St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-02-29
PRACPICAL POLITICS.

Politics is a practical matter. There
are sentimentaliSts who like to beat the
air and come back empty handed, but
Che average citizen does not care to fol-
low an ideal too expansive 10 have any
Chance of getting through the ballot
box. He does not expect, where there
are six or seven million people to be in
Guced to work together, that each man
can have the platform shaped quite to
his liking, nor can all have their favor
ties for candidates. Character and quail
ifications being conceded to all within
the nominating radius, availability
rightfully comes in for large place.
Here, too. there is honest diversity
of opinion. Personal bias and old
impressions have their influence,
For instance, many Democrats have
become SO in the habit of looking to
New York for their presidential candi-
date that they are not able to disabuse
heir minds of the impression that its
thirty-siX votes can be had only for one
of its favorite sons. Yet. as they look
over the record, they note that for thirty
years every man put on the presidential
ticket has been from New York. Nc
CLELLAN and HANCOCK were really no
exceptions. The popular soldier did
not carry that state in 1864. SEYMOUR
did in 1868, but was not elected. -Four
years later GREELEY was woefully
slaughtered. TH.DEN swept it bv a round
majority in 1876 by virtue of his broad
craftsmanship and the magnificent
fight he had made against TWEED and
Tammany. In 1880 HANCOCK was re-
jected, and CLEVELAND was saved by a
scratch in 1884. He failed at the second
trial. 1t has not been been questioned
that the Democrats presented in each
case were chosen with reference to their
strength in New York. yet they saved
the state but three out of the seven
times. In two cases only, those of SEY-
MoUR and TILDEN, can there be any
plausible claim that there was gain
even in that state by reason of the loca-
ton of the candidate. This view is
strengthened by the fact that in the
merely state elections in the same
period the Democrats have been success
full about two-thirds of the time. The
argument, then, from the records, that
1t is needful to go to New York for the
head of the ticket to save that state is
palpably lame. With apparent har-
mony and unanimity in that state for
It's man, the election results are not in
dicative that advantage was gained by
listening to the "shrieks of locality"
Nor is it fair diagnosis of the situation
to insist that the Democrats cannot elect
a president without New York. The
zeal for faYorite in that state induces
a leading Democratic paper in Wiscon-
sin to insist that it would be party sui
eide to leave it. That is simply alb
surd. To support this theory it allots
to the Republicans all the North
ern states except New York, Con-
necticut, New Jersey and Indiana,
with 81 votes, which it classes as
doubtful, and comedies also 10 of the IA
votes of Michigan to the Republicans.
They then have PA votes, and either
New York or Indiana would give them
more than the requisite 223. That is an
attempt to manipulate figures to sub
serve special ends. New Jersey and
Connecticut are as certain for the DEM
ocrats asWest Virginia and perhaps one
or two other Southern states. indiana
may be fairly claimed, and Michigan is
certain to give the Democrats at least 6
of its IA votes. Then with the
South they have 1876 votes, without
New York. If the candidate is not
from New York, it is evident that he
will be from Indiana, Illinois or Iowa,
with the vice president probably from
Massachusetts. In that event the "A
votes of Illinois, Is of Iowa and Is of
Massachusetts could be drawn upon I'M
less the campaign broke down by alb
surd laundering. Any two of them
would be enough, or Illinois and Mon
tana or Rhode Island alone. Nor is
there reason to suppose that New York
would be lost because its home man was
not taken. 1t is not judicious to press
the locality feature very strongly.