The San Francisco call., 1896-05-03
THE SITUATION.

| There has never been time when the
policy to be pursued at National conven-
ton required more earnest and thought
| full study on the part of California RepuD-
Leans than at present. There never has
| been before a political situation at all
similar to that which now prevails. 1t is
situation Offering unparalleled oppor-
tunities to the State, but also one of great
complexities, and it is the relation of these
| to one another that makes a careful study
necessary before a policy is decisively
| adopted
On the one hand we see already entered
for the high Presidential prize the greatest
galaxy of illustrious statesmen that ever
| contended for the leadership of single
| party in the history of America. Taking
them in alphabetical order, for they are
too equal in merit to be ranged otherwise,
we have in the forefront OF the contest
Allison, the stainless statesman, whose
high character and large accomplish ments
make him the ideal American Senator;
Mckinley, the knight-errant of protection,
whose devotion to American work and
wages has made his name household
word in every home in the Union; Morton,
the high-souled gentleman and noble Gov
ernor, whose honorable and firm admins
tration in New York has given him rank
among the great executives of the Nation ;
Quay, the superb leader of men, the or
ganizer of victory, the soldier boy who rose
from the ranks to distinguished honor
among the defenders of the Union; and
last, but by no means least, stalwart Tom
Reed, whose masterful mind changed the
lower house of Congress from wrangling
debating society into well-ordered legis-
lative body, and made the Mckinley tariff
possibility.
| Not inferior to these either in service to
the country or in honor among the people
stand Alger, the heroic soldier and broad
| minded supporter of the Nation on the
| field of battle and in the council chamber
| Bradley, the dashing and brilliant cavalier
of politics, who redeemed Kentucky from
| Bourbon rule; Cullom, the representative
of the plain people of Illinois, showing his
wisdom. fidelity and patriotism in a
| thousand services to his countrymen; and
Harrison, the great, far-seeing soldier,
statesman and President, under whose
vigorous administration the Republic
reached the highest prosperity at home
and prestige abroad it has yet attained.
All of these men have been tried by long
service and in many emergencies and are
known to be loyal to every American
interest and earnest champions of all the
great principles of the Republican party.
Each of them, all of them, would
worthily fill the high Office of President of
the United States. How to choose the
one among them who is best fitted to
! meet the difficulties of to- day and ad-
minister National affairs under conditions
that exist at present is the question that
confronts Republicans. 1t is question in
which many issues are involved, and 1t
cannot be wisely answered unless studied
| impartially and considered with due re-
gard to measures as well as 10 men.
Some of the great measures more or less
involved in the choice of the candidate for
President are of peculiar interest to Cali
fornia and the Greater West. Among
these are the restoration of silver to its
rightful place as money metal, the irri-
CATION of arid lands and the construction
OF the Nicaragua canal. The vote of
California at st. Louis should be given to
the candidate who is known to be most
favorable to these great interests 1t
should not be pledged blindly, given in
the dark, thrown away. Out of the COM
plexities of the situation come great oppor-
tunities for California and the West
Let us send to st. Louis a delegation
capable of maxim Q the most of them