In the West, the Democrats suffered a complete rout, as well as in the East, but in the South, it is the same old thing. The election went with the machinery. In Ohio, the battle more squarely than anywhere else, was fought upon the great issue which divides the two leading political parties—the tariff. McKinley, the Republican candidate for governor, represented the protective idea, while Neale, the Democratic candidate for the same office, and the father of the free trade plank in the Democratic national platform, represented the free trade theory. The result shows that the people are still believers in the great protective principle and the Republican party is not dead, but in line to win the next Presidency and control of the government. In New York, it is said, Democratic misrule and business had much to do with the political revolution which took place in that State. This may be partially true, but it is self-apparent that want of confidence in the Democratic party to run the government was the real cause of the Waterloo. The vote in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania is in confirmation of this fact. Of course no one expected a change in the political status of any Southern State. The election machinery in that section is used effectually to accomplish any result the Bourbon Democracy may desire.