Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1892-10-27

Hon. James q. Blaine in North american
The lack Of excitement and of active In
terp-t in the presidential campaign OF iss-
il a feature common to both parties For
4 period Of more than three months after
the nominations werr made. the country
gave no insimafigs of any special concern
in the result Possibly this may Indicate
that hsnceforth presidential elections VII
attract less absorbing attention than hereto
fore. that a. the people grew more nu-
msroas ti,ey grow hess partisan; and that
all political elections seem OF less mo
ment "a, a Republic of sixty give millions,
engaged IN business transactions OF I'M
meas. magnitude, than TO a Republic of
twenty millions, whose financial AFFAIRS bore
no, even a pr ,par,ionate value 20 those of
the Republic vi TODAY. The elder HART
cons campaign took place iB a nation of
seventeen millions of people. Every man
in tie country, nearly every woman, IL mat
almost he said every chilt- was ENGAGED iof
months in watching its progress. AMI shaping
its result. 1t would be impossible for Tue
earrpaizfi of the Younger Harrison to enlist
the came degree Of popular attention, Hnd
il would be- serious interference with the
ys.t commercial and financial operations
snereIlels interest so many men that large
proportion Of the population give 10 more
attention TO an election than simply to vote
AMI even this patriotic duty Is too often
neglected.
President Harrison has written letter of
aceeptauee which touches every point at
issue Perhaps none Of the President $
predecessors have made so exhaustive, and
none a more clear, presentation OF the ques-
lions involved. Marked by his well-know n
eogcneY of expression, no further
condensation could be ma,ie without
the sacrifice OF clsarness- Ex-Presiient
cleveland. letter of acceptance is not so
long a. President liarrison's, hut il is more
distinguished for differing FROM the plat
form of hi. party. 1t differs not simply IN
point of exDlicitness and detail. but In sub
stance of doctrine. In fact, Mr. Cleveland
has made the platform upon which he Is
now before the people. The important issue
of the tariff has undergone some singular
changes in the Democratic party IN TINS
canvass.
ltwouh surprise jefferson, if he could
onee more appear in the flesh, to learn that
he is held as indorser of all the principles
and measures advocated by the Democratic
party of today. II is perhaps not worth
while to enter into any elaborate argument
on the subject, but the Democracy owes no
little of its success to the persistence with
which its adherents have made their disci-
pies believe this pretension through all the
mutations of their party. 1t was equally
true, il must be supposed, when Mr..
Buchanan, a confirmed Federalist, was the
President-elect of the Democracy, though
it is well known that the object of Mr..
.Jefferson's most intense dislike was the
Federal party. In vain is 1t pointed out
that the position of Jefferson on
any subject was directly the reverse of the
Democratic position; he is duly quoted at
the next convention, and a new oath of al
legiance is taken to his principles. In 1901,
after a severe contest, Jefferson came to the
presidency as the founder and head of the
Republican party, The prefix Democratic
was sometimes. though seldom, used. The
tenacitv with which jefferson held to the
protective principle was only proportioned
to the necessities of the country. His action
in 1907, when he declined to recommend
the repeal or alteration of the revenue law +,
after a surplus of fourteen millions had
been accumulated, puts him in the sharpest
contrast to Mr.. Cleveland, who, in bis term
of office, treated the surplus accumulated as
tho slim Of all yilianles