St. Paul daily globe., 1896-03-25
THE MINNESOTA REPUBLICANS.

The action of the Minnesota Repub-
lican convention was made easy and
obvious by the occurrence predicted in
yesterdays G l o b e, the withdrawal by
his friends of the name Of Senator Da-
Wis as a candidate for the support Of
his state at st. Louis. No other course
was left open to him after the offensive
references made by the Republicans of
his home district in choosing delegates
hostile to his interest. He directed the
withdrawal of his candidacy in a letter
to the convention which contrasts
strongly, in its manliness and mainte-
nance Of the writer's self-respect, with
the conduct of those who, while pre-
tending to fight his battles, were for
months preparing the reverse which
they finally accomplished. For Senator
Davis as a Republican the G 10 e has
only the sharp edge Of the sword. AS
a man he has vindicated the esteem in
whichhis friends hold him, and not been
found wanting in courtesy, loyalty or
honor When the record Of those who
defeated him in his own state comes to
be examined in those particulars, in the
light Of the inside history of this cam
paign, there will be not a few Repub-
licans to question the wisdom of hu-
initiating him at the command of the
well-equipped machine that now gov
erns every act of the Republican party
in Minnesota
4he Davis episode having been dis
posed of, there was nothing left for
the convention but to join in the wild
Mckinley war dance. And it was a
spectacle to make a cynic smile to see
the representatives Of a great agri-
cultural community, community upon
which falls all the burden and none of
the benefit of the protective system, a
state whose Republicans, before the de-
cadence of their party, were among the
sturdy remnant of protestants against
this vicious, uneconomic and immoral
form of paternalism, singing hymns to
their new idol and applauding a speak
er who announced thateven the McKin-
ley standard of protection was not
high enough for them. They will have
enough and to spare before their ex-
perience is finished. The delegate slate
that had been fixed UP in advance went
through without opposition. The plat
form contains one excellent plank, COW
ering the money question. The declara-
tion against free coinage is explicit, and
the statement that the effect of interna-
ticnal decentralization can be overcome
only by international reconciliation
sums up a fact that is true for all par
ties and all shades of opinion. To place
on that platform man who, like Nc
friend of cheap money, is one of those
little performances that do not lie
heavy on the Republican conscience.
The other resolutions indorse the reci-
procity humbug, go in for more war
expenditures to create a need for more
tariff taxation, and contain the usual
amount OF untrue reflections upon the
policy Of the opposite party. The Re-
publican party of this state has yielded
itself frenziedly to the Mckinley stam-
pede. At a later day it will have op-
portunity to reflect upon the aphorism
that whom the gods wish to DESTROY
they first make mad. The issue that il
presents to Democrats is one that they
can accept with the joy of those who
fight, at any odds, for principle, against
the mercenaries of the most corrupt
and debasng system of modern pol
tiles