The Jasper Weekly Courier

JASPER:
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 24, 1875

Possible Contingency and Moral Certainty.

The Indianapolis Journal says the success of the Democracy in the next presidential campaign is a possible contingency, and sets forth the reasons in the advantage the Democracy has in "the popularity of its arguments" on the pending issue, and in "the powerful aid of current events." The arguments to sustain Democratic principles are always and necessarily popular, in that sense that they address themselves to the common sense of men, who, in their sober moments, uninfluenced by passion and prejudice, will uniformly pursue the sensible and popular course. Our government is popular. It was born of popular sentiment. Popular principles form the basis of our constitution. Popular ideas, as distinguished from the monarchical or aristocratical, permeate the whole instrument. The government was created by the people, for the people, and in the interest of the people, and hence is essentially popular. To these principles the Democratic party adheres, and hence it always has been and always will be a popular or people's party. Our government was never intended by its founders for monarchical institutions; it was never designed for an aristocracy, and all-class legislation and theories of centralization are opposed to the very genius of American institutions.

The provision of the constitution in regard to the rights of the states was specially designed to prevent the government from being unpopular. If centralization prevailed, the one central power could very soon divest the government of its popular form. This has been the history of ruling and rulers in all ages. But the suggestion of power, the investing of sovereignty in separate public personalities, created and uncreated by the voice of the people, would forever prevent the exercise of one supreme controlling power. One state of itself might depart from the strict letter of popular government, but by the compact or union this could not be allowed. Hence there is a corrective that must forever prevent consolidation and centralized power, if the true theory of our government is not infringed.

The popular movement of to-day that gives the Democratic party the advantage is simply Democratic principles resumed under the pressure of the sober second thought of men, returning to take their course of the old landmarks of the constitution. Civilization is in progress. It has, indeed, an almost death grasp upon the people under the domination of capital. The people see it and feel it. Capital is making the struggle for supreme dominion. It has demanded legislation in its interest, and through the Republican party it has secured an advantage that brings ruin upon the financial, commercial and industrial interests of the country. Against the encroachment of this centralization the popular voice cries out. The people are aroused, for the reason that the general well being of the masses is in danger. This danger, already felt in the commercial world, destroying confidence, inviting panics, rendering men too cautious for proper business enterprise, is one of the "current events," which the Journal says give such powerful aid to the Democracy.

It is a happy thing for the country that the Republican party in its blindness has forced the issue in such a shape as to directly invite the people to the one central point, the question of finance. Specifically, the current event of thousands of idle men, aids the democracy when these men discover that centralized power is depriving them of labor. Small profits and decreasing business are current events that aid the Democracy. The continued mismanagement and domination of the government in Southern affairs is another current event that aids the Democracy. The exposure of frauds and rings, pillaging the government, is yet another event, and taking the record of the Republican party as exhibited in the current debate of the present contest in other states, in which all the people take interest, is giving mighty and powerful aid to the Democracy. The current event of election victories helps on the cause. In fact, the Journal is for once right, the Democracy has the advantage of the popular arguments -- the aid of current events. In fact, success is not only a possible contingency, but an absolute moral certainty. -- (Indianapolis Sentinel.