Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1876-09-28
PROF. SUMNER
ON
INDEPENDENCE in VOTING.
A SPASSION ATE ESTIM ATE OF
THE TWO CANDIDATES.
WHY PROF. SUMNER OF YALE COLLEGE
CANNOT SUPPORT THE REPUBLICAN,
NOMINEE = sAMUEI. ). TILDEN's GENU-
me STATESMANSHIP

Prof. w. G. Sumner is professor Of
Political Economy, Or the Science of
Government. in Yale College, one of
the oldest and highest colleges in rank
among the institutions of Ameriea. He
is, perhaps, the ablest writer and lectur.
er we have on this subject. He is com
mitted, he says, TO no party. He locks
from the standpoint of plain facts and
logical reasoning upon the vital ques-
ton of the administration of the gov
s1o happiness pl @.. of the s1 pso.
and especially of the history of recon .
struction is worthy Of careful perusal by
all caneid men. So far as he has had
any connection with poiti cs he has
acted with the Republicans.
from the New Haven Palladium
l observe that most of the public dis
cussions turn upon the antecedents, the
acts, and the characters Of the one and
the other party. Those considerations
have no force at all for my mind.
know my neighbors. One of them is
a Republican by habit, and the other a
Democrat by habit, and neither OF them
can define bis party name. When, there's
fore, l read the descriptions that party
newspapers and party orators give Of
the opposite party, l look aronnd me
tor the demons who seek the national
ruin, and l do not find them. | find
neighbors, some of whom are under
our banner and some under the other,
but in their general tone and will and
intentions those of one party are just
as good and just as bad as those of the
other. Especially when l remember
that the social distribution of the two
parties in the Northern States is exactly
opposite to what it is in the Southern
States, it seems to me that the national
parties are very equally adjusted in re-
gard to the. social, intellectual, and
moral elements which they contain
Now, an historian or foreign read
ing the accounts which the parties give
of each other, must infer either that
these accounts are all false, and that
they simply constitute depraved
method ofelectioneering which obscures
the issue and prevents the people from
really using sound judgment, or else that
they are all true, in which case the peo-
pie of the United States are so unpatri-
otto, corrupt, dis,oyal, unjust, murder.
Gus, and venal that it makes little diff
ference woat is the result of any polti-
cal struggle.
regard the good sense, sound patri-
otism and correct intention of the mass.
es of the people in either party as sub
s'antially equal. | regard the evil ele-
ments in the parties as substantially
equal, aud | turn for my grounds of
judi Iuent to the considerations which
think genuine. find these in men
cannot trust party. l can trust
man. l cannot hold party RESPONSE
BILE. I can hold man responsible -
l cannot get an expression of opinion
which is single and simple from party
Can only get that from a man. A par
ty cannot have character, or conscience,
or reputation. 1t cannot repent, nor
endure punishment or disgrace. l know
very well that we are in the habit of
predicating all these things of parties,
but should think our experience had
offered the fullest proof that we cannot
properly predicate any Of these things
of party, except in broad half-meta-
phorical sense; under which all the
sharpness and efficiency necessary to
practical politics are lost. The proof
is. at any rate, satisfactory to me.
have no information other than
what the newspapers have given MS all.
From this story l do not see how any
one can feel respect for the candidature
of Gov. Hayes. It appears that Mr..
Cameron was piqued because some
members of his delegation violated a
sacred political tradition and did not
throw the State vote as a unit for their
candidate at the decisive moment The
Senatorial aspirants could not see
the prize go TO either one of their own
number, and agreed only that it should
not go to Blaine. These two things
combined gave it to Hayes. l, at the
time, expressed the opinion that is
course Of events, when one reflected
that the business in hand was the selec
ton of chief magistrate of the nation
was a farce I did not then and
do not now, deny the possibility that
Hayes may be the man for the crisis.
/ cannot deny the possibility that, if
you shake up the names of eight mill
lion voters in box, and draw one by
lot, you may get the one out of the
eight million who is best fitted for the
Presidency, but we are assumed to be
rational beings, making selection on
rational grounds, and | think we did
ourselves little credit on that occasion
in that point of view. Some of the
gentlemen there came home rejoicing
and triumphing over the party machine.
They defeated the machine in its first
intention, but it doubled upon them
with its well-known suppleness and
activity. Mr.. Hayes seems to be the
creature of the machine, and to have no
other public claim to the Presidency.
He must feel that his selection is arbi-
trary, that he has everything yet 10 do
to justify public confidence, that he is
the recipient of an Honor" He can
not act with the assured independence
of a man who has advanced by well
earned steps, to whom the Presidency
comes as che highest trust at the end of
a career, to whom it is less an honor
than recognition and a concession.