Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1884-04-10
The Republican Newspaper Campaign.


The readers o. Republican newspapers
nowadays appreciate the fact, well
known to journalists, that reporters car
lind what they are sent to look for. The
New York Times correspondents see
nothing but anti-Arthur feeling. The
New York Tribune and the Philadelphia
Press are gifted with men who encounter
an almost unanimous Blaine feeling.
The Springfield Republican, which can
not only, in its own opinion, discern the
face of the sky. but also read the signs
OF the times. can discover Cor divine) q
general yearning for Edmunds. The
Chicago Tribune and the hyphenated
Inter Ocean, of that city, the apostle OF
truly Ell Mahdi Republicanism in the
Northwest, perceive that the mountains
flame and the prairies flush and the
valleys CLEAN, while all the little hills
do clap their hands. for John A. Logan.
The Cincinnati Commercial Gazette
which now unites the Napoleonic might
of Field Marshal Halstead with the es-
sential ethics of that truly good man..
Deacon Richard Smith, is able only to
size and seize the claims of Honest John
Sherman. The Indiana papers of radi-
calism arc certain that either Senator
Ben. Harrison or Postmaster-G General
Gresham should be the s'the coming
man." And so it is. There are as
many preferences among the people as
there are desires in editorial breasts.
Republican journalism has simply be-
come a mechanism, for ascribing the
wishes and antipathies of editors to
general readers. The sole value of the
prevailing practice of printing Presiden-
tial pointers, in such newspapers, lies
in the presumption that the newspapers
reflect local or a larger sentiment and
make themselves the mediums of it.
The impartial Democrat who reads
with judicial mind the medley of i'm
pressions in Republican papers finds
certain facts or characteristics running
through them. The first thing that
strikes the attention is that there is not
very much about the Presidency in that
party at ali. Indifferentism is more
the rule than interest. The "booms''
for various aspirants have their initial
impulse in the ambition of the would
be candidates themselves. The rest is
the work of not unselfish or unthrifty
friends of theirs, who know how to ply
the arts of mention. interview. gossip,
advocacy, report, suggestive avowal
and safe disclaimer. The notable in
ertness of the Republican rank and file
encourage these efforts. They are
neither resented nor ratified. They are
S IMPLY unopposed. Continued little by
little, the efforts have a tendency, be-
ing neither antagonized nor Endorsed,
for themselves. The sheer effect of
iteration can be predicated of them
but not more. Still that has enabled
the candidates in sporting parIance, to
be entered for the race. They are now
taking their exercise on the track; but
the jockeys and the stable boys number
more than those on the grand stand
and the booksellers have not begun
business at all.
Another consideration which the
'booms'' among the
impress is the varied
character of the reasons or claims
put forth. A qualification for the Presi-
1ency is hardly urged at all, if at all
urged, it is made second to the asser-
bility' does not signify that the candi-
condition of public opinion; but it sig
some desirable special strength which
makes him little stronger than the
vote itself Mr.. Edmunds
IS urged because it is asserted that 1.-The
independents would support him.
by evidence-but it may be regarded as
On offset to the known fact that the
Vermont Senator is unpopular with the
Isl T.; 10,
people are wont to dwell on the beauties
IF the mind, SO are those Republicans
who have not commended themselves
% the manly and active forces in poll
,ics addicted to references to ''the In
dependent VOTE" 1.-THE better element"
etc. AS fact, politicians man Repub-
ican conventions, make Republican
and conduct Republican
They may not be able al
ways to nominate whom they would;
out they are invariably able, in the Re-
publican party, to defeat the nomina-
ion of those for whom they have mo
lse." They have mo use' for those
whose vocation it is to profess to be bet
,er than other people, and their aversion
% Pharisees is not to their discredit.
The special claims urged for the others
ian be stated in word. Mr.. Blaine's
with the corporations is urged
for him. General Logan's friends in
,ist that the entire ''soldier vote would
be for him. Mr. Sherman is advocated
On the ground that ''the monied men
would put up for him. Mr.. Harrison
and Mr.. Gresham are hailed as those
who could ENSURE Indiana" 1t is true
that genuine desire for Mr.. Blaine ex-
sts among some Republicans. 1t is as
true that he is hated by other Kepub-
leans and distrusted by independent
men. The bald and bold question of
mis- strength with corporations accounts
Tor that distrust, as we'll as the shifty
conduct of the man in public positions.
and Mr. Blaine are not
benefited by this kind of talk for him.
have become expert in