Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1884-05-31
MIR. J.B. McOULLAaH ON THE SIT
UATI0N.
TErom the washington Republican,

states. That humber of republican state con-
%yentions put themselves squarely on record
by adopting resolutions expressive or conn.,
dence in the president and warm sPproVai OF
his public acts. President Arthur's admins
tration is without q blemish. He has repre-
scented the republican party in the presiden-
tial chair as well as any man could nave done,
and the republicans and democrats, TOO, Tor
publican national convention to throw MN
over would be a confession of weakness that
it will hardly make after admitting that he IS
the strongest man in the party, lor tnat is
what has been done. President Arthur Will
carry the full strength Of the party IN Novem-
her and more. If we cannot elect him We
cannot elect anybody. That may as well be
understood and honestly admitted at the out
set.n
have you to say !? Who would be Inc strohs-
est before the people !"
s.There Is just this diference-one can De
elected and the other can not. Blaine can not
carry the full strength of the republican par
ty, to begin with, and his repulslye; rotten
record will repel the independence or detached
voters, He is an unclean man, and the peo-
pie will not have him. To nominate him
would be to court defeat. He stands self-con-
victed of prostituting the high offices he has
held to build up a private fortune, Of cohablt-
ing with corruption for dishonest money
or, no; his record would damn him."
t.But would it, though? Why should q rot
Ten record damn Blaine and not damn Tilden.
who seems likely to be the democratic nomi-
nee@ N..
yery d%isreputable can be brought against Til
den. There is nothing really bad about the
old man,
..What about the cipher dispatches and his
attempt to buy electoral yotes!'
HE will get out OF that business on the
ground that he was merely guarding against
the commission of fraud. To lie sure he had
some very queer people about him, but the
eXigencies. OF the Occ ,slOn may have made IL
necessary for II to employ the services Of
queer people. With Blaine it is different.
it is stirred up the worse it stinks."
..How DO you account then for his seeming
popularIty!'o
"In passing through Pittsburg last night l
noticed a great light not far from the track.
DO you see that light? inquired u gentle
man Seated near me. 'Yesi' l answered.. THAT
comes from u natural gas WELL said he, 'and
there is enough beside what you see burning
to run two large Mills why don't they run
another mill with what is going to waste? 1
is not power enough in it. 1t is 80 per cent
air. That is what's the matter with Blaine's
popularity. 1t is 80 per cent wind and 10 per
cent gas. There is nothing substantial about
it,"
..Now, as to the strength of candidates be-
fore the convention%
ARTHUR will have q commanding lead
there, I am confident, and, as l said before, l
believe he will be nominated. He represents
the full strength of the party. and is the only
the party vote north of High bridge, and he
is 25 900 votes stronger in the city than any
other man the convention can name."
"Can he carry Ohio?
'Unquestionably. The Germans will sup
port him, and the conservative business in
forocto on1 in6rponooa will no for him Local
issues will not cut much Of u figure in the
national election"
"What about Indiana and the Northwest
ern states?"
Arthur than Blaine, and Arthur will poll a
heavier vote there. Iowa has been bowling
for Blaine for several years, just what for it
cannot explain. Arthur will have u fair sup
port from Iowa in the convention when he
needs it. He will have . majority of Mis-
souri, delegates. The northwest feels very
kindly toward President Arthur.n
Il see Wayne McVesgh is out in a card
against the president"
1.-THE more opposition of that sort the pres
ident can inspire the better it will be for him.
MacVeagh was one of Garfeld's slushy mis-
takes He never did anything to entitle him
to q cabinet position, and he did not amount
10 anything when he got there. His influ-
ence for harm Is nil. The ground upon
which much of the opposition to Arthur is
AoS ID sAAAA III 81
against him are weak. In his letter accepting
the portfolio of secretary Of state three years
ago Blaine declared that he would do all in
his power to assist Garfield to a second nOmi-
nation. He assumed that the Garfield adj
ministratiOn was to last eight years. Now.
Arthur was as much q part of the Garfield
administrator as Garfield himself. The pres
ident was killed and Arthur took his place.
and has given the country u better aud clean
er administration than Garfield could have
dana (lo rSo oil yxyOIp1I h0uo ohottoroA tho 30
publican party into q million of pieces, aud
left us ut the mercy of the enemy. He had al
ready broken it into several fragments, which
Arthur found scattered about when he went
into the White House, and which he has
carefully gathered up. He would have made
q wreck Of the party to a certainty"
"He did appear to possess a genius for that
sort of thing p
'sHe certainly did. Arthur, ON the other
hand, has united the party and CT Gated very
few antagonisms. The only thing that can
be said against him is that he has not given
office to every man who thought he had a
right to expect favors of that kind. That was
probably owing to the fact that there are not
enough Offices to go around. So far as I can
learn his appointments have been acceptable.
during his entire term, but he appointed good
men to the positions applicants of my choice
in Missouri were after. / do not feel justified
in turning against him because he didn't ap-
point the men I favored, SO long as good men
got the places. Disappointed ambition is the
Inspiration of the strongest and the loudest-
mouthed opposition to President Arthur.
Blaine has q slight advantage over all other
aspirants. He became a candidate for presi-
dent fourteen years ago, and he has been q
ing Sundays and holidays. Other candidates
have taken an occasional rest"
"What do you think on the subject of lem
ocratic possibilities 7"
"Until l came to Washington I had sup
posed that Tilden had a walk-over, but I dis
cover there is a powerful sentiment in the
democratic party arrayed against him. He
will not be a unanimous nominee of the con-
v%ention, by any MEANS"
"Why this opposition-beeause he is dead? 20
"Mainly dead? Yes! and because in the
event of his nomination the committee will
have to tack on a man who is deader than Til
den. Tom Hendricks is much deader than
Tilden. You see Tilden was not spoken OF
as a presidential possibility until within u
period of six months, and the other candi-
dates, who had set their little booms in mo-
ton and made their combinations prior to
that time, object to being shut out by the
cadaver. They had believed Tilden to be
quietly and unobtrusively sliding int his
grave, and they are unhappy and disposed to
trumpet that resurrected the corpse between
the church and the cemetery. This thing OF
in%terrupting a funeral procession to galvanize
the corpse strikes the average democratic
presidential candidate as a piece of political
sacrilege that ought not to be encouraged,
Nevertheless Tilden might run, dead mar
though he is, if the democratic convention
could only put u healthy pair of hind legs Oh
him, but they can not do that. To take Til
den anu leave out Hendricks would destro,
the poetry of the work. The g~alvanic bat.
terry that can put life into Hendricks legs ha.
not been built. Six months ago Mcdonald
OF Indiana, was far in the lead. He had nine
tenths Of the Northwestern states. l know
that. Now his name is scarcely heard, bu
with Tilden out Of the way he would com,
to the front again. And so with others
With all of this suppressed talent pushing a
the door there is no telling what the demo
cratic convention will do"
"What, In your opinion, will be the issu,
tariffP'
"No, the tariff will not be the ISSUE, TIL,
parties are not widely apart on that question
when 1t comes down to hard pan. There Il
practically very little difference between ia.
riff for revenue and tariff for revenue will
incidental protection The issue of tn,
campaign will be, DO the people want
change or do they not p II q majority of th,
voters want a change, they will turn the re
RuDllcans out and put the democrats in. 1
they are satisfied to let the government re
main under the control of the republican.
they will certainly elect q republican
president. That is the situation in q nutshell
The struggle will be for the detached vote
Which is the controlling element in seyera
doubtful states. This is an intelligent. reas.
oning vote, which is averse to agitation AM
change where there is nothing to be gainet