Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1888-07-18
HARRISON AND INDIANA.

Own State-MichiHan Also I'm Doubt
The chief claim made for General Har-
rison as a candidate Is that he can carry
Indiana HIS record as a soldieris, ofcourse,
70 be talked about as is his relationship TO
former President; but the real reliance, IL
there really is any, Is his assumed ability
to carry the State from which he halls.
The soundness of this assumption Is, there
fore, worth considering.
If General Harrison were a popular. or
what is sometimes known as a magneticn
man, the chances of Indiana would be in
bis favor The State is close enough to be
considered doubtful, and with such man
mailing from Indiana on the ticket of either
party, the doubt would probably be resolved
in his favor Unfortunately for himself and
his party General Harrison is not such a
man. He is spoken of as clear" man
whose private life is unassailable, but not
even his most intimate friends speak of him
as popular. On the contrary, it is generally
conceded that he is utterly lacking in mag
netism and that his position in his party
Is due to the intensity-his opponents say
mailgnancy-of his partisanship. Except
so far as the extreme attitude of his party
on the tariff may deprive him of votes he
will probably get the vote of his party in
Indiana. But he will get no Democratic
votes.
III he gets no Democratic votes in Indiana
General Harrison will fail TO Justify his
nomination by carrying the State. In the
Presidential election of 1884 the Democratic
plurality was $500; but the Republicans
were in a minority in the total vote of 1900.
This state of things resulted from the pres
ence IN the field Of a Greenback ticket which
polled $500 and a Prohibition ticket which
polled 1900. With General Weaver heart
and soul for Cleveland and Thurman the
Greenback vote of 1884 can safely and GER
tainly be relied on for them. The Prohibi-
ton vote will probably be larger than in
1881; but in so far as it is 1t viii insure to
the benefit OF the Democracy II is not at
all likely that the Democratic plurality in
Indiana Will be less-taking the increase in
prohibition into account-than 10000 The
reasonable expectation Is that It will be
over $1,000
But even if Indiana could be carried for
Harrison it would not be enough. II that
State had in the election of four years ago
been taken from the Cleveland column and
added to Blaine's the former would still
have been elected. The electoral vote of
Indiana is fifteen. Clevelald's vote was
2l9. III 1t had been lessened by fifteen he
would still have had 204, or three more than
he needed.
This settles the matter against Harrison
and shows the folly of nominating him
upon the sole ground of a hope that Indiana
could be turned over to the Republicans.
Nobody even among the most enthusiastic
Republican partisans dare seriously claim
that any other State which went for Cleve-
land in 1884 Is at all doubtful now. The
Blaine men hoped if their man should be
nominated to make strong fight for New
York; but even with Blaine it would have
been desperate contest With Harrison
1t is ah utterly hopeless one. The elements
whose support was hoped for in case Blaine
had been nominated can not be won over to
Harrison. He is no more the friend, per-
haps, of monopolists and the despiser Of the
working classes than Blaine, but he has
less faculty than the latter for concealment
OF his true character. He has never taken
the pains, as Blaine has, to ''coddlen the
masses or to conceal his lack of interest in
them The majority by which he will be
defeated in New York will make Blaine's
misfortune in that State four years ago per-
fectly respectable.
And while it is thus true that every State
which went for Cleveland four years ago
will proudly repeat its record, there is the
strongest probability that some of the
States which were then in the Blaine col
umn will have their names transferred to
swell the electoral vote of the man who has
SO highly commended himself by four years
of wise and honest administration Fore
most on the list of these probable acces-
sions, says the Detroit Free Press, is our own
Michigan. 1t has been urged over and over
again during the past month by one of the
noisiest of the Alger organs that only by
his nomination can the State be saved to the
Republican party. An effort will be made
now, of course, to unsay the prophecy and
the organ will cheerfully declare that it was
merely lying in the interest of its candidate
But singular as it may seem, the organ, on
this occasion, was not lying. Michigan, by
the nomination of Harrison, has been given
into the hands of the Democracy if they
will but take it; and there can be no doubt
that it will gladly add its thirteen votes to
the Cleveland and Thurman aggregate.
Minnesota, too, with the Republicans
committed to free whisky rather than free
| dom from oppressive taxation, is another
doubtful State. Iowa is another. Califor-
mia and Colorado will refuse to support the
| Chinaman's friend who heads the Republic
an ticket; and if Oregon and Nevada do not
| follow suit it will be of small consequence
The Republicans did, perhaps, the best they
could in nominating Harrison; but their
best was very bad.