The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1892-02-08

This nnpeT is democratic in principles
and Is IN dependent IN its UdeWs ON al
local questions.
Blaine Is Out; Is 1t Then Harrison
If anything Mr.. Blaine says can be
believed, his letter to Clarkson, pub
lished in all the papers this morning,
means that he is definitively out OF
the race for the Presidency this fall.
He says
lam not a candidate for the Presidency and
my name will not go before the Republican
National Convention for the nomination. l
make this announcement in due season.
We do not see where any room is
left for a juggle or a dodge in these
declarations. Unless he means TO
play the old dodge of having the
honor forced upon him-the same
trick that James A. Garfield played
this seems to be about as decisive as
any words the English language
affords could make it. Mr.. Blaine is
out of it. Then who is in it to win?
Well, of course, the one person who
profits more than anybody else is Mr..
BENJAMIN Harrison. The candidacy
of Mr.. Blaine was the most serious OBJ
stacle to his denomination, and the
withdrawal of that magnetic and
snowy gentleman from the race leaves
all the anti-administration elements
of the Republican party dispirited
and disorganized, without a positive
rallving point and divided among
themselves. On the whole, we should
saw Mr.. Harrison's chances OF renom-
ination were about ten times as good
as before this letter was written.
And yet we do not think the matter
is settled by any means. Republicans
must feel as well as Democrats that
MI. Harrison is the weakest candidate
the party could name of all who have
.ever come within reaching distance o.
the honor. Unless the Democracy
make frantic plumbers between now
and November, no sane man can
doubt but any Democrat, Cleveland,
Hill, Campbell, even German would
sweep the country with Mr.. Harrison
for an opponent. The aggressive OBJ
viousness of this proposition is SO
powerful, that it may bring Re-
publican leaders perforce to an
agreement upon some other candi-
date. There is the difficulty, again.
What candidate2 Mr.. Blaine's with
drawal has brought every Tom, Dick
and Harry to the front with q boom
let. The absurdest people are in the
race this morning, and not of
them can see the claim of anybody
else. Therefore we say. the impossi-
bility of electing Mr.. Harrison may
compel a fusion on some better candi-
date, but the chances are at present
fifty to one that the gentleman from
Indiana will be the candidate of his
party again this year-or, at least, SO
much OF his party as can overcome its
disgust sufficiently to own him.
As for Democrats, there can be
mourning u "SatlSlacUlOn lOr Them In
the withdrawal of Mr.. Blaine. Mr..
Blaine was unquestionably formid-
able. 1t may be doubted If he could
have been elected; but by setting
himself and his ideas in sharp con-
trast with the utterly contemplate
personalities and venal and vile ideas
and purposes and methods of the rul-
ing faction of his party, he had built
up for himself a popularity and a re-
pute which were not of his
party but against it, which
insured him support in quarters
where the Republican policy and
the Republican leaders of today were
hated and despised. 1t is true this
popularity aud repute were hollow
and artificial; but they would have
lasted out a campaign. Then we
would have seen the Republican and
the Democratic candidate running on
the same platform-anti- H~arrisonism
The question is, would the people
have distinguished the true meta.
from the false?