Ashtabula weekly telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1880-1886, 1880-10-22
HancOck's "GlOrious Result. {"


Among the most remarkable and in
structive events of the campaign are
General Hancock's dispatches about
the Maine election. When it was an
nounced that the rag-money candidate
had been elected, General Hancock
fastened to telegraph:
Accept my congratulations on the glorious
result Of your campaign. IL will inspire our
friends with confidence, and strengthen them
In the preliminary battles which remain To be
fought elsewhere, and which need all our
forces"
This dispatch, we repeat, is very in
strUctiVe. In our system of govern
ment an election brings a party, and
not an individual, into power; but q
President, with the veto and the nomi-
Mating power, exercises a vital inhu-
ence upon administration. 1t has been
universally objected to General Han
cocks nomination that his ignorance OF
public affairs, and his consequent nee.
essary helplessness, would throw him
irretrievably into tine hands of Other
men. To this it has been answered
that, on the contrary, he had an un-
usual acquaintance with public ques.
tions and would be his own master.
Now the dispatch to Mr.. Plaisted, and
the other dispatch to Mr. Pulitzer say
ing that the probable election of Mr..
| Plaisted in Maine would lead to pure
and efficient administration of our pub.
| lie affairs show both General Han
cocks sympathy with the most reck-
| less financial theories and his extraor-
dinary conception of the proprieties OF
his position. He is a high officer of the
army. 1t is certainly right that officers
should hold opinions as citizens, but ii
is equally certain that an officer in the
army should not be an eager politician.
What General Hancock does, any other
officer may do, and 1t is obvious that
respect for the army and confidence
in it would instantly disappear
If officers of every degree should be
forward to take a vehemently partisan
position at elections. General Han.
cocks. dispatch to Mr.. Plaisted is an
utter derogation from the dignity and
character of his position as an officer oI
the army. If he desires to take part in
public affairs as a partisan politician, il
is his duty to resign his military com,
mission.
But his dispatch is much more signifi.
cant when considered as that OF the
Democratic candidate for the Presiden,
oy. Every one who is familiar with
our recent political history knows that
the danger to honest money and fl
nance lies in the success of the Demo,
cratic party, The Democratic Conven.
tion, as n blind, declared for honest
money. as it declared for free vote
But rs the Democratic is the only party
which Systematically, openly and fla.
grantlY destroys free voting, so it is
the one of the two great parties whose
success threatens financial disaster.
This has been stoutly denied by Demo,
cratic orators. Even MIR. Bayard has
insinuated that financial honor and sta
bilitY would be more secure under
Democratic ascendency. But the Dem
ocratic candidate at once puts Mr..
BaYard to shame. He joyfully breaks
silence rs candidate to shout for a
supposed rag-money victory What
is the significance of Mr.. Plaisted' S
candidacy, over whose supposed
election General Hancock was so iubi.
lantP Mr., Plaisted is not and has nev-
er been a Democrat. He is Repuhli-
can who left his party to accept rag
money nomination. He was supported
upon platform whose distinctive
clause was this;
"That all currency, whether metallic or pa
per- necessary for the use and convenience Of
the people, should be issued, aud It's volume
controlled, by tho Government, and not by "a
through the banking corporations OF the c0un
try, aud when so issued should be a full legal
tender ~ payment of all debts, public and
private"
Itis the supposed adoption OF this doc.
trine-a doctrine fatal TO the interests
of labor, and therefore of the public
welfare which General Hancock inn
petuously halls rs q "glorOus result. -
It is to obtain this GLORIOUS result, 81
that the Democrats in Maine voted for
Mr.. Plaisted, and their vote shows con.
olusively that the declaration for "hon-
est money! In the National Democrat,
10 platform is an utterly false pretense.
Let any intelligent man compare Mr..
Bayard's speech in South Carolina not
only with the familiar facts of the
general Republican position upon
the financial question, but with the
eager congratulations of General
Hancock upon the supposed sue
cess OF purely imitation and rag-mon-
el NNuNluhVNs anu nc VIII see WhNt
Democratic success involves. The
Democratic candidate identities his
party with fiat money and imitation and
universal financial disturbance, and the
Democrat who Is known as "hard.
money man, - and who for that reason
was discredted by his party, cries
Amen. General Hancock, who as {.
candidate Salutes rag-money victory
as glorious, could not as President con
sistehtly discard rag-money counsels
and eounsellors Ii, as he says to Mr..
Plaisted, his supposed election is glori-
Gus, and II, as he says to Mr.. Pulitzer,
Plaisted's S election would promise pure
and efficient administration, there Is no
reason whatever why General Hancock
| II he were elected, should not invite
Mr., Plaisted to the Seoretaryship OF the
Treasury. Ii there were not already
adequate arguments enough against the
: election Of General Hancock, lie has
himself furnished a conclusive argu,
ment, which will not be lost upon the
intelligence of the country. Hopper