Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-05-27
rnnecessnriIr Worried.

Unnecessarily Worried.
We have noticed that two or three OF
the ne wspapers in thus State are worried
because the MORNING NEWS does not
take sides in the Gordon Bacon contest.
They want to know why it doesn't come
out for Gen Gordon or Maj. Bacon. They
can't get rid OF the idea that every new=-
paper in the state ought to wear
a collar with an inscription some
thing like this: 81 am Gen. Cor
don's dog; whose dog are you?" or with
this: 81 am MAJ Bacon's dog; whose dog
are you;'
We have no fault 10 find with newspa-
pers Tor supporting Gen. Gordon or Maj
Bacon if they want to, We are perfectly
willing for them to take whatever course
hey please with regard to these distin-
uished gentlemen, and they ought to be
willing TO accord to us the same privilege.
When the MORNING NEWS fails TO sup
port the nominee Of the party whose prin-
ciples ii advocates, or fails to take posi-
tIOn on an important question in which
the people are deeply interested. it will
he pertinent and proper 10 demand its
but neither Gen. Gordon nor Maj. Bacon
is candidate Of the party, and as far as
we are able to see there is no overwhelm-
ing reasons why one of them should be
nominated for Governor in preference 10
the other, or Why either Of them should
he nominated. Indeed, we think we have
already given very good reasons why
neither Of them should he nominated.
Gen. Gordon and Mai. Bacon have pre-
scented themselves as candidates for the
nomination tor Governor, as they have a
perfect right TO do, and have assaulted
each others records as public men with
much bitterness. They have touched
very lightly upon questions which are
closely connected with the welfare of the
State, and nobody is much wiser now
than when they began their campaign re-
specting their positions on these ques-
tiOns. Do the newspapers which want
the MORNING NEWS to take sides in the
contest, which these gentlemen have in
augurated, think that it ought to help
make the people believe that one or other
of them has no character for integrity or
morality, and is so utterly unfit for any
place OF public trust that the State would
be dishOnored by his elevation to the Gov
ernorship? That is certainly what they
appear to think, and yet if the candidate
they are opposing happens to be selected
as the party's nominee, they will have to
admit that they slandered him or refuse
him their support.
Because Gen. Gordon and Mai. Bacon
have put themselves up as candidates for
the nomination to great office, and are
devOtIng their time to belittleing each
other, there is no reason why the MORN
ING NEWS should set to work to blacken
the character OF either one of them. While
it would like to have them discuss in a
manly, straightforward fashion certain
important questions which are closely
identified with the welfare of the State, it
does not feel called upon to take sides in
a contest which is purely personal, and
FOR which. before the joint debate closed,
some of the partlsans of each had so far
lost respect that they acted just about as
they would at a dog fight.
What the people want is a Governor
who will command their respect, and who
will hold their interests above every
other. The thrusting of two candidates
to the front by two pretty clearly defined
cliques, or factions, and, that too, with
sort of an assumption that the nominee
must be one of these two candidates ia
having the effect of making the people
wonder whether all tins fuss and noise is
due to pure patriotism and a desire to put
a good man In the Office of Governor, or
whether there isn't something In the
background which the hurrahs OF the
henchmen and the tootings of the organs
are meant to conceal.