Bismarck weekly tribune., 1888-07-27
BISMARCK WEEKLY TRIBUNE: FRIDAY JULY 27, 1883
HOW TO WIN THIS YEAR.
Education on the Leading Issues Prefer
able to Noise and Hurrah.

Education on the Leading Issues Prefer
able to Noise and Hurrah.
The Republicans nave decided for what
to fight and for whom. How to fight
they have not yet considered. But the
methods to be adopted in the coming
campaign may determine the result A
hurrah campaign sometimes win. This
year tho Republican party needs to de.
pend upon facts and reasons There
must be argument at the beginning, ar
gument in the middle and argument at
the end of the campaign, if the right is
to prevail "Tippecanoe and Tariff too
has moro meaning in it than Tippecanoe
know what the tariff means, what it does
for them and what Democratic victory
would involve
The one danger this year is that there
will be too much reliance upon enthusi-
asm, brass bands, torches and unlimited
shouting. The west will go wild with
excitement. Political managers who
have been accustomed to appeal to popu-
lar instincts and loyal sentiments, instead
Of we'll fortified beliefs on economic and
Industrial questions, will be constantly
tempted to utilize the growing enthusi-
asm as the readiest weapon and to neglect
the dry duty of public education. Let the
Republican managers take warning early
that this would be fatal mistake. A
great many thousand voters are going to
be shifted this year from one party to the
other on account of issues which have not
been as sharply presented hitherto. It
rests with the Republican party to deter
mine whether the shifting shall turn for
or against it's candidates.
Living under a protective tariff for
twenty seven years, the present genera
tion Of voters has never closely considered
the nature or workings of that tariff.
Habit has led many to rely upon the
growth and prosperity of the nation as a
fundamental fact of nature, as certain as
the procession of the seasons, and as in.
dependent of political campaigns.
Others, again, have heard for genera
tion that "war taxes" were retained be.
'yond the necessity for them, and have
vaguely accepted the notion that the pro
tective tariff was such tax and should
be reduced. Others. still, brought up to
believe in protection, have found their de-
sires growing faster than their wages,
and have listened to demagogues who
have told them that cheaper things could
be had if the monopoly tariff" could be
cut down. Others, still, have heard that
their industries would prosper with free
raw materials, and that genuine protec.
tion would give them cheaper materials,
cheaper food and clothing and wider
foreign markets.
For the first time in more than forty
years the Democratic party has set itself
to appeal to the Judgment Of voters It
Is not altogether honest in stating the
issue. The changes which it advocates in
New York as essentially protective are
precisely the changes which it advocates
in Kentucky as essential steps toward
free trade Voters who see the contra
diction are appeased with the pretense
that Mr.. Garfield and other Republicans
have favored protection only as the short
road to free trade. and that the time has
come to take another step on that road.
1t will not do to treat these specious ar
guments with contempt. The number of
voters who may be led astray by them, if
they are not met by solid facts and sound
reasoning, is very large.
The Republican party is perfectly able
to justify its past policy, its present plat
form and its plans for the future. It has
behind it a record of industrial progress
such as no other nation has ever achieved,
and such as this nation has never achieved
under any other policy. It can crush and
bury all opposition if it takes care to
bring the facts of recent history to bear
upon the minds of voters But it cannot
convince those minds by shouting, by
brass bands or by torchlight PROFESSIONS
The voters need information, and the
danger is that managers will offer them
enthusiasm instead. There are needed
this year millions of tracts, millions Of
effective speeches crowded with facts,
millions of school district meetings at
which voters may be educated. The truth
will win, if men take the trouble to pre-.
sent the truth. But the truth will not
win if it gets expression only in the flare
of torches and the blare of trumpets.-
New York Tribune.