The Monitor., 1884-10-31
WooDsrowS, FRIDAY, OcToBER 81, lss4.

The MONITOR has taken no side or cor
ner in the political canvass now agitating
the country. and which is to be decided on
Tuesday next. 1t has deemed it the wisest
course to let its readers use their own .iudg-
ment in regard to the ticket they would
support, and has endeavored to give both
sides of the temperance question fair hear
ing II the friends of St. John have seemed
to have more to say in the columns of the
paper than others, it is because the other
side has not chosen 10 let itself be heard to
an equal extent.
Many of our readers next Tuesday, WILL
at the polls. vote the Prohibition ticket.
They will thus give utterance To their hon
est convictions. The cry of the other par
ties who seek to hold their votes will be.
Don't do that. You are throwing away
your vote If this be true, then about
one-half the voters in this country throw
away their votes every year, by voting for
unsuccessful candidates. The idea logic
ally carried out, would result i'll the perpc-
tuity of the Democratic and Republican
parties. inasmuch as no man would be just
flied in voting with any third party. for fear
OF throwing away his vote with the losing
minority. The cry goes on the assumption
that if st. John did not get the votes of his
followers, one or the other of the other par
ties would; and as the burden of the song
seems to be that IA vote for st. John is a
half vote for Cleveland, it looks as though
the Republican party expected to fall heir
to the st. John strength, in case anything
should happen" But this is not the posi-
tion the st. John men assume. They say
that they would not in any case vote for
either of the other candidates; and if there
were no Prohibition ticket in the field they
should simply not vote at all, because the
other candidates and their platforms do not
sufficiently embody their ideas on the tenn
perance question. They would be throwing
their votes away if they voted for any other
candidate than St. John, because they
would be voting against their own convic-
tions. and this is the worst way of throwing
votes to waste that We know Of No vote
is ever thrown away that rightly represents
the honest conviction of the voter That is
what the vote is cast for. Looking at it
from the standpoint of the politician, all
votes are thrown away that do not tend to
the elevation Of his own political party.
On the other hand, many of our readers
will stay by their old parties, ieeming it
the shortest and best route to Prohibition
town. They, too. are honest. They ar
IDENTITY desire and pray for the abolition OF
the rum traffic, and are using their best en-
deavors to accomplish the result They,
too, would throw away their votes if they
cast them otherwise than in accordance
with their honest views. Neither class oi
temperance workers can give the Other
odds, so far as zeal or purity of purpose is
concerned, anl Meth ,r class can afford
10 antagOnize the other
We hope after the election. when the
smoke of the battle has cleared away. that
both parties may make common cause il
a renewed attack all along the line, on oui
common enemy, and that Prohibition OF
the liquor traffic may ere long become an
accomplished fact.