Daily south Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1881-18??, 1884-10-02
Blaine on the Maine Election.

Blaine on the Maine Election
The speech of Blaine at Augusta the
other evening, fully illustrates the char
acter Of the man and his political meth |
DDS. He was in position of difficulty,
and he called to his aid the same mix
ture of audacity, address and equivoca-
ton bv which he has served his purpose
more than once before in his eventiul
history. His subject was the result Of
the Maine election and the task before
him was to make the most of it for the
benefit of the National campaign, and
at the same time to explain away, if he
could, the adoption of the prohibition
amendment. This was not an easy
thing to do, because the result of the
election for officers was not decisive
enough to afford much political capt.
tai, whilst the action on the amend
ment was so pronounced as to leave no
doubt whatever as to the tendency of
the Maine Republicans. Blaine met
this difficulty not in manly, direct
manner, but by sort OF political
double shuttle. He said, in brief, that
the State election had been carried on
the tariff issue and that prohibition
had nothing to do with it, The first
was practical issue in the campaign
and the latter was not. To enforce
this aspect of the case he added that
he had not voted on the amendment at
all, because prohibition was State
matter, and by no acton of his should
he obtrude it in the National campaign.
In this way he sought to make out OF
the Maine election a prophecy of
Democratic defeat, and at the same
time prevent the q !option of the pro-
hibition amendment IRON injuring the
Republican cause among the anti-pro-
hibition elements.
How like this is to Blaine's acts in
past years! How closely it accords with
che character of the man as interpreted
By bis career. If it was the National
question OF the tariff that carried the
Maine election, by what MIR. Blaine
represents as a most significant ma jor-
ity, how comes it that the vote is so
nearly the usual party vote? There
were no indications during the canvass
that the industrial classes were very
much interested in the tariff, nor is it
true that it formed in any sense the
pivotal point in the State campaign.
The Republicans carried Maine because
it is Republican State, and has not
for many years been carried by the
Democrats, except on 'fusion ticket, ~
or when some local question of over
whelming interest deranged the or
binary party lines. Another reason is
that the Republicans made special eff
forts to insure victory in Maine. They
saw that it would not do to have Blaine
beaten in his own State. Money and
speakers We're thrown into the State To
prevent so disastrous a result, while
the Democrats made no extraordinary
exertons. as under the circumstances
they did not expect that the Republican
ticket could be defeated. This is the
true explanation of the Maine election,
and when it is remembered that Blaine,
nominee for President, is Maine man,
and that the National energies of the
Republican party were employed to in
tluence the result, it is surprising that
the ma, ority is so small.
AS to prohibition, nothing that Blaine
or any other Republican speech-maker
may say can mislead the intelligence of
the count. Prohibition, in the view OF
Republicans, is no longer State mat
ter. Its advocates have pushed it into
the domain of National politics, and the
rise and history of the movement are
too well known to be misrepresented.
1t originated in Maine within the Re-
publican party, the party OF fanatcal
ideas and iutolerant spirit. 1t has ac-
CURED sts;ugth in Republican States,
and it is only SINE the commencement
of reaction that Republican leaders and
politicians have found it necessary to
explain or apologize for its existence.
Whatever may be its merits or dement's
as public movement, the Republican
party is its "author and fnisher," and
consistency, not to say good faith and
decency. require that Blaine and others
who nursed it into life should not be al
lowed to shake off or to dispaage its
claims in order to suit some particular
emergency. But the fact is, Blaine
sought to dodge the whole question,
and in refusing to vote himself on the
amendment, in State which was the
pioneer of the movement, he was guilty
OF cowardice and equivocation. ST.
Louis Republican.