Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1912-05-16
rHE nEcIprNa FACToR.

me -tnucpouucut WV
70 be. To the Averages politician Il 10
that any voter can
care a rush for the character or prin-
cIpIes of candidate. The only ques-
ton which interests the politician.
after the convention has done It's
work. is whether this or that man
was regularly nominated. and es-
pecially whether he has always sup
ported the regular ticket be II bad
or good. Some of these facts should
be borne in mind when we hear much
Of the talk now current regarding
the coming campaign and the chances
of this or that man in case he secures
the nomination.
The party press will support any
man who may be selected by the par
~ convention. This applies equally
to Republicans and Democrats. The
great mass OF the voters OF each
party will do likewise. No probable
candidate has anything to fear from
OF his own PARTY. But
lie has something to fear from the
other tenth II there is flaw in his
record or a blowhole no matter how
tiny, In his politica, armor. Ir other
words, the independent clement In
the two great parties will eject the
next president. Never has the sit
uar'on been quite what 1t Is today.
Ne need no pnl:rical wiseacre to
tell us that party labels have largely
lost their significance Their power
to influence votes has waned ever
since the great issues OF the Civil
war were settled --or II MT settlcu
were brought to q point whore they
must be handed down to another
generation for final adjustment. In
this year OF grace 1912 there arc
doubtless more than a million vot-
ers who will not make up their minds
how to vote until the two conven-
lions have passed into history. II
both nominations are clean and
strong, some of them will rot fully
decide until the campaign has given
them a comprehensive grasp upon
the caliber of the men and their
capacity for administrative service
and leadership.
The average man would he as
founded to see what slight changes
would have reversed half the presi-
Dental elections of the past thirty
years. General Han 'oc.I might very
likely have been electei in 1880 II
he had not, at a critical time in
the campaign, declared that the tariff
was "local ISSUE" thereby swaying
a few thousand high-protectlon DEM
ocrats here and there to the support
of General Garfield. In 1884 James
q. Blaine would have won in spite
of Burchard If a few hundred Re-
publican neighbors and friends of
Roscoe Conkling had not knitted him.
AS it was, change of little more
than five hundred votes in New York
and the younger generation would
not know who Grover Cleveland was.
He would be simply one among a
hundred defeated candidates for the
presidency, with none so poor to
do him reverence" Ben Harrison
won four years later by substantial
majority in the electoral college, but
a few thousand votes properly dis
tributed would have defeated him.
The same may be said of Cleveland's
victory over Harrison in 1892, al
though the electoral vote was over
whelming.
About $1,000, 900 men and women
will be entitled to vote in the forth
coming election. The parties are
closely divided. The question as to
the thick-and-thin is not 100000
Republicans but the remaining half
million. They will hold the balance
of power In dozen close states, and
as they go, so will go the party
The same might be said of the indie
pendent faction of the Democratic
party. These voters are likely t.
swing>to the same candidate as like
minded Republicans. The two fac
lions combined can elect the mex
president. Neither party can safel!
ignore the Independent voter.
Concordia has $4,000 theatre
given to it by the widows of Colone
N. B. Brown and Earl Brown. 1
was a mighty handsome memoria