Sacramento daily record-union., 1888-12-10
THE STUMP VERSUS THE TRIPOD.

hlDlted by the EbdBlincT IN the effort II is
making to promote the claim of Mr.. De
Young to position in the Cabinet. Mr..
De Young was delegate from California
to the Chicago Convention. He was chosen
by his associates to represent the State in
the National Central Committee He was
made Chairman OF the subcommittee APP
pointed by the National Central Committee
to have charge of the campaign on this
coast. After it was foregone conclusion
that Harrison would be nominated to the
Presidency, De Young, in common with
his colleagues in the delegation, voted for
HIM. This is by far the smallest service
rendered by De Young during the cam
paign. His chief claim to personal recog-
milton lies in the fact that he is the pro-
prietor and responsible editor Of a leading
Republican organ of the Pacific coast. We
mean no disparagement to any other Jour
nal when we say that the Chronicle is
leading Republican paper, is potential
factor in the politics of the State, and
therefore, from a journalistic standpoint,
deserves equal, if not superior recognition.
This is candid and truthful statement of
an existing fact. We have summarized
Mr.. De Youngs personal service to the
party. That is to say, Mr.. De Young
separated himself from his Journal to take
position in the Convention, to take q
place in the National Committee, and to
accept the Craftsmanship of special COM
mittee which managed the campaign on
this coast
To this extent the personality behind
that nebulus thing called impersonal jour
nalism materialized itself Notw;thstand-
ing Mr. De Young personal or journalistic
services, however, we predict with con-
fdence that he will not be appointed to a
position in the Cabinet; this for reasons
which we viii endeayor to make apparent.
To all outward appearance men engaged
in the profession of impersonal journalism
are satisfied with their obscurity. Viewed
from within its lines, however, there exists
restiyeness which, in many instances,
amounts 70 a sullen discomfort. Il am
tired of doing editorial work for proprie-
tors who could not write an advertisement
for lost dog" said brilliant American
journalist. ave are tired of winning vic
tories, the fruits of which inure TO the
politicians only" is the sentiment of hun
dreds of responsible conductors of journals.
4 member of a State Central Committee
visits the headquarters of his committee a
few times during the campaign. There
after he will claim, for the personal serv-
ices rendered by him, Postmastership,
Collector of principal port, or irst-class
foreign mission. The profound editor of
leading party paper will write and read
sixteen hours a day, seven days in the
week, throughout campaign, and at its
successful close his request for the appoint
ment of a friend to a ffty-dollar position
in the Postofice will be deemed immoder-
ate. There is no exaggeration in
this; the statement simply clothes the fact.
The conduct Of a campaign is divisible into
two general departments-its intellectual
and argumentative phase, embracing its
appeal to reason, and prejudice if we may,
and It's organizing and demonstrative phase.
In the first field, the journalist stands
alone, supplying the thought, the argu-
ments, the reason, the persuasion, the his
torical illustration, the indictment, and
the invective of his side of the contro-
versy; upon the other field, we find the
committeeman, the stump-orator, the Or
ganizer of torch-light professions, the pro-
moter of barbecues, the manipulation of
registrations, the manager at the
polls, the supervisor of the count
A well-equipped party, therefore, has
two classes of leaders, the men of
thought and the men of action, the jour
nalist is the man of thought, the stumper
is the man of action. Victorious in cam
paign, these two elements have forever
stood in contentious opposition over the
distribution of the rewards of victory, and
IN all such contentious, the man of thought
has taken a back seat. The San Francisco
Bulletin distinguished itself among the
journals Of the nation for the dignity,
vigor, force and ability with which it con-
Quoted the argumentative side Of the cam
paign. The Gail rendered scarcely less
distinguished service. The Chronicle in
all its departments was vigorous and indie
fatigable in the interests of the Republ1-
can party. Compared with the services
rendered by either of these journals, the
individual service of the stump, or any
department of organizing activity
sinks into utter insignifcance 1t
would be the very summit of assurance
on the part of any individual in the late
campaign to claim that his individual sery-
ices were at all comparable to the serv-
ices rendered by any single leading Re
publican journal. Forensic ability is, how
ever, more conspicuous; it belongs to the
snowy species of ability among men; it has
the setting of the brass bands, the grand
assemblages, decorated pavilions, and en-
thusiasm inspiring occasions. The public
recall the services of the campaign orator
In connection with these things; they
strike the memory as the tones of full
chord in music appeal to the musical
sense.
If the arguments in favor of General
Harrison's election, printed in the Chronicle.
had proceeded from the mouth of Mr.. De
Young on the stump, they would have
conferred on him leaderahip which no
amount Of able argumentative writing can
ever do. Poor Saint Greeley, the patron
saint of our profession, in its American as
pect at least, furnishes a mournful exam
pie of this fact. The great American re-
formation, the political phase of which
may be said to date from IS4S and to close
with the fall of the slave Oligarchv at
Appomattox, was guided and controlled bv
the one master mind of Horace Greeley.
He was the intellectual Colossus of that