Wilmington daily commercial., 1873-03-21
WILMINGTON, DEL.
~ Afternoon, March 81.


MAKING a PRESIDENT FOR Is76-THE P0-
LIT1CAL JoCKIEs TRAINING THEIR MACS
BLAINE. WAsHHURNE, AND THE FELL
Ground has been broken for the creation ei
the next President. To be sure, the nomination
will not be made for at least three years, and in
that time, great changes may occur, but those
Iong-winded, far-sighted, keen-scented political
managers, who aim to make and unmake great
men, always begin early. They are preparing
the groove, and gressing the way, long before
" the popular verdict is placeI on it, to be
gently and swiftly slipped down to the desired
result.
Things look now as though it would be very
b Ird TO raise an opposition party, between this
nd 1876, sufficiently strong to succt s-fully con-
tend with the Republicans. The overthrow of
the confedeIated, conglnmsrated band of odds
and euds who waved poor Horaees flag, last
November, was SO complete ;-they were so
routed, and chased, and scattered; that they
have dissolved into their original elements, and
in the process of dissolution even the old Demo-
cratic skeleton has lost many of its members, ,and
good many joints of its backbone There are
Democrats in the country yet, but they have
lost heart, and hope, and befors they can go
into the national field, again, with prospect of
4uccess, they must be recognized. and have
{ ne to acquire strength, by exercise and growth
They will have to put themselves nearer the
right side Of some great question, than the Re-
publican party, and win their way up by real
merit, and hard work. That they can do all this
between now and November, 1876, no intelligent
politician expects
The Presidential nags are therefore. training on
the Republican course. II any credulous chap is
rubbing down, in some out-of-the-way place,
plow-horse colt, hoping TO win with him under
the Democratic colors, he keeps the stable
locked, and trots the filly in back field The
ioekies who mean business are all over on the
other ground.
Who are talked of, then, in political circles
First, undoubtedly, is the shrewd, acute, mana
ging Mr.. Speaker Blaine, who halls from Maine.
His case is queer one. He has reversed the
old rule OF migration Southward j.; and born in
Pennsylvania, he has actually gone North to
contest for position with the gigantic lumber
cutters of the Pine Tree State. He has sue
cesded, wonderfully, 30 far, and his next leap
is to be toward the chair which President Grant
is to vacate, four years hence. Mr.. Blaine is
working like beaver he has many friends
AMI supporters his political skill is wonderful;
he can get out of the tighest place, by the
smallest hole that ever politician squeezed
through and he is leaving no stone unturned,
no wire unpulled, no pin unstuck, to get things
in train for his nomination At Washington,
these facts are we'll known and understood, and
"BIaine men" are to be run against in plenty Of
corners.
On the other side OF the horizon loom3 up
the portly figure of Etihu b. WashbuIne, now
our Minister to France. II Illinois is to have a
monopoly Of Presidents, Elihu ought to be the
man. He is honester than Blaine-if anybody
is honest enough to believe in-and he has al
ways been the staunch friend of tho pc lple
against all sorts of Grabs, Squanderings, and
Monopolies. When he was in Congress, the
gang Of plunderers always hated and feared
him, because he was prompt to attack and reso-
lutte to contend with, all the jobs that lie could
lay his big hand on. Those who liked him
called him ''old Honesty, and those who didn't
probably considered that "old Hog" would be
more appropriate. His manners were not al
ways of the suavest.
With this reputation in Congress-, and the big
hearted record which he has made as Minister
to France, Elhu has now Joined new claim
upon the popular sympathy aud support. Hs
has written a letter to state to friend (and
through him to the whole world of course, } that
he has 'often said that the monopoly OF Slave.
ry having been put down, the great Corporation
Monopolies must next be overhauled and put
into decent harness. where they won't sprawl
over the country, and suck out its substance.
This is the general purport of his letter, and no
doubt he means it, An anti-monopoy candi-
date will have the sympathes OF thousands and
tens OF thousands Of honest voters, and Elihu de-
serves their faith aud credit, if anybody does.
Work is being done for Mr.. washburne. as
well as Mr.. Blaine, and probably it has better
show Of ultimate SUCCESS although the Speaker
is so powerfully smart.
Bat after all, there are other meii, aud COOL
men, From New England if tine nomination is to
be made on the Atlantic Coast, as it should be,
such probable candidates como as Henry Wisoa
whom the slanderers have attacked, but wh1
has nobly met every one of their assaults and
George s. Boutwell,, the steady, the true, the
upright There will be an active effort-indeed,
there is now-for Senator Morton, and other
names may yet be cauvassed and boosted bgh
enough to overshadow all of those whose ban
now fitting around the edges of the
field.