The daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1873-1877, 1874-11-02
Jhe Daily Atens.
The Decline OF the Stump.

The usefulness of joint stumping match:
es has departed. The usefulness OF stump
ing in any form is soon to follow. In the
best days of these singular contests. when
men Of the Lincoln and Douglas calibre
shot themselves off from the same plat
form, the actual good to either party was
small. Great crowds were gathered. There
was plenty Of enthusiasm and mlscelia-
neous deviltry. The efforts of the oppos
ing orators we're often brilliant; sometimes
dazzling. Yet but few votes were ever
changed The rival candidates retained
their friends, for IA political belief once
| fixed, next to Il religious opinion, Is the
hardest OF ideas to swerve. They were sci
dom swerved in those times of impulsive
eloauence. They are not likely to be IN
these times of debilitated twaddle. .
The joint discussion system is dead. The
system of costly stunning tours of all kinds
, will die next. Campaigns are won less and
less by talk each year. Indeed, talk is los
ing IFS once potent value everva here, polit-
ically. In legislatures and congress, the
| inclination to limit debate, and the grow
ing indifference to the words of the deba-
tiers, prove the waning power Of verbal ar
gument. Of course men will jabber to the
end of the worlds chapter. But their lis
teners are coming to condition where
they examine questions for themselves, and
vote quite regardless of rhetorical persua-
sions. In political campaigns crowds will
still assemble to see what sort of apnear-
ing cattle the candidates are. They will
sit, or stand through the hours of weary
cajolery and denunciation. They will agree
that this speaker is "a smart fellow and
that that one don't amount to much. .
Then they will go home, and on election
day will vote altogether oblivious of the
months of jargon which they have endured.
Can anybody call to mind an important To-
cal, state, or national election which has
been turned by talk during the past ten
years? The stump has almost crumbled.
Voters learn of the issues at stake from
newspapers, Sometimes aided by the
newspapers, at others relying on their good
Yankee sense, they deduce about what they
consider the honest outgrowth OF those is
sues. Then they vote accordingly. II 1t
is arguments they desire, the newspapers
furnish them. Every year increases the
roll of newspapers which know no party
trammels. Every year weakens the eth
cacy Of Organs" Every year makes it
more possible for the voter to get from his
newspaper an unprejudiced untettered dis
play of the political situation. Finding
here an intallible source of information con,
corning all sides of all questions, is it prob
able that be will place any further reliance
upon the statements of interested politi
clans The stump was always an absurdity,
so far as furnishing accurate knowledge
was concerned Men mounted it to blind
the crowds, not enlghten them. indie
pendent journalism has rendered the
binding process an impossibility. 1t is
cheerless work lying to an audience about
the opposition candidates, when unbiased
newspapers have already made that aud
fence familiar with the good, as well as the
bad qualities of those candidates and their
principles. 1t is up hill toll lauding one s
own ability and purity to an audience which
has already been made familiar with one s
own mediocrity and salary grabbing pro
civities.
The solace to the professional politicians,
in their grief at the waning glory of the
stump, is practical one. Campaign ex
penses will be reduced amazingly. Chi
cdgo Times.