The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1880-06-15
THE NOMINATION.

The agony is over; the Republicans have
made their nomination, and Garfield is the
leader selected. This announcement will be
received with disappointment by Democrats
who saw in Grant the weakest of the candi-
dates soliciting the favor Of the opposite
party, and who consequently desired his NOM
nation as the one most easily to be defeated.
1t was this belief that underlay the triendli-
ness towards Grant of so large > section of
the Democratic press, and among our party
to-day news of his rejection will be received
with regret as sincere, if not so deep, as that
of the most earnest third-terIper in the land.
However, it was not a very lofty conception
of party fealty which made us desire The
nomination by our opponents of an object
iouable candidate. Before being party men
we should first be citizens of the republic,
and so long as there is a probability, be it
ever so slight, of the election of the opposing
candidate, it should be our desire to see III
that candidate the ablest and best man, not
the most Objectionable, to be selected from
the ranks Of our opponents. Viewed in this
light the nomination of Garfield will contain
a very substantial grain of comfort for the
Democrat disappointed in the reputation by
the Republicans of the third term idea which
came so near leading them to rum. The Re-
publieans may elect Garfield; they might
have elected Grant. Accepting then these
statements as embodying ever so slight a
degree of probability we have every reason to
be satisfied with the course taken by recent
events. Garfield as president would be a
world of improvement upon Grant as piesi-
dent Personally Garfield is unobjectionable.
An honorable record in the war has been fol-
lowed by an equally untarnished record, as
far SIS, his personal honor is concerned, in
Congress, where he has never been implicated
in any of the jobs or questionable practices
only too common in the legislation of to-day.
But IN saying this we say everything that can
be Urged in his favor. Personally unobject-
ionable, politically he is a narrow minded
extremist a graduate of the school of poll
tics which took its rise in the days immedi-
ately following the war; a man whose cleo
ton would mean the revival and rehabilita-
ton of the bloody shirt regime. With Gar
field elected we should not have federal laws
apply in one State equally with another,
north and south. Instead, We should have
AL Interpretation given to federal laws
throughout the Southern States, and attempts
to claim jurisdiction for them in that section
in instances where their similar application
would not even he dreamed of in the north.
In brief, Garfield is q radical, and his election
would mean a restoration of the rsdicalisn
of years gone by. 1t would mean . return
to war measures of legislation, \ revival of
war memories which conservatives Of all
parties are anxious to have buried in oblivion.
in the approaching campaign Garfield can
be defeated if the Democrats can only CON-
mand sufficient good sense to put in nomina-
ton a man possessing the confidence of the
independent voter. People are tired of
the bloody shirt of "outrages," as we'll as OF
the centralizing tendency and many other
features Of republicanism. But they have
distrusted the Democrats. There is no use
Disgusting the fact that the performances Of
the Democrats during the last extra session
of Congress. as well as on other occasions by
no means remote, we're not Of a nature to
invite the nations confidence. Such proceed
iligs had the effect Of driving back into the
Republican ranks vast Eumbers of conserve
tives whose dislike of radical lepublicanism
was overcome by the fear of what radicalislu
in the opposite extreme might lead to; whose
choice was for the evil they knew in prefer
ence to the evil they knew nousht of. To
avail themselves of the advantage given them
by the nomination Of an mira republican the
Democrats must avoid a repetition Of such
laundering. They must call to the front a
leader in whose patriotism, good judgment
and purity of character the thoughtful, intel
lisent masses, who do their own thinking,
will be willin- to put their trust. With such
a candidate, OF, to particnlarize, with Ssy-
mour, Hancock o. Bayard, a Democratic
triumph is certain.