Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-04-17
LIVING ISSUES FOR A LIVE CAN
DIDATE.

TIE premature campaigning for the
next presidency is being conducted
very much like the pr'liminar,cs for
horse race. Men ar, being measured
not Tor what they represent so much aS
Tor their running qualities. The test OF
fitness is, not his platform, his princi-
pies. or his craftsmanship, Tut, how
many votes can he poll-how many
States can he carry?
But the sitting process OF a political
camraigu, and the intelligence OF the
average American voter goes deeper
than this. The day has gone by when
a mans mere name or past reputation
is enough TO. carry him through a sue
ccssiul campaign. The more searching
inquiry will be, what does he stand for
Hou, Does he represent any living Is
isues? Is ne the foremost representa-
tive OF any principles or governmental
policy in which the people are inter
estpd2
4 running record is good thing
10 inspire confidence in a candidate, but
it can't stand alone in contest for the
Presidency however all sufficient it may
be i'm a horse race. The country is
already beginning to inquire little
more closely into the claims OF those
who are being pressed the nomina-
ton Ia this position. Sooner or later
the candidate will DC Judged, not Tor his
intrinsic worth alone, but for what he
represents. IL Is well, therefore, that
this premature campaigning should set
tie this much, at least, for the two men
who seem now to lead in the chances for
the Democratic AMI Republican nOmi-
nations.
The status of these two aspirants is
not badly defined by the y. y. World
when il says that "the candidacy OF
Mr.. TILDEN is urged within
the Democrat c party on the
ground that triumphant lrau sHould
be- signally chastised and Is victim ex-
allied like MoRDECN after the execution
OF HANAN. The candidacy OF General
GRANT is urged within the Republican
party on the ground that incipient civil
war must be crushed before il breaks
out. Neither Of these pleas is of a ma
ture to give quiet and sensible people
much comfort rs 10 the national future
The managers Of General GRANT assert
in substance that President LINCOLN
male a mistake in rrcosuiEing the sur
render Of the Confederate armies
as the end OF the civil war; that
reconstruction is failure, and that
a military control of the electoral
franchise must be exercised from Wash
ington by stern military hand once
more ii We are to prevent the Southern
States, aided by a few OF the great
Northern cities, from getting up another
rebellion against the Government OF the
Union.
This. then, is the situation which the
politicians and the people alike must
look squarely in the face. The candi-
dacy OF these two men has this much
significance, and this only. "Mr. TILDEN
solicits nomination by a Democratic
convention on the plea that he was
elected in 1876 and defranded Of the
rights vested in him by that election,
General GRANT is put forward rs 'the
savior of society" by people who ask the
citizens Of the North 10 believe that the
civil strife Of lS6l-5 is not yet sup
pressed; that the Southern leaders are
"untamed" and dangerous; that plots are
maturing by the majority in Congress to
seize upon executive rule or whelm the
land in universal ruin and that General
GRANT must be called upon in America,
as Marshal MAcMAHoS was in France,
to save order and property by the terror
Of his sword. When stripped Of all dis