The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1875-10-25
4RR PoL1r1CiL OUTLOOK.

among the Qnni Dtirabiles OF our
country's political calendar. The
political conspicuousness OF 1875
does net proceed, however, from any
thing peculiar or powerfully in the blatant |
appeals characteristic of the partisan
press of the country pending election
eering campaigns. These are too COM
mon on all such occasions to give noto- |
riety to any particular period of time. |
They are nothing more than the usual
fanfaronades OF partisan strife, the |
noisy but harmless pyrotechnics of a
Chinese battlefield. They may brighten
a few, but they hurt none. All these
concomitants OF party contests have
been abundantly Illuminated by the par
tisan press, during the present year,
with all their usual worthlessness sand
plentiful lack of influence upon the pub
lie mind. There is, then, manifestly,
something behind or beyond all the or
dinary 'sound and fury, signifying
nothing" commonly attendant upon Wig
orously contested elections, that has
given to the political canvass of 1875 an
unusual and an abiding interest to the
minds Of the people.
1t is most noticeable feature in the
campaign just closed in Ohio, that while
the mass meetings of both political
parties were usually attended by vast
throngs of the people, in almost every
county in the State, there were none of
those great displays of boisterous enthu-
slasm on either side, sometimes wit
messed heretofore on like occasions. Yet,
to refer this lack of public demonstra-
tions to any lack of public interest in
the questions at issue, would be a most
mistaken view OF the Ohio campaign: On
the contrary, it was the very intensity
of interest in the public mind, touching
these great issues, that suppressed the
usual hilarity of political campaigns.
The people were too seriously in earnest
in their thoughts, too profoundly ab-
sorbed in their efforts to comprehend the
great interests that the issues involved,
to indulge in the Iollies of campaign
song-singing and torch-light joliifica-
tions.
This rather unusual state of the public
mind quite naturally superinduced a
very different and unusual kind of stump
oratory. There never was campaign
before, in this or any other State, where
the speakers were absolutely required,
by the sentiment of the people before
them, to address themselves seriously
and solely to facts and figures, and their
strictly logical sequences. There never
was campaign wherein fatulent decla-
nation and studied clap.trap were sc
utterly at discount. In it the mirth
moving mountebank had no place. The
political clown and the stump story
teller, the "funny fellows" of roisterinl
political campaigns, in this found theil
occupation gone. On the other hand, the
people gathered by thousands and stoo(
for hours, not with patience merely, bu
with interest intense, listening to elab
orately written dissertations upon thu
abstruse questions of national finance
wherein even the semblance of a jok
would have appeared as illtimed as Han
lequin at the communion; and the peo
pie returned to their homes, not shout
ing, but thinking.
Now, these characteristics OF polit
ical campaign must certainly be accepte
as most commendable. They serve t
render stump oratory decent, to dignit
the elective franchise, and to shed hal
of sanctity around the baIlot-box. Th
only lamentation that can be uttered cor
cerning them is, that they are nnusut
and exceptional.
But these exceptional features are il
Cieative of something more and OF som,
thing deeper than the mere matter of in
srored partisan methods and manners
They foreshadoW public compreher
sion of the vast and vital issues befor
the country, depending for solution upo
the course of policy to be pursued in ou
immediate future. Men who take
themselves glory and comfort in th
boastlul announcement that the gray
issues raised in the Ohio campaign ar
settled by the vote of the State, are II
terly self-deceived. 1t is only their wis
that is father to that thought. Th
gubernator Office of Ohio, though on
of dignity, is, nevertheless, as to th
questions raised in the election, entirel
inconsequential. AS to these questions
the m ajority of $500 for any individu'
as Governor, out of an aggregate vote
nearly 100000, can not be said to 'settle
anything. 1t is, to be sure, an indies
tion, but not by any means the dete
mination Of the still greater questions
public policy that remain pending.
In truth, the Ohio election, so far fro
settling, merely inaugurated these
sues. In. the political phraseology
former campaigns, it, "solitary al
alone, set this ball in motion" Thou
here first encountered and publicly d
cussed as party questions. the gra
financial problems thus evolved hs
from the beginning, national sign
canoe, and are assuming-nay, have
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