New-York tribune., 1874-10-12
DIX OR TILDEN? /?
Councillor.

n
70 the Editor of The Tribune.
SIR: l know of no other paper which so much as
THE TRIBUNE is read by people of the sort to which
I belong: people of some education, some income.
decent character, and religious professioD who are
not interested in the details OF politics, but VINO
desire good government more than the success OF
their party candidates. / ask space, therefore, IN
your columns to give some OF the reasons whch
have determined me this year to vote against the
party have always supported, and with the party
have always opposed.
have been a Republican ever since 1854, and IN
those twenty years have never before voted
Democratic ticket. This year have come to town
earlier than usual, to register my name, so that
NAV have the opportunity to vote for Mr Samuel ).
Tilden for Governor against Gen. DIX
1t is not that have any objection to the admins
tration of Gov. Dix which has been eminently able
and honest. honor and admire his personal char
acter no less than that of his competitor Between
two such good men as Tilden and Dix | should un-
der ordinary circumstances uDheStatingly vote for
Dix because he is a representative of those political
principles to which gave in my adhesion In 1861.
and by which have stood ever since. There Is one
reason and only one, which makes it impossible for
me to vote this year for my first choice and that Is
that a vote for Gen. Dix is vote for an indefinite
perpetuation of the administration of Gen. Grant
hear good many clever people pooh-poohing
this Third Term discussion. The Nation says there is
nothing in it. | have talked during my Summer
vacation with great many people about IT, and
with very singular results Every Republican out
of politics denOunces the idea. Nearly every one
who holds office, or wants to, especially the latter
is as dumb as a statue, A few frankly declare in
favor of it, saying, When we get such good
President as Grant, we ought to keep him as long as
we can" Now, the Republicans who are OutspOken
against the Third Term are men of no weight what
ever in politcs-men like myself and my
brothers and the editors OF The Ndtion-men
who never went to ward meeting III their lives
who don't know how to go to work to send good
men to a State Convention, and keep the Third Term
scalawags away The men who are i'll favor of it,
OF who have not made up their minds about 1t, are
those who carry conventions. who pack primaries,
and who know the market value of every political
piece of merchandise in their districts If this mat
ter is suffered to drift on, as it is drifting
nOw with the clever incapables smiling
and saying there is nothing in it, and the
sharp vulgar fellows like Murphy and his kind
working like Spring beavers to bring it about, what
will be the result Precisely what we saw in 1872
Before the Philadelphia Convention met, nearly
half the Republican party preferred somebody else
to Grant Many of the straightest party men Il was
one of them would have liked something less COM
mon, less corrupt, less lOaferish, if we could have
got it. We not pleased with the BabcOck-
Shepherd Murphy Carpenter Butler combination
But said nothing. Dumb dogs, we
did not bark. Babcock, Shepherd, Murphy
Logan and the pOstmasters worked, men do work
for their bread and beer, and when the Convention
came together. how many votes did we decent
people, who would prefer decent President, have
to represent us there Not half that was scarcely
to be expected; but it was dsgraceful that we did
not have Not one vote The hundreds of
thousands who would have preferred Evarts or
Adams, Blaine, not heard of in that gather
ing of the whole party. Cullom of Illinois, who has
his private opinion of Grant, nominated him with
tongue in cheek; he was chosen unanimously, and
all the rest of us. who wanted somebody else, went
up and voted for him in November, like little men.
Precisely this thing will occur again, if decent
people sit still and hold their tongues. Grant in his
slow dull way. is hard at work The Washington
ring make pretense of cOncealing their purpose.
new organ starts up here and there to labor in the
cause A half dozen conventions have mentioned
the subject. Washington, Jefferson, Madison. and
Jackson spoke out, with One-tenth the pr0vocaiOD
that Grant has received. Does he pretend to be
more punctiliously dignifed than the first three Of
these A Republican Convention met at Utica the
other day. Some of the delegates wanted to intro
duce resolution against Third Term.
II would have passed at and settled the ques-
tion finally. But the Grant managers would not let
il pass. Mr.. COnkliDg and Mr.. POmerOy made Third
Term speeches. and Gen. Dix was nominated for
Governor on platform which lodged the most i'm
portant political question Of the day. SupposiDg be
should he elected, would not the Third Term Darty