The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-08-07
Mental Penguitude.

When the Republican committee
called on Mr.. Blaine to inform him OF
his nomination its spokesman doubtless
asked him what he had in his market
basket. We can easily imagine the
Plumed Knight sticking his tongue in
his cheek and replying: ''Lassoes to
catch meddlers." He doubtless used
the statement fgurativelv, having no
purpose, at that early stage OF the
game, to be more than half confidential
The committee thereupon retired,
and Mr.. Blaine. assisted by two editors
and New Jersey politician, proceeded
to open his basket and assert the con-
tents. The result has been telegraphed.
1t is called Mr.. Blaine's letter of ac-
ceptance. This letter is well worth
reading, forming as it does a sort OF
humorous contrast to the Plumed
Knights career. From the Blaine point
of view it is a very insipid document.
The Maine statesman has suddenly
grown fat in the mind. He is grave
and dull. He is suddenly become seri-
Gus and sober. He is no longer the ar
rogrant aud aggressive politician with
a policy distinctly Amer cal, but the
meek and lowly Republican Moses feel
ing around in the bulrushes for baby
innocent enough 70 deceive and please
Colonel Pharoah Gould and other dig
nitaries of the gilded Republican court.
Mr.. Blaine goes largely into figures
of the Five and six make twenty
seven sort, showing conclusively by
rules of his own invention and applica-
ton that the Republican party is not
only responsible for the prosperity of
the country-for the increase of popu-
lation and the increase of railroad
mileage-but responsible also for our
glorious climate and the highly es-
teemed seasons which have proven so
fruitful to the sons and daughters of
toll. Mr.. Blaine plainly leaves it to be
inferred that if the thieves that are now
engaged in robbing the people through
the medium of the Republican party
are turned out of power, there will be
trouble and confusion in the land, and
it will be found that such men as Mr..
Evarts and Private Dalzell agree with
him.
Coming from Mr.. Blaine, the letter
is a remarkable document. 1t is lack
ing in all those characteristics that
commended Mr.. Blaine to the peculiar
elements that demanded his nomination
at Chicago. The ''boom'' is wanting.
There is no echo of the brass band;
the flim-fam of the kettle drum is not
beard. Indeed, after all that has been
said, the letter falls fat. 1t is incom-
petent to the occasion. 1t lacks mettle
and vigor. Some one has been smooth
NJ To-, 81 II Il, a,
iack-plane. The letter reads as if it
had passed through the dull medium of
Philadelph editors brain. The
tartness and originality that ordinary
observers imagine they find in Mr..
Blaine's style have been rinsed and
squeezed out, and his letter is just dry
enough to emphasize hating cam
pa on.
There is just one point in it calculated
to attract the attention of the people.
Referring to the fast that immigration
from China has been prohibited, Mr..
Blaine suggests, in sympathetic way,
that the time may come when it will be
necessary for the Republican party to
prohibit immigration from Europe. This
is intended to be taken as an intimation
that Mr.. Blaine is ready to head a cru
SADIE against the Irish and German inn
migrants that are pouring into this
country by way of Castle Garden. This
is rather queer position for the Repub-
lican candidate to take at time when
his organs are engaged in an attempt
to win at least portion of the Irish
vote. This curious statement probably
es AIRED the attention of those who re-
vised Mr.. Blaine's letter, for, however
much they may sympathise with such
a proposition to prevent Irish and Ger
man Immigrants from landing on these
shores, they would hardly indorse it
publicly.
Altogether, the letter is weak, fat
and uninteresting. Tine "boys" will
search it in vain for un opportunity to
start a ''hurrah. atlanta CO'astita-
ton.