St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1884-10-16

OPINION OF THE LEADING RELIGIOUS
NEWSPAPER.

Governor st. Johns letter of accept
ance will he found on another page.
1t is short, contrasting therein most
advantageOusly with the streams of
verbiage which poured through whole
columns in the letters of Blaine and
Butler. 1t is strong, possessing a di-
rectness and vigOr which were not dis
played in the acceptance of Cleveland.
The prOhibitiOnists may claim that, as
state paper, the letter of their candi-
date is the ablest which has appeared
in this canvass.
When the p OhibitiOn ticket was
nominated it was regarded by many as
little better than joke, "A mock nOmi-
nation, a playing with politics. But
the course of events has given it Il
prominence which, at first, no one an
ticipated. Even those who drew up
the ticket can hardly have expected it
would stand before the people in the
position it holds to-day. But the
nomination of Blaine made great num-
bers of strong republicans feel that al
legiance to their party principles de-
handed their rejection of the party
ticket, while the unwilling of Cleve-
lands private life made the better
class of men unwilling to vote for him
and thus great numbers who, a few
weeks ago had no thought of support
ing the prohibition candidate, now de-
clare their intention of voting for him.
In his personal character, Governor
st. John is one who commands respect.
In his private life, and in his official
action, his course has been one which
NA1 -
of purpose. No one charges that his
private history contains repulsive
chapters which demand concealment;
no one charges that he ever sought to
use his position of governor for his
private emolument. There is no rea-
son to believe that lie ever wrote
"burn this" on any letter of his to wo-
man or to man. Though the contest
in Kansas on the liquor question was
bitter conflict, Governor st. Johns
opponents have not impugned his per-
sonal integrity. The man who is
ashamed to support Blaine or Cleve-
land can support st. John. Therefore
many who are not prohibitiOnists will
vote for him on the grounds of person.
al character.
And the course of the two leading
candidates has been such as to drive
voters to st. John for temperance rea-
sons. When the prohibition ticket
was nominated, many who believed in
prohibition saw no reason to vote for
it. They were willing that the ques-
ton should be left out of the canvass.
But the two leading candidates have
taken a course which brings it into the
canvass and earnest temperance men
are repealed by both. Governor Cleve-
land, in his letter of acceptance, goes
out of his way to make bid for the
liquor vote. Mr.. Blaine, in the Maine
election, lodged the issue. He refused
to vote upon the prohibitory amend
ment, on the ground that it was To-
cal issue. But has not Mr. Blaine a
local influence 7 Is he not a citizen of
Maine, and was he not in duty bound
TO give his opinions on that important
local question just as much as any
other citizen who voted that day?
The question whether the amend
ment should b9 enacted was no more
local than the question who should be
governor, on which he did vote. The
fact is, every intelligent man is salts
fed that the reason why he did not !
NOIO lOI Jut was utCduSt
h0~avas not willing to offend the brew
cry vote of the west. Now if, being a
he was unwilling to show
his hand on the question for fear of
losing votes, would he not, if elected
and DESTROYS of second term, be just
as unwilling to do anything to aid the !
temperance cause, lest it should him
der his reelection If, as candidate,
he refused to vote for prohibition, lest |
it should lose him votes, would he not,
as president, refuse to do anything
which would offend the anti-temper-
ance element Such "A course does |
not command the respect of men who |
have principles, and earnest temper |
ance men mist be as reluctant tn vote |
for Blaine, who lodges the temper
ance issue, as for Cleveland who open
ly condemns prohibition. Under the
therefore, good republi-
cans and good democrats, whose con-
victions lead them to reject the candi-
dates of their parties. can cast an hon
est vote for Governor st. John aud |
prOhibitiOn.-[New York Indedendent.