New-York tribune., 1875-05-13
MAKING CAPITAL.

issues are to be drawn for the Presidential
campaign, we see every day more and more
CAUSE to hone for reasonable and creditable
contest. Since the close of the war there has
not been time when 30 little nonsense was
talked by leading public men or printed by
leading newspapers. There is evident every
day nervous disincination TO lnduige In the
ordinary clap trap of partisansllp; an increase,
steady and substantial, OF those VINO insist
upon the right of independent Judgment in
politics. and, what is perhaps still more sig
nificant, o growing affectatlon OF liberalism
among some of the most cunning ana unprln-
cipled politicians 1t is safe even now to pre-
dict, that in tho coming year we shall hear
less from the Republicans about the rebellion,
the flag, the Nervousness OF secession, and
the necessity Of taking care OF Mr. Hays
and putting down the White League, than ever
before. And it is equally certain that the
Democrats who have any conception OF the
work required of them, will try some other
means than that of screaming out their party
name to persuade voters that their success
will be gain to the country. 1t has taken
good deal of time and trouble to convince the
managers of both parties that there is large
the collar of neither organization, but who IN
tend to vote this time at least for the men
and measures which are in their opinion best
for the public good. There has never been
less partisan cohesion in the country than now.
There has never been a moment when voters
have been less inclined to obey the party
whip, or more disposed to look deliberately at
the names on their ballots before depOsiting
them in the boxes.
One most wholesome result of this state OF
things is the change which has come over the
whole business of what is called making po-
"litical capital" The whcel-hOrses have
ceased to rely on their mere length of unscru-
pulous service to the party. There is much
less than usual of the customary appeals to
sectional passions and class prejudices. The
inAatiOnsts are quiet, the reputation brawlers
are explaining that they meant nothing OF the
sort. The defeat of Chandler will cause hund-
reds of excellent war-speeches of scarlet tone
to be sorrowfully laid away, and the retire
ment of Carpenter and voorhees, will
bring great many ambitious youths
to the conclusion that reckless flattering
of the dishonest instincts of the worst portion
of the community is perhaps not the best way
to succeed in political life. The defeat OF
Butler was also an admirable warning against
that brazen efirOntery which dcspised and de-
MED the very existence of honor and honesty
in public affairs, and his hasty reputation by
his party and its organs, after his disaster at
the polls, was still more instructive lesson to
men of his kind He ruled his party in the
last Congress, up to its closing days, with
rod of brass; and yet the Administration organs
now Indignantly deny that he is person of
rank or consideration among them, and say it
is q slander to intimate that the President so
regards him.
1t is clear that capital is this year to be
made in very different ways from those which
have been SO much used of late. Gov. Tilden,
for instance, being too sagaciOus to waste his
time in pipe-laying or rhetoric, follows up his
great success against the Ring in this city by
well-planncd and irresistible attack upon
another combination for plumber which has
its ranGcations throughout the State. lie
makes in this way hundreds of malignant
enemies, but he gains thousands OF valuable
friends. 1t is childishly weak to accuse him
of interested motives. The public looks at
his work, az it looked at his work against
Tweed, and sees that it is good, and gives
him all credit and honor for it. The same
wise observation and plucky action arc seen
in certain high quarters of the Administration
party. Nobody will think less of the
courage and discretion with which Secre
tary BrstOw, supported and sustained by
the President, has entered upon his mortal
struggle with the Whisky Ring, because this
stroke of honest policy may assist the Repub
licans in the comm; campaign. If anything is
to be made by sach action, over and above the
public advantage accriing, the public will be
perfectly content to SEQ Mr.. BristOw and Gen.
Grant receive all the credit they earn by it.
II is an unmixcd good to the country when its
public men aim at advancing their own interests
in such ways as these. 1t shows that they trust
more in the honesty and intelligence of their
fellow-citizens than in their passions or their
selfshncss, and such proceeding is equally
honorable to governors and governed.
The campaign which failed in the Autumn
of 1872 is thus slowly and surely justifying
itself. Hundreds of the Republicans who then
bitterly denounced the Liberal revolt have
como to adopt the wise and magnanimOus
views of Mr.. Greeley in regard to the treat
ment of tho South, and an equal number of
others who met every demand for investiga-
ton with charges of libel and calumny, are
now foremost in asking for the detection and
punishment of fraud among the men of their
own party. In the Democratic party there are
signs of similar ameliOratiOn and progress.
There is moro reason to-day, than there has
been for many years past to hope that both
parties will see the necessity next year of
putting their best men in nomination, and of
appealing during tho canvass to the higher
motives of voters. With two candidates OF