Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1875-02-04

The Legislature seems to s'bc: making
no progress In the work OF solecting ~
Senator. The strength Of .tlle severxl
candidates has .vsscillated but very little:
during the last ten days. The present
incumbent has an average Of fifty votes;
the Democrats poll about the same num-
Der, and Governor Davis holds his, orig,
inal support-swcntyetwo,- while { half
As many others ore scsttcring.z The pres,
ent attitude Of the respective factions is,
characterized: by great stubbornncss,
which may continue undated to the
c lose of the session, although
We do not think it probable. Some Of
our contemporaries regard the action Of
the, Davis Republicans as inexplicable
upon any theory of political ethics. It.
10 asserted that having. gone into the eau
Gus with Mr.. Ramscv's friends, they
were bound to- remain in. it, and to ac.
cept and support its nominee. This is
the doctrine Of faction. 1t was beyond
doubt honorable for the Davis Rcpubli-
cans to remain outside if they chose to
do 80. No nomination was made at the
first sitting, nor was it evident that Mr..
Ramsey could be nominated At all. If he
could have been at that time, he could
have prevented an adjournment, which
his friends did not attempt. They want
cd time to procure two more votes. and
having time. none doubted their ability
to procure them-thcy did procure them.
To this procuration the Davis men would
not consent TO become a party, by sup.
porting Mr. Ramsey. They had but one
course to pursue-that of remaining
aloof from the organization.
II they believed improper means were
employed in nominating the candidate,
~ honest men they could not support
him. If they believed Mr.. Ramsey's
strength to have been manufactured
chiefly from such material az Senatorial
patronage supplies, they ought not to
vote for him. If they we're satisfied that
the single half man, which constituted
Ram.ey's majority in the caucus, was not
sufficiently significant Of the will of the
party to bind its representatives, they
would have outraged their constituencies
by adhering to the nominee. If they
believed that the ambition of individuals,
and the interest of factions, should be
eubordinated to the good Of the country,
and to the interests Of the party. they
would have been false at 4 time when
falschood were treason. had they yielded
70 the dictation of the caucus megnatcs.
If they believed that the four-corncred
corruption represented Ivy Munich, Scegcr
McIlrath and Bill King, included Mr..
Ramsey, as great many Of the mos. re-
liable Republicans now believe, they
were right in resisting his candidacy and
they arc still right in opposing his cleo
ton.
The vcrbiagc Of the St. Paul Press dis
closes the anxiety of the Post Office Edi-
tor to retain his collar, but it convinccs
nobody that the Davis men are not both
honorable and consistent in the course
which they pursue. 1t Is idle for the
Ramsey Press to assume that such men
AS Armstrong, Freeman, Hubbard, Kin
yon and Whitmore, and other staunch
Republicans now voting for Governor
Davis, will ultimately forsake him, and
uniting with the Opposition, elect Dem
ocrat. Nothing of the kind will be done.
A compromise is possible at any time
when the Ramsey faction will consent to
It: but it must be compromise that will
result in the election of man, unobjec.
tionable from any standpoint; otherwise
there can be NO election by the present
Legislature, and If the Press and its
friends desire to 90 the country next
fall upon the issae-"Ramsey, or no.
body, for Cnited States senstor;'' there
will be no serious objection to an cx.
pertinent of that kind. ....-. :.
OF one thing the Ramsey faction may
be assured: They cannot induce the
best portion Of the Republican party
to kill itself bY sieetiag a Democratic
Senator.