The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-09-28
Pennsylvania and the Presidency.

Pennsylvania and the Presidency.
Since the recent Republican state
convention was held many influential
Republican journals of this state have
been discussing the probable attitude
of Pennsylvania in the national con-
vention next year Some of them have
also taken strong grounds in favor of
bringing before that convention a
Pennsylvania for the presidential
| nomination. a proposition which APP
pears to meet with much favor among
| the rank and file of the party. IT has
for many years been assumed that the
| only reason the great commonwealth
Of Pennsylvania never has a candidate
for the presidency Is because she can
be safely counted upon to give her
| electoral vote to the Republican cam
| didate, no matter who he Is or what
part of the country he halls from. This,
in our judgment. Is, at least in large
part. a mistaken theory. The truth is
that the Keystone state has not in re-
cent years produced any man who COM
manded the attention Of the country in
the degree necessary to give him rec
ognition as a really desirable candi-
date for the presidency If Pennsyl-
vania today contained Republican
of the stamp James G.. Blaine. James
A. Garfield. Thomas B. Reed. Governor
Mckinley. Senator Allison or General
Harrison. his name would naturally
appear in the list from which the next
| Republican candidate for president
| will be chosen. Pennsylvania great
Republican majority is not the real
cause for the absence of a Pennsyl-
vanian from the list. The real cause
| regretable as 1t may be, is the fact
that our state today contains no Re-
publican whom the party throughout
the country recognizes as Of acceptab Bile
presidential stature.
Ohio is as reliably Republican as
Pennsylvania, although by less over
whelming ma jority. yet she has a hope
full candidate for the presidency in
every national convention. The ex-
PLANTATION is that the Buckeye state has
had In the past and still has men whom
the nation recognizes as acceptable In
every way for the chief magistracy.
When a Republican national conven-
tion goes to a state like New York or
Indiana for a candidate for president
or vice president we say 1t Is good
policy to do so because it Increases the
prospect of carrying those always
doubtful states. When a convention
goes to Maine. or Ohio, or Iowa, or
Illinois no such argument Is tenable,
and Pennsylvania stands in the same
category as the states named. No state
in the Union has as strong claim for
recognition on the score Of devotion to
the cause of Republicanlsm as has the
old Keystone, and this great state
ought to contain one or more Repub-
licans who, by reason Of distinguished
ability in craftsmanship and promin-
ence in political achievement. would
be as formidable in the doubtful states
as any man from Maine, Ohio, Illinois
or elsewhere.
We have no desire to depreciate our
own state or its Republicans. but In
this connection It Is both proper and
necessary to state facts. There is no
first-class presidential timber in Penn
sylvania. either Republican or Demo-
cratic, at this time. BY this we do not
mean to imply that the state does not
contain Republicans who could and
would bring to the office Of president
ability, wisdom and patriotic states
manship in sufficient degree to reflect
credit upon the state and nation; we
only assert that the state contains no
Republican in whom the party recog-
nizes an entirely acceptable candidate
for president, and one who has also
the merit of large experience in public
affairs. This may be cause for regret.
but II Is the solid truth.
The American people, and especially
the Republican portion Of them, have
high ideal Of what a president should
be; this ideal Is higher now than ever
before. They expect their national con-
vention to give them as their candidate
a man Of the highest achievement in
public 1lfe, a man of exceptional abili-
ties in craftsmanship, man Of exalted
purity in private and public life, a man
whose leadership does not rest merely
on his abilities as an organizer Of po-
lltical forces for partisan success. II
there is among the Republicans Of
Pennsylvania one who measures up to
this high standard his name should
come before the convention next year
and he should receive the cordial sup
port of every one of the sixty-four
Pennsylvania delegates.
The proposition to bring before that
convention a Pennsylvanian only for
the purpose of giving him compli-
mentary vote does not amount to
much. Unless there Is some distin-
guished Republican in this state for
whose nomination It ds proposed to
make sincere and honest effort, then
the state might as we'll remain without
~ candidate for four years longer.
Men like Governor Mckinley. ex-Speak-
er Reed, Senator Allison and General
Harrison are zeal candidates for the