The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-12-12
The National Republican Convention
Its Time and Place of Meeting.


Its Time and Place of Meeting.
YESTERDAY, the National Republican Commit
tee appointed at the Baltimore Convention, |
met in Washington and decided to hold the
Presidential Nominating Convention of our |
party, at Chicago, at noon on the 10th of May, |
1868. There is much to commend in the selec-
ton of both time and place. In regard to the |
time, we are glad to see that the preposterous
idea of holding the Convention in March re-
ceived little or no support. Six months is
ample time for a campaign-too ample, in fact
1t is an evil under which our country CONT
nually suffers. Once every year, for two months
at least she is convulsed with the excitement
of political canvass. There can be no possi-
BILE doubt but that great evil is continually
done by this agitation. While the caldron
is boiling, business is nearly suspended;
political meetings, and not domestic concerns,
monopolize the attention of all the people,
thousands of dollars are lost throughidleness
habits Of looseness in the performance of duties
are engendered; and little good is secured as a
compensation for all the ill. We therefore
think that the end of May was well selected
The last Chicago Convention, which placed
the successful ticket of Lincoln and Hamlin
in the field, was held on the 18th Of May.
No one can pretend that the country, between
then and November, was not thoroughly can
vassed.
The place also is we'll fitted. We have an
almost superstitious opposition to any politi-
cal movement being held near the capital.
1t requires the utmost political purity to
escape the communicating influence of Wash
ington. Had Baltimore or even Philadelphia
been selected, the Convention would have
been run down with ofice-holders, who would
throng to its meeting, and could not fail to
have more or less influence on its action.
But Chicago is too far away for any such to
venture. There the body will be free from
all official corruption. 1t is in the midst of
the radical West, and will draw inspiration
from all the surroundings. 1t naturally tends
to secure the nomination of General Grant,
for it is his own State, where his own friends
and those who know him best can testify to
his merits. The three conventions which
have been held since our party first saw the
light, met respectively at Philadelphia in
1856, Chicago in 1860, Baltimore in 1854, and
will now once more meet at Chicago in 1868.
The call for the Convention, signed by all
the committee, is an eminently judicious and
proper document. There is not word Of it
to which every member of our party, what
ever his minor differences of opinion, cannot
earnestly and heartily subscribe:-
1--WE invite the co. operation of all citizens
! who rejoice that our great CIVIL war has happily
! terminated in the discontinue of rebellion;
| who would hold fast the unity and integrity of
! the republic, and maintain its paramount right
| TO defend to its utmost Its own existence while
who al Q in favor of an economical administra,
tion of the public expenditures, OF the complete
| exJirpation of the principles and policy OF
slavery and of the speedy reorganization OF
those States whose governments were destroy ed
by the Rebellion, and the permanent restora-
tion TO their proper practical relations with the
United States in accordance with the true prin-
clples Of republican government"
In the call there nothing to excite the least dis
cussion. On the contrary, if all who subscribe
to its sentiments attend, we will have con-
vention representing every shade of opinion
and one harmonious whole. There is one SEN
tence in the call, which is keynote, which
should merit the careful attention OF the
trainers of the platform of the party. 1t is
that which refers to the necessity of reform
in the public expenditures. The necessity o
the most rigid economy has always been one
of the cardinal principles Of our faith. At the
Convention in 1860, the following was the
sixth plank in our platform:-"That the
people justly view with alarm the reckless
extravaganza which pervades every depart
ment of the Federal Government; tina
return to rigid economy and account
ability is indispensable to arrest th'
systematic plunder of the public treasury by
favored partisans; while the recent startling
developments of frauds at the national me
tropols show that an entire change of ad
ministration is imperatively demanded
These words rang out through the country
and met with universal response. To-day
the same evils demand the same remedy, anC
we are glad that the committee saw fit t
, embody it in their address. With platform
firm, mild, and embodyiDg the living prin
: eiples Of the day, we are sure of triumphan
= success.
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