The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-09-21

date for any particular Office, so that there is
no material for Office filling which is not full
" as accessible to the political party as to any
other nominating agency that could be de-
vised. Then, when we consider the large
number of men composing the convention by
which the selections are made; the semi-mil-
itary zeal which, inspiring them with the
hope of party victory, leads them to make
what their judgment approves as the best and
strongest nominations-when we consider
this and then remember the secret ballot by
which personal influence, fear and favor are
rendered powerless, we must admit that if
there be a better method of filling public Of
fees than that provided by political party
machinery. that method has not yet been put
in practice.
But to take a strictly party view. The NOM
inees for the county Offices are the duly Sc
lected party representatives. To select those
representatives requires a formal expression
of the party will, and this is obtained by Sc
lecting throughout the county a large num-
Der OF delegates to meet in convention and act
for the party in comforting party nominations
We repeat, those delegates act for the party.
In allowing himself to be elected a delegate
to the convention a man tacitly promises to
do his duty towards the party by assisting to
make what his Judgment approves as the very
best possible nominations, and afterwards
yielding a loyal support to every nomination
made, even though in some cases his individ-
mol in1utnpnf miuhf not anprova nf tho partv
choice. Men never think precisely alike on
a multiplicity of subjects. If they did there
would be no need of conventions. 1t is to
ascertain the will of the party, expressed as
the will of one man, that the convention is
called. That expression is found in the ma
jority vote, and the member of the conven-
ton Who gets into a childish petulance be-
cause he "didn't have his own way about ey-
erything, is no party man. He is not a rea-
sonable man, nor by any means an honorable
man, because his participation in the conven-
ton was virtually solemn promise to abide
by its decisions, a promise he afterwards re-
pudiated. 1t he had a ~favorite candidate
whose nomination he was bound to secure,
or else fly the track, he ought to have given
notice OF this intention in advance, in order
that he might be recognized in his true char
acter, viz. as a personal agent, but not by any
means a party delegate. For an individual
member of a party to continue growing and
carping at the action of his party convention
in making any particular nomination is a
monstrous piece of egotism when we come to
look at it properly. He differs from the ma
jority, and he considers the majority
wrong the story Of the one reasonable and
eleven obstinate Jurymen over again.
Then as to candidates. A, B. and &. ap-
pear in convention as candidates fortl.e zane
office. A. has strong ''claims" OH the party,
so has B. and SO has G. In the convention
A. has his adherents, B. has his friends and
e. is not without supporters. How are those
conflicting claims to be settled otherwise than
by submitting the matter to the arbitration of
the convention and honorably abiding by the
result? And it is shamefully d%ishonorable
for a candidate not to abide by the result.
Before the ballot is taken A. may be well
aware that he has only a certain number of
supporters, still he expects to receive the
nomination., and not only this, he expects 10
receive the support of the entire party. As
soon as lis name is announced as the nomi-
nee for the office, A. naturally expects Il. and
G. to retire into the back ground, and looks to
see their support transferred to himself. And
it is right for him to think so he is perfectly
justified in his expectation. But suppose A.
fails to secure the nomination. Suppose he
has underestimate the strength of &. who
proves to be the party choice, what then? Is
he to exert his influence to prevent his
friends from going over to the support of b. ?
Is he to begin "kicking' by persuadins his
ri nds to "scratch' b. at the polls? After
counting on BIS support as his own, and en-
pecting to receive it as a matter of right in
case he received the nomination., is he to
withhold his own support from b. when the
latter proves to be the winning mano If he
does he is guilty of the meanest, most con-
temptible of actions. He takes a course which
will cost him the good opinion of honorable
men OF all parties; one that summarily cuts
of his own polite | future for all time to
come, and which will not fail to hurt him
seriously in his business relations. As for
the friends whom he induces to resort to
scratching, they simply make themselves the
instruments of another mans petty spite, and
play a part for which they will eventually re-
ceive their own hearty contempt.
II we are democrats from principle, if we
are minated by a desire to promote the party
welfare rather than to advance the personal
interests OF of any individual, there will be
neither kicking nor scratching over the result
OF our county convention.
nE m pvx-