Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1892-06-16
The Peoples Choice--The Present
and Coming President.

!
Convention in the denomination of
Benjamin Harrison for President.
The nomination Of James G. Blaine
at this time would have been sui
eide for the party. The recent
manouvers on the part of Mr..
| Blaine lost him many admirers
and friends. Blaine apparently
was too confident of his strength
with the party. 1t is true that he
had and still has many friends,
but those friends are not tools and
cannot be driven at will. There is
a limit to all things. His resigna-
ton on the eve of the convention
was one Of the greatest mistakes
of his life. It will be the means of
laying Mr.. Blaine upon the shelf
forever as a presidential candidate.
The time has come when no man
is SO great that he can lead his
party to defeat at will. Time, the
healer of all wrongs, enlightens
the masses in politics as well as in
religion.
The present administration has
been a model one. Clean, bust
ness like and successful. No crit
icisms can be offered justly. The
condition of the country was never
better, and future prospects never
brighter. Harrison and Reid will
prove to be a successful ticket that
will insure confidence and success:
DEPEW ON HARRISON.
"You need anticipate no bitter
ness on the part of those who voted
for other candidates than Mr..
Harrison. Mr.. Plat will not OPP
pose the nominee. Conkling once
believed that the Republican party
at the convention held at Chicago
had gone to its political death.
| Yet we carried the state of New
| York handsomely for the nominee.
In that instance, as is always the
case, the young men formed the
party. The young men know
nothing about the wire pulling of
leaders and all these little games
that go on behind the curtain.
They went to work and organized
themselves. The leaders saw that
they were not indispensable after
all and that the band wagon was
getting SO far in advance of them
that if they waited until the cam
paign they would not be able to
get in it again. People never
knife ticket merely to revenge.
They may do SO if through their
revenge they see that they can de-
stroy the rival of their favorite and
thus make probable the future sue
cess of that favorite. Such would
probably be the attitude of the Hill
men toward Cleveland. The pos
sible attitude of Hills followers
toward Cleveland, however, is not
a possibility on the Republican
side. The opposition to President
Harrison was concentrated on
Blaine. Nobody believes for a
moment that Blaine desires to
re-enter public life. There is no
doubt that Garrison, Plat and
Quay honestly believed that they
could nominate Blaine. But the
Minneapolis convention was run
on popular principles. We have
never had more able politicians
than those men in the management
of the "machinery," and they are
invaluable in the after-convention
canvass. But the possession OF
great power leads party leaders to
discount the strength Of party
movements. Clarkson and the
other leaders who stood with him
could not feel the power of the
great business interests of the
country. 1t is not seen ordinarily
in caucuses or conventions. Harri-
son had scarcely any organization
to speak of and he had none of
these great political leaders. But
telegrmas favoring hinl-not manu-
featured kilograms, but the honest
expressions of business men
came pouring into Minneapolis