Democratic Sentinel, Volume 12, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1888 — BLAINE SAYS NO. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

BLAINE SAYS NO.

(n a Letter to Whitelaw Reid the Maine Man Positively Withdraws. Ohio Prohibitionists Nominate a State Ticket—Other Political News. [New York dispatch.] The 7 ribune., of this city, publishes the following letter from James G. Blaine: „ Paris, Mav 17. Whitelaw Reid, Esq., Editor New York Tribune: My Deab Sib—Since my return to Paris from Southern Italy, on the Bth inst., I have learned (what I did not before believe) that my name may yet be presented to the national convention as a candidate for the Presidential nomination by the Republican party. A single phrase of my letter of Jan 25, from Florence (which was de-

cisive of everything I had the personal power to decide), has been treated by many of my most valued friends as not absolutely conclusive in ultimate and possible contingencies. On the other hand, friends equally devoted and disinterested have construed my letter (as it should be construed) to be an unconditional withholding of my name from the National Convention. They have, in consequence, given their support to eminent gentlemen who are candidates for the Chicago nomination, some of whom would not, I am sure, have consented to assume that position if I had desired to represent the party in the Presidential contest of 1888. If I should now, by speech or by silence, by commission or omission, permitmynamein any event to come before the convention, I should incur the reproach of being uncandid with those who have always been candid with me. I speak, therefore, because I am not willing to remain in a doubtful attitude. I am not willing to be the cause of misleading a single man among the millions who have given me their suffrages and their confidence. I am not willing that even one of my faithful supporters in the past should think me capable of paltering in a double sense with my words. Assuming that the Presidential nomination could by any possible chancel be offered’ to me, I could not accept it without leaving in the minds of thousands of these men the impression that I had not been free from indirection, and therefore I could not accept it at all. The misrepresentations of malice have no weight, but the just displeasure of friends I could not patiently endure. Republican victory, the prospects of which grow brighter every day, can be imperiled only by lack of unity in council, or by acrimonious contest over men. The issue of protection is incalculably stronger and greater than any man, for it concerns the prosperity of the present and of generations yet to come. Were it possible for every voter of the republic to see for himself the condition and recompense of labor in Europe, the party of free trade in the United States would not receive the support of one wageworker between the two oceans. It may not be directly in our power as philanthropists to elevate the European laborer, but it will be a lasting stigma upon bur statesmanship if we permit the American laborer to be forced down to the European level. And in the end the rewards of labor everywhere will be advanced if we steadily refuse to lower the standard at home. Yours very sincerely, James G. Blaine. VIEWS OF THE EDITORS. Opinions of the Press Upon Mr. Blaine’s East Step. The following is the editorial expression of New York papers: The World: Mr. Blaine is now definitely out of the race. After him, who ? The Star: Mr. Blaine will not be a candidate for the Presidential nomination at the Republican Convention in Chicago. The personal letter from the Plumed Knight to Whitelaw Reid settles that question beyond dispute. The Press: Mr. Blaine has positively and in unmistakable terms withdrawn himself from the Presidential race. His letter addressed to Mr. Whitelaw Reid was made necessary by the construction put upon his Florence letter by some of his more intimate friends and admirers. This letter is final.' Its language is unmistakable. The Journal: Mr. Blaine’s letter may, we think, be allowed to settle the matter. The Tribune says : This is an act of magnanimous self-abnegation rare in political history and sure to command the appreciation of his regretful but admiring countrymen. Meantime the Republican party is confronted with the immediate necessity of making another choice. The Times says : We fear that there are still some of his followers who will refuse to take even this declaration as final, but it is nearly impossible that the convention should not so take it. The process of “drafting” Mr. Blaine into the party sendee would seem to be now completely impracticable. The Herald says: The withdrawal of Mr. Blaine, by whidh he now rebukes his narrowminded and feather-headed friends by repeating and confirming, was, as we said at the time, notable statesmanship. In this more than in any other act in his brilliant and varied career he shows a calmer judgment than his followers. OTHER POLITICAL MATTERS. Ohio Prohibitionists. The Ohio Prohibitionists, at their State Convention in Toledo, nominated the following ticket: For Secretary of State, Walter F. Payne of Fostoria; for member Board of Public Works, J. Penfield of Willoughby; for Supreme Judge, John F. Moore of Jackson. Delegates to the National Convention were also chosen. The platform denounces the liquor traffic and license laws, demands absolute prohibition, declares that suffrage inheres in citizenship and should be restricted only to protect the country from the incompetent or ignorant, and favors a constitutional amendment embodying this; favors the enforcement of Sunday laws; just pensions to honorably discharged soldiers; denounces the importation of labor and trusts, and favors arbitration in labor differences. Nominated for Congress. The Allegheny County Republican Convention, at Pittsburgh, renominated Hon. John Dalzell for Representative in Congress of the Twenty-second District, and Hon. Thomas M. Bayne for Representative of the Twenty-third District. The Democratic Congressional Convention of the Fourth North Carolina District nominated B. H. Bunn by acclamation for Congress. The First Maine District Democratic Congressional Convention nominated William Emery, of Alfred, for Congress.