Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1895-12-20
The Republican Convention.

In 1896, for the second time In lis
history, the republican party is &c
hold a national convention III q
southern state. Missouri is really
western and not a southern state
but in a social and partisan sense
it was slave state, and it has been
democratic for many years, like the
other states in which slavery existed
it has been classed with the south,
and it will do no harm To defer that
notion in this instance. All the re-
publican national conventions along
to this time, except that Of 1864,
which met in Baltimore, were held
in the north. The first national con-
vention of the party, that of 1856,
met in Philadelphia, as also did that
of 1872; those of 1860, 1865, 1880,
1854 and 1883 were held in Chicago;
that of 1876 met in Cincinnati, and
that of 1892 in Minneapolis. The
selection of southern state for a
meeting place for a republican ma
tional convention means more now
than it did in 1864. The convention
of that year, held III Baltimore, was
called a Union convention and not
strictly a republican conventinn.
The call was addressed to those who
"desire the unconditional mainte-
nance of the Union, the supremacy
Of the Constitution, and the complete
suppression of the existing rebel
lion," and the first resolution of the
platform declared that "laying aside
all differences of political opinions,
we pledge ourselve as Union men,
animated by a common sentiment,
aiming at common object, TO do
everything in our power to aid the
government" etc. The object of
holding the convention in Baltimore
was to strengthen the Union cause
in the border states, then an object
of great interest to the government.
Many war democrats took part in the
convention, and were expected to
vote for the ticket, which had war
democrat on it for the second office,
although, of course, most of those in
the convention, and who supported
the ticket, were republicans.
The selection of st. Louis as the
place of holding the convention of
1896, has a profound and lasting
significance. 1t is recognition of
the fact made plain by the recent
elections that the geographical line
erected by Texas annexation, and
made hard and fast by the Kansas
conflict, has dropped out of politics.
The republican party, forced by the
issue which brought it into being,
and by the CONFUSION which that
issue caused, to be sectional organ
ization for nearly forty years, has
now broadened aud developed into
national proportions. All the votes
received by the first republican
speaker, and all the ballots cast in
the electoral college for the first re-
publican president, were from the
free states, and, practically speaking,
from these states has come all the |
the strength of the republican
party eyer since until 1894 and
1894, except in tie temporary and |
artificial conditions Of the recon
struction period. But now Mason
and Diyon's line, and the parallels
of $3.50 have ceased to be political
boundaries, and have 1become mere
geographical designations. The solid
south no longer exists. Freed from
distractions by which its power was
restricted, the republican party has
crossed into a new field. and has
started out on larger and grander
conquests than it has yet achieved.