New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-03-20
POSSIBILITIES.

The Presidential preference OF hiai "n
has any sense implies Judgment. franks anu
fanatics. who enjoy fooling away their sacrcu
,rust rs citizens by voting where they kno" IL
can have no effect have no place In the cii-
culat;on. they cannot be said to have Jhds-
VENTS But rational men do not prefer The
nomination of a candidate if they believe nc
cannot I've elected They do not wish to waste
their own time and resources or the ti'hc anu
resources of other friends OF candidate III
Struggle for months to secure the Nomination.
and then in all the weary ordeal OF fresi-
dental campaign, if the only probable oulconic
is defeat. They do not want to destroy 'helr
own influence with their party by urging
nomination which will be remembered as the
cause of its disaster Every patriotic mot'o
or feeling forbids them 10 sacllhce Inc welfare
of the country by causing or even serousl!
r;sking the defeat of the party upon Which LILO
defence of the Nations Industries depchu.
If is we'll TO remember these things, IN read
ing the ,eport of Presidential preferences Which
were published yesterday. a good many 'hlhgs
are thus explained; for example, the report
tb.t many Ohio men are for Senator Sherman
o, The ON, set. but might easily change to some
hodv else. In this case, evidently. preferences
ORC not deem or fixed, because men feel some
doubt whether the Senator would be elected
They know he would run well in Ohio, but they
do not know whether he would carry New
York or California. They honor the man anu
would like to see him President but they dc-
cidedly do not want him nominated unless HI
gering and uncxprcssed doubts about MS sue
cess can be removed That also explains Inc
fact that out of 2,258 responses from thls o'a'c'
including this city and Brooklyn only -! are
for MIR. sherman, 1879 for Mr. H,scock' oi 10,
"Rlaine. dcclinatiOn or no declinatlon'" ana
sou for Depew, with but 331 divided among
all other candidates. Over Onc-thlrd, but not
one-balf think MIR. Depcw the safest nominee
e Mr. blaine is not TO be candidate; nearly
= third think Mr. Blaine ought to be nominated
IN sn;,e Of his Withdrawal; while less than
,o,,h of the whole favor Mr.. Sherman or any
o,h., canddate vet proposed. Plainly, differ
ont nrcfc,cnces hele are largely due TO dliier-
emf judgments .s
Nor * il strange that mon differ IN estimates
of the strength Of candidates One man h'c'
in a neighborhood where frec-trade MueWuihps
are numerous or where men who nave ho-
ton that tariff reduction is desirable appear !"
possess large influence on pubhc opihoh
Not ten miles away another observer, VINO
meets no such clements whatever, ana VINO
knows that in the aggregate they are OF inslg-
pficant importance, naturally reaches diner
ent Judgment In general probably nine ne
publicans out Of Ten have personal knowledge
that free-trade plots Of Democrats wouin coS'
them the votes of many wOrkiDgnen. hesc
men are apt to feel that the Republican parry
has but 70 meet the tariff question bravery
with candidate whose record is platform
in order to insure its success. They may take
a much too sanguine view, but at all events
are nearer right than the half-scared union-
unatcs who imagine that an omnibus LOAD OF
free-trade Mugwumps must be placated or all
the fat is in the fire.
The Republican party drew TO itself thou
sands of votes by its nomination in 1884 when
had never supported q Republican candidate
before. The number was so large that, in spite
Of all defections, the party missed victory only
by an accident. Now that His Accidency the
President, has thrown of the mask and avowed
his free-trade theories, 1t is plain where 'he
Republicans have opportunity to mako the
greatest gain, ii they nominate with good Jlag-
ment 1t is a growing perception OF this iac'
which checks ardor in the explosion Of many
personal and local preferences.