One is the Tariff, the other the reform of the Civil Service, and the
last is the problem of labor. It is noticeable that the division of
opinion regarding either of these questions does not correspond with the
lines of the established parties. There are Protectionists, as also Free
Traders, in both parties; both parties are equally puzzled by the labor
question; and though the Democratic Party has hitherto been re-actionary
on the subject of the Civil Service, a Democratic President is to-day
the champion and the hope of Reform. On the whole, it begins to look as
if each of the two great parties was in a state of incipient
disintegration. On the one hand, the Independent Republicans, whose
votes elected Grover Cleveland, although still professing allegiance to
the Republican party, will never again ally themselves with those who
supported Mr. Blaine. On the other side the Bourbon Democrats, who
helped to elect Mr. Cleveland, are now in arms against him. The
presidency of Cleveland is to say, the least the triumph of national
over party government; and should he continue to go forward bravely in
his present course, he may rest assured that the hearts of all good
citizens will go with him, and that his triumph will be complete.
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