The Portland daily press., 1900-02-23
MIR. wENTwORTH's LETTER
He Accepts Nomination of Citizens for
Mayor of westbrook.


Z Mr.. @. w. Wentworth Citizens oandl-
date for mayor n wsstbrook has issued
the following Ie tier Of acceptance;
To the Citi seps' CITY Com mittee;
Gentlemen:-Tke time has come when
you should be informed Of my conclusion
in the matter OF accepting the nomination
from the Citizsns' party. on the nth
inst, to serve you as candidate for mayor
at the coming election.
At the tina OF my nomination, as I
then stated In open convention, there
we're circumstances which l thought
called for my taking the matter under
advisement. These circumstances related
not only to my own private interests, but
also to the cause OF Municipal Reform IN
this city. for which the Citizens party
was called into existence and TO which /
bslieye 10 stands fully committed, uncom-
promising and unaltsrable. After q care
full and comprehensive consideration of
these circumstances. have dsoidsd to &C.
cept tie honor you have conferred upon
me. and serve you. The unanimity with
which the nomination comes to me and
which has throughout prevailed In the
pa ty, {, have me serve as tie candidate,
VITA no other ohoios, Is quite an On
usual feature IN politics. And the fact
that 1t Is given, wholly unsought by me
or by anyone at my mat ince, leads me to
recognise couiiden,e ropossd In me
which Il truiy gratifying. In my aoceI t.
snce believe l am acting In full bar
mony With oil true eitizenf-men who are
cit zens first and poi tisans sftsrward.
The Citizens patty is not In tie
politi,al neld by accident, but by nscsssi-
tY. Neither doss 1t exist by t1s suffsrance
Of any other party or Tait'ss. 1hose
who have had full opportunity. covering
the lapse OF years even, to see that the In
tsrest, OF our oity were properly admins
tsred-with exact Justice to all and
special privileges to none, and that the
good and wholesome laws Of tbs stats and
tina epaetments OF the city were Impartial
ly executed, have, for no good reasons, as
many Of our bsst citizens think, failed to
exercise their functions as they were In
homer bound t, exercise them. This sttt,-
nsnt Is borne out by tbs registered con-
victions of many of the oleansst men of
the city. when one year ago the Citizens
party pollsd . vote that by It's phsnome-
nal size served IN unequivooal notice up
on their opponents that there must be a
change In the system Of political manage
ment-a foroeful protest against ina
chine" politics.
Though We were unable, In that cleo
ton to elect our ticket, we want down In
honor. 1t was the first opportunity the
party had had to show its strength,
though entering upon the elsotion undsr
adverse conditions founded upon mems
misinterpretatlon OF our true designs as a
party. These adverse conditions may no
longer be urged By our opponents. the
courss Of events showing that NO astuts
political jobbsry or dema9ogus articles
could bs infused into our ranks TO mis-
carry our primal purposes. We have
demonstrated that We are, In the true
sense, snle 10 keep from being absorbed
into. or dictated by any political or 9th or
com binAtion Of the city whatever.
Our party exists fer the same purposes
and operates In the same manner, sub
stantiAlly. as do similar organizations In
many other oities Of the Union. which
have demonstrated the desirability and
prActicability Of mon. partisanship In
municipal affairs, That the public good
can better he served by the selection OF
candidates bsoauss OF their fitness rather
than their par tisanship, no ons can rea-
sonably deny. This plan Is not acceptable
to the sold school" politician and COM
/
1t will not meet with bind reception
BY any means The opponents of this
pan adoptas their standard Of measure
to detsrmine ones political duties, party
expedienoy" only.
The citizens Of Wsstbrook have arrived
at that poiut 10 thei. existence where
nj ishsr Of thtir opponents can afford to
ignore them, and their opponents under
stand this. Already may be heard tie
CRY of danger" from certsia quarters,
and fear expressed that we shall, by our
action, turn the government Of the city
over to one or the other of our opponent
partiss. This reason In urged by men
who 10 ttis, place party before principle.
look lug In vain for the reform they desire
| to have brought seort BY tasir respective
/
parties They are unable to detect any ap-
preciable difference In the admin on
Of ffsirs for years at the hands Of the old
paths, and We have sim ply t, turn iris
unpleasant fact ieto thsir faces to meet
thsir argument We are prepared to meet
this cry; 1t Is as old as patty itsslf. 1t
was SIT up and stsreotyped In our
count-y's nrst bi tory and has served It's
purpose we'll. Our forsfathers heard 1t
when the key nets Of Independence from
the Detroyer Of their hbsstiss was
sounded; the Tory sounded 1t while b he
Patriot dug the fids Fit on bunker Hin;
it was dinnsd to drown the sloquenes of
= Gariison and Philips, and later mas
qusradsd behiud the invincibis logic of
their Arguments a. friends svsa In our
own New England. Well may our oppo-
nents, conmittsd to patty ends, realize