The New York herald., 1879-08-06
A DEMOCRATIC VIEW.


THE EDITOR OF THE ALBANY ARGUS ON THE
CAMPAIGN-NATIoNAL AND STATE ISSUES =
GOVERNOR ROBINSON THE DEMOCRATIC
LEADER
ALBANY. N. Y. August .. 1879.
In accordance with instructions your correspond
ent called upon Mr.. McKelway, editor of the Ar9us,
when the following conversation was had:-
Mr. McKelway, the HERALD requests to get
your views about current national and State poll
tics"
II can give you newspaper mans ideas. but there
is likely too little of politicians notions about
them"
.what do you think is the difference between an
EDITORS ideas and politicians politicsg'
'.The difference between who is watching and
criticising contest, while giving it some ammu-
milton. and one who is in the thick Of the fight"
"Will you illustrate that?"
al am not of the politicians and do not understand
their trade. They interesting class study;
many of their number are able and honorable men
but have found that the faculties which tell in
newspaper-those which discern what people
thinking about and wishing for-will give
clearer view of political movements of the largest
class than anything which the politicians plan
predict. At convention one cannot only fnd what
is going to be done but how the peopls likely to
vote it from the correspondents. They look
all sides. The ordinary politician is likely to fasten
his eyes thing and turn his back all else.
partisan may need to do this. journalist cannot
be useful his business ii he is not careful to avoid
doing it, At Cincinnati all the politicians busy
pushing Mr.. Blaine to the front keeping him
from getting there. The correspondents knew he
would not get there and that his supporters would
prevent any candidate Of his size from getting there.
The correspondents waited for tho destruction to
complete itself. and when Mr.. Hayes began to loom
ahead, the business, which the newspaper men knew
would begin. had begun. The politicians would not
believe that Messrs. Blaine. Morton. Bristow and
Conkling impossibilties. and that Mr.. Hayes.
by the doctrine of exclusion and exhaustion.
the inevitable nominee. until they had the fact
forced on them. The newspaper knew all that
from the start. They did not wonder that the poll
tcians did not know it, because thcy do not expect
politicians to sec q fact until it Is driven clear
through them
MEANING OF TIE COMING CAMPAIGN.
II see your drift You are turning present
political situations in your own mind. As journal
ist, thcn how docs the present outlook ON national
and state politics appear to youy'
III not believe that the 1880 campaign can avoid
being general inquest the result OF 1876. II has
been called not American to hold contest to
view decide another 1t has been caod South
American. But it is not American. either to decide
an election by anything else but TRUTH and any
election so decided will not stay decided. The poll
tcians of both parties have been trying for nearly
three years to keep down the question of the 1876
election. Yet all events have conspired to keep 1t
up. The Republican party fell away from Mr.
Hayes because no took the troops from the disputed
States which instantly reverted to the of
party claiming that the returning boards had fals-
fed the votes OF those Commonweaths. The logic
and instinct of every one realized that the title
the Presidency to respect fell with that act. A
large number OF unsavory persons were thereby
thrown out of place. They any party
would be glad to do without But all of them were
given federal Office by MIR. Hayes, ms II to quiet
his own possession. Every considerable political
event in Washington since then has similarly en-
phaszed the fact that MIR. Hayes not only not
elected but that lie has acted always IL he felt
and knew he not. The inquiry Of the Potter
committee made it clear that the certificates OF de-
cisivo States had to be bought to be had ut all.
plain to any mind. The wrongful award OF the
Presidency is inwrought into the worry conscious
OF the people. Those who deny IL in public
admit IL in private. IL governs every estimate OF
current events. The conflict between Mr.. Hayes
and Congress is intensified by the realization that
his lack the moral force which his title lacks.
An elected Executive IL admired, right wrong,
In proportion he liz bold and resolute. Those
qualities in an uneccted Executive aggravate the
or to magnify its powers Andrew johnson = vctoes
were antag agonizcd by his party, because thoy said
they were wrong. But his accession to the Pres
dency though by tssassination satisfied the forms
and intont OF the constitution. The people had
voted for the electors who had chosen him Vice
PRESIDENT No one questioned his full claim, moral
and legal, to veto right and left Mr.. Hayes never