Arizona republican., 1902-01-17
PHoENIx. ARIZONA, JAN, T.. 1902

There seems to be no doubt that Gen eral Miles has definitely decided to be the democratic candi- WHY date for president in NOT MILES? 19C4-p " e d, of
 course, that the democ- racy is willing. That excellent demo cratic journal, the Philadelphia Record, says:
 Lieutenant General Nelson A. Miles is not at all worried over the harsh 1eprimand which he recently received at the hands of the president, for he believes that this reprimand has been a boomerang to the administration. and has aroused a powerful sentiment in his favor, and acting upon his be- lief he is now an open candidate for presidential honors. He has long had an inclination in that direction. and since he has made no concealmert of his intention to win the democratic nor lination two years hence if he can.
 General Miles has written a great number of letters to friends high in the democratic party, and has practi- caly laid his case before them lie asserts that the president treated him with great brutality; that the presi- dent had no right under the regulations to repriTand him and, finally, that when he went to the White House to see the president. MT. Roosevelt did not invite him to go into the cabinet room for private talk, but rushed at him and fired at him a fusilade of cen sure the moment they came together
 General Miles will be retired from the army on August s. 1903, in good time to make his race becore the dem ocratic convention.
 It appears to be the general belief at Washington that the general com manding the army considers himself the logical successor Of Mir. Bryan, and best qualified to lead the wander ing democratic hosts out of the wilder ness The Republican has no wish whatever to load up with the responsi- bility of naming the democratic Moses, but we cannot forbear suggesting that the party might do much worse than to agree on General Miles as it's bell wether. A melancholy but accurate hindsight makes it only too clear that one ofehe worst ailments of the dem ocrGcy in recent years has been too much ''prinCiples.' MT. Bryan's con victions gre too numerous, and they
  party wants now is leader who is not embarrassed by '|beliefs," too many or too strong. The democrats have al ways prospered best when they were simply ':agin the government" and not required to have a definite platform of their own. It is evident that throughout the country the party. is getting back to it's old and easily un- derstood position cf democracy with out any frills.
 To be the right sort of a democrat the new leader requires to be merely a "dernocrat'-he should not be So foolish as to try to explain what a democrat is At first blush it might seem that General Miles late conver- sion to democracy is a handicap, but it is really in his favor It has been such a short time since his ticket for 1904 was Roosevelt ard Miles, that he has not had time to become encum- bered with a lot of political convictions which might not be readily adjustable to the democratic requirements in 1904. Who knows-the exigencies of the next campaign may demand that the democracy declare that it has always favored gold as the standard, or it may be necessary to revive the crime of '73" It may be advisable to come out for protection; ana again, free trade may be the most promising bat tle-cry. The democracy may wish to congratulate the country on the pos session of the Philippines, or it may consider it better to view them with alarm. And so on. By keeping prop erly in training. avoiding all thought on vexatious political issues, General Miles may well be the ideal candidate in 1904. He knows now-and for the last few weeks-that he is a demo crat," and that is sufficient. There is really no need for our denocratie friends to worry over the positions which they had better take on the va rious issues in the next campaign. General Miles and his uniform should be sufficient. Let the ticket and plat fern be.
 For presidcnt,-General Nelson A. Miles:
 For vice-prcsident-any man with 9 barrel.
 PIatform-O President Roosevelt talks too loud; @ new cabinet port folio, to be known as the Department Of Tailoring and Uniforms.
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 The climate of Arizona, the pride of all our citizens is doomed to change