Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-09-09
The Calm that Precedes the Anti
Radical ToruadO

has thus far been tree from the |
usual boisterous excitement of Presiden-
tial contest. The meetings of both parties
have been well attended, but there is less
than usual of boisterous applause, less OF
outward excitement and, as a consequence,
less of the usual clap-trap of campaign
than for years past Our opponents seem
troubled on this account. 1t destroys
much of their political stock in trade, and
they feel that a screw is lost somewhere
and they know not where to find it.
The reason of this calm, instead of excite
ment is the change that is working its way
in the minds of the thinking men hereto
f,re opposed to the Democracy. They feel
that the trade with the South is cut off, and
that great market, once open to the pro-
duce of X the West, Is. now valueless to
them, because the raw cotton and sugar
growing region they once furnished with
the. vast surplus of the West is destitute of
money to purchase provisions.
The taxes they have to pay for the bles-
sings OF Radical rule, to support large
standing army in the South and to provide
for the wants OF the Freedmen's Bureau,
which supports the late slaves in idleness-1
the vast amount ntsquandered by Congress in
its continuous sessions, impress the men Of
thought with the conviction that there is
a. rottenness in the Government which
needs the pruning hand of reform. They
see the man of labor taxed on all he wears
and consumes-taxed by the State 3 to
70 thn int r<sx L., -
to carry on the State Government;
to provide salaries for Judges, per
diem for jurors and for the sustenance
of prisoners-taxed to pay salaries in the
City Government, to repair streets and to
light them with gas, to build sewers and
provide for the police-taxed to school the
children and to build school houses-taxed
to build bridges and to support paupers,
while the man OF wealth, who puts his
money in bonds, and has no other proper
ty. is not taxed at all. 81,
They see the country kept in a state OF
fearful excitement-a large portion, kept
in awe by a standing army, with its large
outlay, which has to be provided for, from
the taxes of the people. ~a
( These facts, with others, so often refer
red to as almost to be as household words
in the mouths of tie American people, are
producing their effect. The masses see
and feel most keenly that a change is nee
essary to save the Republic and that feel
ing now working its way into the hearts
of all who love the Union, is'producing its
effect. ~
~ %
The press of the Radical party cannot
account for the want of enthusiasm among
their party friends. They who were won't
to cheer to the echo, the words of their
speakers, are now silent. They attend
meetings, but not to hear idle defamation.
The minds of the people claim facts and
figures-facts to show that the desolation
of the country and the scarcity OF money
and the high taxes are not attributable to
Radical misrule, and figures to show that
in the future the country can prosper and
pay its debts. But these they cannot get.
The facts are against them-with figures,
which cannot lie, no such result as future
prosperity, under Radical financiering, can
be cyphered out. ,sal.5s .ECti-sfs sJi & 4
q The Radical leaders begin to find that
both wind and tide are against them-the
masses saw it long before-but in
stead of the argument, the facts and the.
figures the honest of them that have here
tofore adhered to them crave, they find
" Grant Tanner" clubs got up to amuse the
people, as NERO amused himself by fiddling
when Rome burned 3rs
Not a leading man of the Republican
press of that organization,
but supported General GRANT as the candi-
date of that party, on any other ground
except that of availability. He was SOL
dier-a successful one-and with this, as In
the days of Gen. HARRISON and en.TAYLoR,
they hoped an enthusiastic feeling would be
raised among the masses that would sweep
the country from the Aristook to the Rio
Grande-from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
No one dreamed of his fitness for the place
no one exactly knew what principles be
held when he was nominated, bur he was
available, the only available man of the
party, and he was put in nomination. His
availability has not stood the test of time
and experience. In the event of war, the
men who would cheerfully vote to retain
him in his present high position as General
deem him unfit to take charge of the Gov
ernment, and as statesmen to bring order
out of chaos. His name, as connected with
the Presidency, excites no enthusiasm, and
in this fact, the more sagacious of his party
see the handwriting on the wall
that foretells his defeat. He was made the
candidate in order to get up turore on
account of his military renown, but the
people, convinced by their sufferings that
General GRANT, with his inexperience in
craftsmanship would, in the hands of the
Radical leaders, be but as man of wax.
prefer committing the vessel of State to
abler hands. -
NO party ever has or ever will succeed in
a great political contest with soldier, nom.
mated not on account of his fitness for the
office, but of his supposed availability, un-
less they can manage to make such cam
paign as that of 1S40 or 1s4S, when the
whole country was wild with excitement.
A calm campaign, in which men think
deeply, as the masses are doing at the pres
ent time, can never be carried by party
who present military candidate, and nom
mate him merely on the ground of his ex-
pediency. The last nomination of the old
Wing party, when HENRY CLAY was super
ceded for General SCOTT, was of that char
acter. With all his fame gathered in the
war of 1872 and in the war with Mexico,
General ScoTT was badly defeated by
FRANKLIN PIERCE. As in 1852, so will it
be in 1868. History will thus repeat itself.
That the Radicals are doomed to defeat is,
in the minds of many of the most cool and
calculating of that party, a foregone con-
clusion. And many of them already st g
that the present calm is fatal to their con-