The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-04-28
THE COUNTY CONVENTION.

THE COUNTY CONVENTION.
The Republican county convention meets
on Saturday. The intervening days will be
full Of business, especially on the part of the
candidates for the principal county Offices and
their friends But while they are properly
and legitimately busy they should not fail to
have their thoughts about them. It is posi-
BILE that all the work they do may be brought
to nought. A nomination is not certainly an
election. The time when that was true in
Marion county has gone by; If the ticket is to
be successful before the people now, it must
be one that will command their support. Let
there be no mistake about this, to be repented
at leisure, after the convention is over, when
it shall be too late. A bad nomination may
defeat the whole ticket. We take it that all
the men who go before the convention on Sat-
urday desire the success Of the party in No
vember more than they do personal victory
for themselves or their friends. If there are
any who do not, they haveno business in that
convention, and should have the grace to give
way to less selfish men. There is plenty of
material from which to select a winning ticket,
and the party and the people will hold the
delegates responsible for the faithful and in
telligent discharge Of their self-assumed du-
ties. No one is forced to go to the conven-
ton, and if any one is suggested as delegate
who is conscious that he can not unselishly
do his duty, he has no right to burden the
party with his service. A good ticket fairly
representative Of the spirit and membership
of the party, and one that can run on all fours
before the people. viii be elected; ticket of
another character is liable to be defeated.
The convention should not forget, either,
that there are some things of even greater i'm
portance than who shall make fortunes during
the next two or four years out Of the fat places.
Important as these nominations are thoy are
not the only things for which governments
are instituted among men, parties organized,
and conventions and elections held. We take
it for granted that the convention will not
listen to the cowardly and foolish talk, in
dulged in by thoughtless people, that might
give currency to this idea. When the con-
vention meets it will have definite and de-
terminate duty to discharge, and it should do
it, If it takes all day and far into the night to
do it honestly and well. The idea of holding
distinct convention for the nomination of a
judicial and legislative ticket is preposterous.
Such a movement would stigmatize the work
of Saturday as more distribution of spells,
and the men who composed the convention as
too selfish or too imbecile to do anything else
than farm out the fat places We want no
such piece of foolishness to mark the first
step of the campaign, and we do not believe it
is seriously contemplated by those who
can think beyond their preconceived
notions. There are as good men who can be
named for the Legislature on Saturday as
there will be found in existence three months
hence, and if the right men are named they
will be able to grapple with any issue that is
liable to arise between now and the date of
their service in the Legislature. There is
nothing more absurd than the claim that the
nominations must be made with special ref
erence to some existing crisis, and therefore
we must wait to see what new crisis may arise,
and then trim sails to catch the wind that may
happen at that time to appear to be blowing.
Under that system Of philosophy we should
be forced to change our tickets in this coun-
try about every twenty-fou hours, for no man
can tell in this blessed Republic what day
may bring forth. What is wanted is a consci-
entious discharge of its duty by the conven-
ton, the nomination Of firstclass ticket
from A to lizard, and then the people will take
care that it is elected, and the men thus
chosen for the Legislature will take care Of
the dreadful crises that are always arising in
the minds of those who have an ak to grind,
or who are constitutionally affected with DO
litical spooks.
Since the above was written the county
central committee have considered the mat
ter, and it has been determined that all the
work for which the convention is to be as
sembled. shall be completed on Saturday. It
Is we'll.
IT is unoficially given out that the Score
tary of State has decided not to send man to
the court at Vienna to represent this country,
all because that colossal blunder in statecraft