The Dallas daily herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1887, 1884-06-21
GIVE US PRINCIPE. NOT PERSON.
AlTIES,

Now that n prominent character has
been nominated by the dominant party
for the presidency, to be followed, as we
doubt not. next month by an equally
prominent nomination by the Domoc-
racy, the attention of Europe, more than
for twenty years past, will he dircctod
to the presidential campaign Of this year
In the United States. From that fact
alone, II ought to he the sincere desire Of
every thoughtful man In this country
that tho struggle for this great honor
plane, that principles, rather than
personalities, should determine the re-
suits. That such will be the ease s,how-
ever. n matter Of grave doubt. IL looks
M IL the ilood-gates of vituporation were
thrown wide open.
The public cannot so soon have for
gotten the campaign of 1850, its bitter
ness, its vituperation, its reckless disrc-
gard of character and utter abandon
mcnt of any high ground of discussion.
That campaign seemed to fasten upon
the European mind, We are told by the
best of authority, rs We know IL fastened
upon the American mind, the conviction
that the man who was nominated by the
Republicans and elected To the prcsi-
dcncy of this nation was forgcr,
falsiier and corruptionist of the worst
dye. Only the assassin's bullet with its
accompanying ode mortuis nil visi bon
um," rescued the name of GARFIELD
from an unenvable fame. The
world has a perfect right 10 believe
that we had elevated To the
American presidency the very worst
character of man.
However vulnerable the records of can
didates may be, the HERALD but voices
the higher thought of the better
elements of the country, in hoping
that the pending campaign may bo want
ing in those fierce elements of abuse that
have been heretofore, unfortunately, too
prominent. The prize to he struggled
for, to say nothing of the dignity of the
country, is too valuable To justify the re-
sort 10 the low tricks of personal abuse
on the part of the supporters Of the re-
spective champions. To put man in
the White House who has been publicly
branded by millions as a corrupt,
bad man, is to belittle ourselves in
the eyes of the foreign world and
lessen ut home the conception Of the dig
nifty and the traditional veneration of
the presidential office. Let Ms make
new departure. Let us have none Of ii,
for il is as useless as il is reprchonsiblc.
No votes were ever changed by such
methods and substitutes for argument.
The great principles about which the
parties differ are fortunately well de-
fined. There il food sufficient for the
mind in this campaign without pander-
ing to the passions. ON the one side ~
the emphatic declaration of the doctrine
of tariff for protection, as against rev
enue tariff on the other. Then there is
the silent acquioscncc by the Republican
party in the doctrine of a paper legal
tender, not based on anything but gov
eminent ''promisc to pay Again, the
declaration of policy in direct conflict
with legislative records, presents an alb
surdity and Inconsistency which cannot
but provoke dcrison and contempt,
while the utter disregard of constitu-
tional limitations upon the Federal pow
ers must arouse widespread indigna-
ton and alarm. Added to these broad
and well defined issues is the aggressive
and dangerous foreign policy, forcshad-
owed by the nomination of MR.BLAINE.
4 policy which, if persisted in, must
seriously threaten the peace and pros
perity of the whole country. Indeed,
tho trouble is not in finding live issues
upon which the parties differ, but in
selecting the more vital and salient
of the multitude.
1t is, therefore, to be hoped that the
men whom the parties put forth will be
forgotten in the broad, intelligent dis
cussion of principles, that personality
will give way to political philosophy,
vituperation to argument and mon be
subordnated to measures, in order not
ONLY to avoid the semblance of having
elevated black-legs and jobbers to the
presidency, but that the law-giyors may
know in definite terms what policies are
to prevail and what enactments are ex-
pected and demanded of them by the
people.
Viz Doaataunh