Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1876-03-23
Tho Selection of Candidates.


political party. 1t has been OBJ
served that it is always the minority
who wants a no-party candidate.
Are minorities always pure and hon
est, and majoritles always corrupt
Why should a judge be bipartisan
any more than any other official
Parties are supposed to be formed
and based upon some principle of
right. If that principle is right a
judge above all other officials is the
man who should be most deeply
grounded in that principle. Before
the Rebellion the Republican party
was founded upon the principle that
United States territory was free soil;
that slavery could not be extended,
under United States authority, into
territory where il did not already ex-
list by State law, and that if slave mas
ters brought their slaves into free
states, that me- nent they became free
The United States Supreme Judges
decided against these principles
The mistake was in not having
judges chosen by the Republican
party. Suppose that during the war
those judges had decided that the
system by which our armies were
raised, and the plan by which the
war was conducted, were unconstitu-
tionaI, cannot any northern man own
see what disaster might have follow
ed? Yet, bad opportunity offered,
the court, under Judge fancy, would
have so decided. That court did de-
eide against the financial plan adopt
ed by the Republican party for car
rying on the war. Fortunately the
party then treated the court just as
majority party, when necessary,
always villas not the voice of the
people and therefore not the voice of
Justice. At present the Republican
party declares IN favor of no division
of school money for sectarian pur-
poses. 1t is well known that where
Democrats have had the power
school money has been divided and
its use prostituted to political pur~
poses. Does the demagogue cry of
no party man for Judge mean that
we shall select man non-committal
on this subject? No; if party has
principles it is the duty of its mem
bers to contend tor them under all
circumstances, and, above all, at the
point of their application. Those
who proclaim themselves ready to
accept a man without why or
wherefore, confess one of two things;
either that they have no principles
worth contending for or that they
are attempting to foist fraud upon
the people. Republicans, if they
would have complete success, must
remember to be eternally vigilant-
persist in the application of that
maxim in the selection Of candidates
| aud in voting for them. When an
officer proves failure or a william
the Repu blican party kicks him out
of power as it has Hesing, Schenck
and Belknap, but men chosen by the
disaffected fag-ends Of factions and
| personal interests, under the at sumed
appellatlon of "mass" convention
which ought to be spelled without
an mare responsible to nobody, and
there is nobody to take any of the
blame to themselves if he happens to
be elected and proves himself unfit
for office. We might here go on and
show that the usual and natural re-
suit of such nominations is disastrous
to the interests of the people. Nom
mating and electing noparty candi-
dates for mayor, in New York City,
has been the frequent practice and
never has the pretended object been
successful. After the famous Tweed
exposure the people became possessed
af panicky impulse 10 elect man
who would surely be honest in the
administration of the City affairs,
but the press that helped him to
place without party opposition,
unanimously condemned him in Office
as the most disgraceful Of the long
line of disreputable New York
mayors. Chicago has suffered in the
same way. Men so chosen feel less
responsibility than if they owe their
positions to party. No one warns
them not TO do this or that, for to do
so would be impairment. What is a
"mass" convention Good men go
into them, but are they not likely 10
be packed by the meanest OF men ?
Is it not easier TO pack them than
aay Others? Are not the men who
will sell their votes for shifts OF rum
the most impudent men in the world
and don't their noses count just as
much in such a convention as any
mans? When such convention
nominated NJ. NJ. Cothren didn't it
show how "crook ed" it was? Isn't
Cothren just as mach Democrat as
he ever was? Will he be any less
top-heavy than heretofore, and will
he more plainly articulate his ribald
songs than heretofore, because he is
nominated by a mass convention ?