Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-04-24
The Presidency.

CoutluucS 10 DC Regarded as OF so mucn
Importance in the selection of candi-
date for the Presidency, it may be that
personal qualifications for the office
will be less considered than they should
be. The political ability of this or that
prominent man to carry certain States
is. doubtless, a matter to be considered.
but the most important inquiry after all
| Is, what sort of q President will the in
dividuaI be should he happen to be
chosenp We shall, therefore, do our best
to describe the kind of statesman fitted
to become the candidate of the Demo-
cratic party in the coming election.
The hrst and foremost qualification.
in our opinion, is a thorough knowledge
of and devotion to the Constitution.
There are many prominent men in the
Democratic party who are very able
politicians, bat who are not American
statesmen in the highest sense. 1t must
never be forgotten tnat this Federal
Government is a government of limited
and specific powers, and that what the
Democracy has to do is to take the gov
eminent out of the hands of party
which has abused those powers, and to
restore it to the true path of the Con-
stitution. Knowledge. intricate knowl-
edge, of what the Constitution is. is es-
sential in President, not only because
he is coordinate branch OF the legis-
islative power, but because the execu-
tive duties involve the constant
exercise of functions whose sole
guide is to be found in the writ
ten text of the fundamental law. In the
management Of the foreign relations of
this country President can be mate
rally aided by an able and accom-
plished Secretary of State. But even
in foreign relations it must be remem-
bered that a Secretary of State is but
the adviser and instrument of the Pres
ident, and that the President himself is
the functionary who has to decide ev
erything; so that along with thor
ough Knowledge of the constitutional
scope of the treaty-making power, the
President should possess learning that
is peculiar to the province of interna-
tional law, diplomatic usage and the
diplomatic history of this country. This
kind of knowledge is not to be acquired
in day, or to be put into man by
any process of ''cramming." But in
the administration of the internal af-
fairs of this government a President
who does not possess an intimate &C
quaintance with the principles of the
Constitution, its limitations of power.
its relations to the States and the peo-
pie. however good a politician he may
be in party tactics, will not answer the
demands of the present eXigency. Per-
haps we have never had a President
who came nearer to filling all the quail
ifications for the office than did MIR.
Jefferson. He was not only highly &C
complished general statesman. but he
was sound constitutional jurist; and,
although he had no direct hand
in making the Constitution, he
not only understood it thoroughly,
but as soon as he understood
it. and ever afterward, he interpreted it
with that degree of strictness which is
necessary to preserve it in harmony
with the reserved rights of the States
and the people. Above all. Jefferson
was believer in popular government
and general suffrage. His Democracy
was of that genuine type which holds to
the exercise of popular power through
the appropriate department of gov
eminent of laws, and the defined re-
straints which a people have imposed
on their servants and on themselves.
We have reached stage of things in
which there are numerous men in the
Republican party who do not believe in
popular government OR in general
suffrage, who would gladly embrace
any pretext for Transforming our Gov
eminent into something very different
from what it is. and we must not lose
sight of the extreme facility with which
a kind of revolution could be accom-
plished, by which we might lose the
Constitution and its popular govern
ment almost without being aware that
the process was going on. 1t is mar
vel that the Constitution has been pre-
served to us through the turbulent and
dangerous period that followed the
civil war. It was no intention of many
of the men who then had the govern
ment of affairs that the Constitution
should be restored to its supreme au-
thority. 1t has been saved in spite of
them and their Vaccinations, and now
what is needed is that the executive
power should be committed to the
hands of some man who will make it
the guide Of all his acts, and so COM
plete the work that remains to be done.
Other personal qualifications can be
easily described, and they do not merely
go to make up an ideal President. All
honest men will agree that personal in
tegrity. high intelligence, moral cour-
age, simplicity of manners and of life,
power to institute and carry out needed
reforms, power to make even party
machinery and political domination
work for the good of the country, an
all-embracing patriotism, an absence of
sectional feeling and an infexible de-
termination to do right, are the qualities
that we need in President; and while
these qualifications make up the beau
ideal of Chief Magistrate, they are at
the same time qualities which may be
found in some rucn and, therefore, they
are not mere abatractions. We could
name half q dozen men in the Demo-
cratic party, anJ one of whom. we think,
would answer Tho requirements with q
close approximat on at least to the ideal
standard. But We shall not name one
of them, because we do not propose to
institute . "boom" in any direction.
We shall content ourselves with urging
those who are t. be charged with the
duty of making the selection, to take
care that in folle wing out the principle
nj availahilitv thew do not lose siphf of