In a few months we shall be in the midst of another presidential
campaign, and one as exciting, perhaps, as the country has known.
Already we see earnest preparations for the fray. The party managers
are busily laying their schemes; the question of candidates and the
measures to secure victory are being thoroughly canvassed by the rival
parties.
What now strikes the thoughtful person as he considers the political
outlook is the lack of party issues. Two great parties are seen on the
eve of a tremendous struggle for the reins of government; but when the
question is asked, what are the living issues at the bottom of this
fight? one is puzzled for a reply. The situation is about this: instead
of coming before the people with certain great principles as a ground
of contention, one party has for its cry, “Put the rascals out;” and
the other, “Let us keep the rascals from coming in.”
Our feeling is that the case should be different. Are there no living
issues important enough to serve as the rallying cry of political
parties? Must parties live on a past record? Is there nothing for
them to do but to glory in what they have done, and point a finger of
contempt at the other side? By no means is this the case. There are
to-day vitally important matters pertaining to the public welfare which
call loudly to our political leaders for attention; and the party
which shall take hold of these matters in an earnest way, and boldly
present itself as the champion of principles of truth and justice and
purity, ought to be, and must be, the party of the future.
The reform of the civil service might very well be a party issue, but
it is not. Neither of the great parties shows a disposition to take a
hearty and united stand in favor of such reform. Some prominent men in
both parties have it at heart, and the movement which has been seen
can not be claimed as a party movement. The reform of the tariff wise
men see to be one of the crying needs of the hour; but how hopelessly
at sea seem our party leaders in dealing with the question. It can not
be said that any principles of tariff are a party issue. There is a
wide diversity of sentiment among those who have the management of the
parties; on either side are seen free-trade men and protective tariff
men; and probably some have their opinions yet to form upon a subject
so live and important as the tariff. The nation has a yearly surplus
revenue of $100,000,000, to get rid of which extravagant and needless
appropriations are made; the embarrassment of certain branches of
industry in our land, as things are, is evident; but to which party can
we point as the one intelligently and earnestly bent on tariff reform?
The time may come when the prohibition of the liquor traffic will be
the underlying principle of a great political party, but it is not now.
We may have our opinions as to which of the great parties bidding for
the suffrages of the people is the more a temperance party, but either
is a great way from being ready to adopt as an issue the righteous
principle of prohibition. In just one State to-day (Iowa), one of the
parties appears as the supporter of this principle. Turn to another
State (Massachusetts), which sometimes is thought to lead all the
rest in moral ideas, and see the same party fighting neither for this
principle nor any other, but simply to wrest the power from Governor
Butler.
We judge of the coming national campaign by that now in progress in
different States, and we see it is to be marked by a lack of high and
worthy party issues. It will be—what it should not be—a contest without
great underlying principles. Let whichever party may triumph, the
victory can not be regarded one of living principles; it will be rather
the success of individuals to whom the majority of the people choose
to commit the reins of authority, or the triumph of a party which
the people prefer for its record, or to which they give a blind and
unthinking preference. Whatever the outcome of the impending political
struggle, we have faith in the perpetuity of our institutions, and that
there is a nobler destiny for the American people than they have yet
attained.