THE REMEDY. 715 



from other sources. "The ticket that daddy voted " has 

 a strong influence on the modern man. And while men 

 will admit that the policy of their party antagonizes their 

 interests, they "hope the necessary reforms may be accom- 

 plished through it." 



Parties seldom, if ever, do as much as they promise 

 in their platforms, it is folly to expect them to do more. 

 This is eminently true, and history records no great 

 reform or revolution accomplished through the agency of 

 an old existing organization. We had as well set out our 

 old corn-stalks in the Spring and expect them to yield a 

 bountiful supply of ears because they had done so the 

 year before. The present policy of the two great political 

 parties is similar to the action of a conceited old maid, 

 who admires herself for what she once was and the con- 

 quests she had made. The history of the nations of the 

 world teaches us, that, while principles never die, the 

 lives of parties are of short duration. In the ever-chang- 

 ing circumstances of life, new issues are rising, which 

 give vitality to new organizations. 



The Republican party was born of the spirit of oppo- 

 sition to chattel slavery. It was this principle that gave it 

 life, vitality and power. While this contest was waging it 

 was grand in its conception of right and justice. It 

 taught the inconsistency of slavery growing on the tree of 

 liberty ; that the two could not be blended in one harmoni- 

 ous setting; that the cries of the mother who was compelled 

 to part with her child did not harmonize with the songs of 

 heaven; that the groans of the woman compelled to 

 become a mother without being a wife, were not consistent 

 with the teachings of Christianity; that this was intended 

 by the fathers of American liberty to become, indeed and 

 in truth, a free land; that it was a Union of States having 

 a common interest, that it was a land of free churches, free 

 schools and free men. When the contest for these princi- 



