The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1888-10-22
INpIANl,s OPPORTUNITY.

pIeScuL SltudtlOu OncIS W uldu an
opportunity she has never had before, and
may not have again for generations to come
the opportunity of furnishing the American
people their President. Indiana is the fifth
State in the Union. The States that rank
ahead of her are New York, Pennsylvania,
Ohio and Illinois. Each of these States has
furnished one or more Presidents. New York
has furnished two, viz: Martin VanBuren
and Grover Cleveland, or three, counting Vice
president Arthur. Pennsylvania has furnished
one, James Buchanan. Ohio has furnished
three, Gen. William Henry Harrison, Ruther-
ford B.. Hayes and James A. Garfield. Il
lin OILS has furnished two. Abraham Lincoln
and Ulysses S. Grant. Indiana comes next
IN order, being the only one of the five lead
ing States in the Union that has not fur.
nished a President
The movement of the center of population
and its present location point to Indiana as
the heart of the country, and the center Of po-
litical influence. The center of population, as
shown by successive censuses, has moved
steadily westward with each decade. It is
defined as ''the point at which equilibrium
would be reached were the country taken as
a plain surface itself without weight, but cap
able of sustaining weight, and loaded with its
inhabitants, in number and position as they
are found at the period under consideration,
each individual being assumed to be of the
same gravity as every other. and consequently
to exert pressure on the pivotal point directly
proportional to his distance therefrom."
This definition can be shortened. The center
of population is the center of gravity of the
entire population of the country. 1t is now
in Indiana, as the census of 1890 will show.
This circumstance seems to furnish an addi-
tional reason why the people of Indiana
should make a strenuous effort to improve
the present opportunity of furnishing a Presi-
dent of the United States.
Both the Democrats and Republicans have
tried very hard in former years to have the
presidential candidate of their respective par
ties chosen from this State. In 1876 the Re-
publicans presented the name Of Oliver P.
Morton to the national convention and strove
without success for his nomination. The
Democrats repeatedly presssted the name of
Thomas A. Hendricks, but were never able to
secure his nomination for first place. That
honor has never come to Indiana before, and
now it falls on General Harrison. Either the
time was not ripe or the conditions were not
favorable for the nomination of either Morton
or Hendricks. Now, the hour and the man
have come. -
If Indiana fails to furnish a President this
year she will not have another opportunity
for a long time TO come. IL General Harrison
be not elected neither the Republican nor the
Democratic party in this State can hope to
furnish another presidential candidate for
very many years. So far as the Republicans
are concerned, if they fail in this contest
they will be buried under a mountain of po-
itical humiliation and disgrace. If General
Harrison is not elected, or if he fails
to receive the electoral votes of Indiana, the
Republican party in this State may as well
retire from politics. Never again in this gen.
GRAFTON could they present the name of an In
diana man in a national convention without
being Missed, and they would deserve it.
The defeat OF General Harrison in Indiana
would be a blow to the Republican party in
this State that it would be a long time recov-
ering from. If he cannot carry the State this
year no Republican candidate for President
can carry it this century, and the Republican
party will never again look here for a candi.
date. His defeat in Indiana will also put an
end to Democratic hopes of furnishing a can
didate, for it would show the State to be 30
solidly and securely Democratic that the
party managers would never give it any fur.
Their thought.
Thus the present chance, if not improved, is
likely to be Indiana's last, as well as her first,
presidential opportunity. The candidate pre-.
sented by the Republicans is eminently
worthy Of the suffrages e the American peo-
pie aud of the high Office for which he has
been named. But he is in a peculiar sense
worthy of the ~suffrages of the people of his
own State, who know. and trust, and love him,
and to whom his candidacy offers a grand
opportunity of placing Indiana in line of
presidential succession with New York, Penn
s~ylvania, Ohio and Illinois.
SOME QUESTIONS ANSWERED.
To the Editor Of the Indianapolis journal: