Daily Republican., 1880-11-08
rhe Hsysraity Question.

OWpA oAu Wv AO0N e~N ~
next year will be ths city election for
Mayor, City Treasurer and members Of
City Council. There exists no good
reason why the Republicans should ne'
make clean sweep Of the city mex,
Sept smSer, but there exists q grea1
mauy reasons why the Republicans
should be placed in pswer again. Th'
late State election has shown that tn,
Republicans are in large msjoeity il
the city in spite of the large number o
Illegal vetes which the Democrats
voted by means Of forged and other
fraudulent tax receipts. Besides this
there are hundreds Of respectable, order
loving Democrats who want change in
the city gOvernment-who are disgust
ed, especially with the last Democratic
administration, and will vote with the
Republicans to make change provided
the latter will nominate good ticket
that will continue the union Of the Re-
publican party and command the re.
Fpect Of Independent, order loving citi-
sens.
At the expiration Of the present
term the executive part OF the city gov.
-srnment will have been in the hands OF
Democratic Mayors nire years, and this
too in city where the Republicans
even with an imperfect assessment have
o majority Of not less than 800, The
first Mayor under the three year terms
was Joshua L. Simms, Democrat, who
In 1879 was elected over Edward J.
Dougherty only by some 60 odd ma
jority. The next Mayor was W. G.
Whiteley, also Democrat who was
elected in 1875 over Joshua s. Valep-
tine also by Deagre majority OF less
than 20. The third Democratic Mayor
and the present one, Mayor Almond,
was elected in 1873 over Charles H.
Gallagher by some 600 odd majority.
There is an important lesson to Re-
publicsns to be learned from tn. SO
three elections to which we have
alluded, and the sooner they are learn.
ed and acted upon the better it will be
for the Republican party in a muni.
cipal contest for the Mayoralty, and in 4
review Of that lesson We wish 1t to be
understood that ws are not assailing
the character Of any of the defeated
candidates.
In 1872 Edward J. Dougherty had
been for several years the chief Of DO.
lice. making during that time a great
many personal enemies. To be plain,
though hs was popular with certain
elements..of the Republican party, there
was large class who withheld their
support from him, and his unfortunate
contest with Alderman Vincent for the
only added to Lis unpopu-
larity. Having large personal fol.
lowing he pulled through at the nomi-
nation, defeating Mr.. Vincent but at
the same time defeating himself and
the Republican party. M doubt he
would have made good Mayor, much
better than he Who was elected, but the
people could not bs made to believe
that and they choose Joshua l.. Slmms
or Mayor instead of Edward J. Dough-
srty. Here was the first step towards
rushing the Republican party of VIII.
nington. Mr.. Dougherty though in
most respects worthy man could not
command the united support of his
,srty, and therefore should never have
,een it5 nominee while there were
olenty Of others, and We say it with no
Iiscredit to Mr.. D0uRh"r'y, better men
Who would have accepted the pomine.
ion and who could easily have been
elected
A similar mistake was made in 1875,
7hen ex.Mayor Valentine was nomi-
latsd as tba Republican candidate
Igainst Hon. William G. Whitley. 1t
nay be asked what objection could any
'itiz'n have to the election of ex-May.
'r Valentine' From our standpoint q
We answer none, but nevertheless there u
vas a class of Rspu 5lioans large enough u
o defeat him who had objections and d
'oted for Mr.. Whiteley in place of Mr.. u
Valentine. There is scarcely a citi- X
en- Of Wilmington of any prominence :
rho does not know ex.Mayor Valentine b
'nd who does not know him to be an '
IGNORED and respected gentleman, but P
'hen he was nominated for Mayor In o.
8i5 there were objections enough to Ii
lin to defeat him and did defeat him cI
the fact that the Re. p
had a numerical majority in Il
he city. The fact that ex.Mayor Val n
ntine could not get the full vote of II
is party Was reason enough why be
hoald not have been made its candi-
ate in 1875. =,
We do GOT believe the objections to o,
i'm were well founded but that makes r.
10 d'iiaranoe, there were sbjectisns Il
'hich prevented kis election and that T
yas euou1b.