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Show HANLY'S CANDIDACY. J. Frank Hanly is to be formally notified of his nomination for the presidency presi-dency today, and the campaign of the Prohibitionists will begin at once. The t former governor of Indiana is wasting his time, for prohibition is not a national na-tional issue, aud rJo amount of argument can force it to the front this year. The contest is between Charles Evans Hughes and Woodrow Wilson, between Eepublicanism and Democracy, and one of the two men named will be the next president of the United States. There is not even a remote chance that the Prohibitionist party will iufluence (he election one way or the other, for it does not gain in strength as the years roll by. The first convention of the party was held at Columbus, Ohio, in 1872, James Black of Pennsylvania being the presidential presi-dential nominee. Black received a total of 5G07 votes. In 1376 Green Clay Smith of Kentucy was nominated, the convention con-vention being held at Cleveland, Ohio. The prohibition vote in the Centennial year was D737. The next convention, I in 1SS0, was also held at Cleveland, and General Xeal Dow of Maine was put up. Dow received a beggarly 10,3(i6 votes, in spite of his prominence. In 1S84, tho Prohibitionists began to have hopes, and Governor John P. St. John of Kansas was nominated at a convention conven-tion held at Pittsburg. St. John polled 1.jO,62S votes. Four years later, Clinton B. Fisk of New Jersey was nominated at Indianapolis, and tho party vote went up to, 249,9-15. Higi water mark was reached in 1S92, when John A. Bidwell of California was nominated at Cincinnati. Bidwell received re-ceived 270,710 votes. Then the tide began be-gan to recede. Joshua Levering of Maryland Mary-land was nominated at riltsburg, and at the ensuing election the ticket received only 130,753 votes, less than half the number polled in .1892. Another gain was recorded in 1900, when John B. Woolley of Illinois was nominated at a convention held at Chicago. Woolley polled 2 09,4(59 votes, more than 60,000 less than Bidwell received eight years earlier. S. C. Swallow of Pennsylvania was the next candidate, nominated at Indianapolis, and the Prohibition vote showed another gain. Hie total being 258,205, or 12,000 under the Bidweil mark. Then the party experienced another an-other slump. The convention of 1908 was held at Cohynbus, Ohio, and Eugene W. Chafm of Arizona was put up to lead thej;'orlorn hope: Chafin. "received 253,231 votes. In 1912 Chafin was renominated re-nominated at Atlantic City, and his vote dwindled to 206,925. Perusal of the above figures shows that the party is not so strong as it was twenty-four years ago, when Grovcr Cleveland was elected to the presidency for the second time. With these facts before him, former Governor Ilauly cannot can-not hope to make even a respectable showing in November of this year. The people of the country are fully alive to the importance of having a firm hand at the wheel of the ship of state during tho next four years, and side issues will uot be considered during what promises to be the most strenuous campaign since 1S96, when the Democracy was unhorsed and William McKinlcy triumphantly elected president of the United States. Having been a Republican and still believing in the cardinal Republican principles, nerhaps Mr. Hanly is reconciled recon-ciled and will not mourn over inevitable inevita-ble defeat, since the indications point to the election of Mr. Hughes. Nevertheless Never-theless it must be difficult to go through the motions of running for president on the Prohibition ticket. |