Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1884-09-27
AN AMUSING CANDIDATE.

This Is a pretty serious canvass ior tn'
American people, and it is a relief tc
have one amusing figure in it. The
anxious mind can find relaxation, anc
even hilarity, at any moment, says tht
New York Times, by turning to the gro.
tesque personality Of Ben Butler and
watching his capers. 1t is funny ever
to behold his burly figure skipping about
the country and making speeches, now
at a country fair and again in the
crowded square OF a city; to-day in the
East and tomorrow in the West, and
next day as near as he dare venture &c
the South. He appears before mechanics
in a SLOUGH hat and before farmers in a
broad. brimmed Panama, and receives al
fashionable hotels in the spotless attire
of a man of the world. Everywhere his
burly form, bald head, grim visage, and
general air of carrying all before him are
immensely diverting. He is the General
Boum of the campaign.
Bat it is by his speeches that Gen.
Butler affords the greatest fund of amuse.
ment. Age cannot wither nor custom
stale his infinite variety. Facts are
nothing to him, and as for theories, he
has as many of them as there can be a
possible demand for. He believes in
supplying such portion of the political
market as he has access to with what il
demands or what he supposes it to de.
mand. He thinks Of some new notion
adapted to each locality that he visits.
He says what ONE into his mind with
q disregard for its truth that is quite
charming, inasmueh as we do not expect
truth of him and have no reason for tax
ing him seriously. Ii is a funny notion
of his to figure as an anti-monopolist,
and We have no doubt he often chuekles
to himself when he thinks OF it. His
New Jersey convention denounced the
government for failing to enforce the
Thurman Act which he opposed and
voted against. He talks about the
grasping corporations from which he
receives his latest fees as If he really
hated them, but he does not, and he
knows that they understand the joke.
He processes TO love the horny-handed
worker, and it is amusing 70 see him
keeping his millions out of sight while
he goes around among the boys as if he
worked in a blacksmith shop.
1t was a happy hit OF his to tell the
Union Square crowd that what they
wanted was an enlargement Of the Erie
Canal at the national expense, which
the railroad managers were sitting uI
nights TO keep from them. Then be
goes over into New Jersey and tells
the farmers that what they want is
to cut their land up fine and divide
it around among their families, as they
do in France, and raise sweet potatoe:
and sorghum. In the West he admired
their huge vegetables, but in New Jer'
sey he descants on the superiority Of
four-pound waternelons over the spongy
monsters from Kansas. He knows al
about farming, and has raised little
sweet potatoes that are worth more than
big turnips.
From the State Fair he slips down
to Newark and remarks to the workmer
there that the underpaid negroes Of the
South who are raising cotton, rice, and
sugar cane are competing with them
and bringing down wages in the ma.
chine shops. While Blaine protection.
lists are showing how the country pros,
pers. how high wages are, and how
comfortable working people are if they
did not know it, Butler is telling them
that they are in q miserable condition.
He says wages are lower and the cost
Of living higher than ever before.
though he knows it is not a fact. and
that industries are in q fearfully
depressed condition. One might i'm,
agine from these statements that But.
Ter is not a proteetionist Oh. yes he
is. He is for protecting everybody and
everything, but he has in his enormous
mind a tariff Of a unique kind. The
trouble with the present one is
that it protects capital but does no;
protect labor. His will protect labor,
give it high pay, and make it happy
while capital goes shining around to
meet its notes. No matter how it is
to be done; trust Benjamin. he will