Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-02-16
BLAINE OUT OF THE RACE.
The Plumed knight Announces THAT
He Can Not Accept the Nom
inatiOn.
Dir. B. Z. Jones, Chairman of the Ma
ti0nal Republican Committee.
Makes the Letter Public.
Ir Blaine's letter.

! tiODal republican committee, has received
a letter from Mr.. Blaine declining to allow
| his name to be presented to the national
I Republican convention as candidate for
! the presidency.
Mr.. Jones, when asked whether Mr..
Blaine's declination would prevent MS
friends from nominating him anyhow,
said: "As I am chairman of the national
committee, l do not think it would be
proper for me to have anything to say on
the subject"
| "Do yOu think Mr.. Blaine would accept
the nomination, if tendered?"
81 have no authority to speak for Mr.
! Blaine, and have no conjectures TO offer
on the subject. The letter speaks for
itself, and I must decline 90 be interview
ed on the question"
| Following is Mr. Blaine's letter in full
| FLORENCE, Italy, Jan. 25.-B. z. Jones,
| ESQ, chairman of the Republican Ma
tional Commi5tee.-Sir I wish through
| yau to state to the members Of the repub-
| iican party that my name will not be pre-
sented TO the national convention called
to assemble in Chicago in June next for
/ the nomination of candidates for presi-
dent and vioe president Of the United
States.
| [ am constrained to this decision by
! considerations entirely personal to my
self, of which you were advised more than
/ a J ear ego. But cannot make the an
| nouncem ent without giving expression to
my deep sense of gratitude to the many
/ thousands CT my countrymen who have
! sustained me so long and cordially that
their feeling has seemed to go beyOnd
| the ordinary political adherence Of fellow
partisans and TO partake somewhat Of
! the nature of personal attachment. For
/ this most generous loyalty OF friendship,
I I can make no adequate return, but /
shall carry the memory OF it while life
| lasts.
/ Nor can I refrain from cCngratulatiDg
! the republican party upon the cheering
prospects which distinguish the opening
OF the national contest Of 1888 as COM
pared with that of 1884 d 1882 the re
publican party throughout the Union
met with disastrous defeat. Ten states
| that Imported Garfield and Arthur in the
election OF 1880 we're carried by the deG-
Ocrats either by majOrities or pluralities.
The republican loss in the northern cleo
| ti0ns com pared with the preceding ma
tional election exceeded half a million
votes, and the electoral votes Of the I'm
ion, divided on the basis of the result OF
! 1882, gave TO the democrats over three
/ hundred electors out of q total of four
| hundred and one. There was a partial
reaction in favor of the republicans in
the elecsiens of 1883, but the democrats
still held possession OF seven northern
states, and on the basis of the years con
| test could show more than 100 ma ority
in the electoral colleges of the whole
country.
| But against the encouragement natUr-
| ally following the adverse elections of
| these two years the spirit of the Republi-
can party in the National contest of 1884
rose high, and the Republican masses
entered into the campaign with such
energy tha6 the final result depended on
the vote of a single State, and that State
was carried by the Democratic party by
plurality so small that If represented
less than one-eleventh of per cent. of the
entire vote. The change Of single vote
in every e, 000) two thousand of the total
poll would have given the State to the
Republicans, though only two years be-
fore the Democratic plurality exceeded
(192, OO0) one hundred and nihety-two
thousand.
The elections of 1886 and 1887 have de-
monstrated growing strength in the re-
publican ranks. Seldom in our political
history has party, defeated in nation
al election, rallied Immediately with such
vigor, as have the Republicans since 1884.
No comparison is possible between the
spirit of the party in 1928 and its spirit
IN 1867. The two periods present
simply contrast-the one OF general de-
preston, the other of enthusiastic re-
vival. Should the party gain, in the re-
suits OF 1888 over those of 1867, in any
thing like the proportion of the gain of
1884 over 1923, it would secure one of
the most remarkable victories OF its en-
tire existence. But victory does not 3e-
pend on so large ratio of increase; the
party has only to maintain relatively its
prestige of 1867 to give TO its national
candidate every northern state but one,
with 2 far better prospect of carrying
that one than it has had for six years.
Another feature of the political situa-
ton should inspire republicans with ir-
resistible strength. The present nation
al administration was elected with, If not
upon, the repeated assertions of its lead
ing supporters in every protection state
that no issue on the tariff was involved.
However earnestly republicans urged that
question as the one of prevailing import
ance in the campaign, they were met by
the democratic leaders and journals with
persistent evasion, concealment and de-
NAL. That resource the president has
fortunately removed. The issue which
the republicans maintained and the dem
ocrats avoided in 1884 has prominently
and specifically brought forward by the
democratic president and cannot be hid
den out of sight in 1888. The country is
90 Il
system which i'll a quarter of century
has assured a larger national growth,
more rapid accumulation and broader
distribution of wealth than were ever be-
fore known to history. The American
people will now be openly ard formally
asked to decide whether this system shall
be recklessly abandoned, and new trial
be made of an old experiment which mas
uniformly led to national embarrassment
and wide spread individual distress. On
the result of such an issue, fairly pre-
scented to the popular judgment, there is
no room for doubt.
One thing Is necessary TO assure sue
cess-complete harmony and cordial CO.
operation on the part of all Republicans
on the part both of those who aspire
to lead and of those who are eager to fol-
| low. The duty is not one of honorable
devotion to the party whose record and
| whose aims are alike great, but it is one
demanded by the instinct of self-interest
and by the still higher promptings of
patriotism.
A closer observation of the conditions
of life among the older nations gives
one Eore intense desire that the
American people shall make no mistake
in choosing the policy which inspires
labor with hope AID crowns it with
dignity, which gives safety to capital and