Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-11-29
noes RATIFICATION RArIFY !

II the first meeting at he. Greenlaw
Onera House held Monday night was
sncb a tame affair, committing less than
two hundred pro and con and binding
none scarcely out of FIVE or six hundred
highly intelligent and respectable cIti-
Gems present, what shall we say OF the
ratification meeting Wednesday night,
which utterly failed to ratify2 If the
voice of the people" made the noni'
nation and in the happy jubilee that
epsued they forgot to fill out the ticket
where was that voice Wednesday night
when the nominees name was triumph
autly pronounced and the crowd asked
to support the ticket2 A very feeble
echo was answered back frsm the seats
The ueople we're there in considerable
numbers. but not to ratify or oppose.
They we're lookers-on, quietly observing
the breaking down of weak movement,
into which no enthusiasm ever had been
galvanized. There we're not less than
four hundred people present, and when
the chairman put the vote to rstify the
nomination put forward by q small
pluralitv vote at the former meeting,
less than fifty men stood up-in fact,
gentleman who undertook. to count them
states that only twenty-nine rose in their
seats. When the nays we're called for,
one man only arose; bat be stood there,
more a representative Of public senti-
meut, regardless of politics, than the
tweuty-nine who ratified. When the
nominee was introduced to make few
remarks and cast his eyes over that i'm
passive crowd he looked like q man,
who, in accepting such nomination,
felt that be had bsen slaughtered IN the
house of his friends, and was doing
something in Difference to their wishes
contrary to his own Judgment. JOB ex-
claimed, "Oh, that mine enemy you'd
write q bookp' but the author OF the
book Of Job, If now living. would write,
"0h, that mine enemy would get 3
nomination aad fail to have
it ratified" In this matter we
are only asking fair play for
the people who have not as yet bFosght |
out candidate. ANY man has a right |
to run, especially as this is called non
political canvass, where merit should !
alone win; but, between political and !
partisan race, give US the former. and
let every party hoist its own true colors.
There are various ways Of bringing out
candidate; sometimes call from Nox
Populi," through the press, is Sufficient,
and we have seen numerously signed |
call, as in the case of Mayor johnson,
two years ago. answer the purpose even
better. Bat least acceptable of all to the
masses is q nomination which appears |
on the face OF il to be a kind OF predesti-
nation, ioreordAined by the friends OF s |
particular favorite. Such system can |
never be made binding. foe there is no |
pledge required or given. When GGked |
for the other night what faint response
came from the four hundred The
Affirmative voters looked like they we're
conscious Of q mistake, and wished them
selves somewhere else. No one
who went iuto the meeting either
time was pledged to abide by the
result. Suppose that Mr.. Leagues
friends from Pinch, and Ed Shav's from
South Memphis. had gone there in force
and nominated League or Shaw, which,
under the call, they might have done
after ascertaining which was ia the as
cendancy, how many OF those who insist
on the validity Of the nomination nov,
would have been bound 10 support Mr..
Losgue or Mr.. Shaw Not ODe Of them.
They would say they had a right 10 vote
for whom thef pleased. aud would exsr-
else it. And SO the people feel about
the nomination that vas made. The
candidate at the head Of the ticket
would have been much stronger without
any such bringing out