The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-10-26
THE HEALTH OF MR.. BLAINE.

The return of Mr. Blaine to Washing
reported. Nobody who read Mr.. Blaine's
recent letter concerning reciprocity and
the Mckinley bill, written from Augusta
to Republican editor in Ohio, will have
any difficulty in believing that Mr.. Blaine
IS restored to good health and his best
mental vigor. This letter was clearly the
work of Mr.. Blaine's own hand; and was
marked by the firm grasp. precise touch,
clearness of sight and statement of Mr..
Blaine's best work in the past. In this
letter Mr.. Blaine does not hesitate to
claim for himself the credit of perfecting
the Mckinley bill by the insertion of the
reciprocity clause.
His famous criticism of the original Nc
Kinley bill, that it did not open a market
for another bushel of wheat or another
barrel of pork, was uttered before the re-
ciprocity provision was attached. Mr..
Blaine in his letter denies that he ever
said that the Mckinley bill was not orig
inally good measure, but to perfect it he
urgedsand obtained the addition of the re-
ciprocity clause. The benefits of this
reciprocity clause to the American pro-
ducer are already evident under the new
agreement with Germany in the matter of
our pork exports. This remarkable letter
of Mr.. Blaine, published just before his
return to resume his official duties, makes
two things clear; first, that Mr.. Blaine is
no broken-down invalid doomed hence
forth to the life of valetudinarian, and
secondly, that he is prompt to assert his
claim to the perfection of the Mckinley
law.
This mood of self-assertion means that
Mr.. Blaine has re-entered the political
arena with all his armor on. If he is not
candidate for the presidency in 1892 it
will not be because he is a sick man, or
that he is no longer live, fighting figure
in national politics.
Mr.. Blaine's letter is clearly the work Of
man restored to full mental and bodily
health, and his carefulness to claim for
himself full credit for the perfection of the
Mckinley bill by the addition of the recip-
rocity clause shows solicitude for his
pCAooHal anu pOLltiCdl ldIllS IudL IudrkS
a man who counts himself on the active
rather than the retired list of statesm en-
and party leaders. The pretense that Mr..
Blaine will not be candidate in 1892 be-
cause his health is too uncertain, is COM
pletely exposed by this letter, which is
written with Mr.. Blaine's characteristic
adroitness at very seasonable time and
opportunity. Indeed, it may be regarded
as a very neat and courteous way of in
forming the anti-Blaine Republicans that
if he is not presidential candidate next
year it will not be because he is sick in
either body or mind.
What Mr.. Blaine will do probably
nobody knows outside of Mr.. Blaine, but
If he declines to be a candidate it certainly
will not be upon the ground that he has
become mental, physical or political in
valid. This letter serves notice on the
anti-Blaine faction that Mr.. Blaine is not
only in good bodily health, but in the
highest possible political spirits. His
letter is instinct with the spirit of self-as-
sertion; the return of that aggressive
pugnacity which is the natural impulse of
the healthy man.