OCR Text |
Show THE RESURRECTION. ! The New York "Tribune prints an inter- view with J. B. Montgomery, of Portland, Oregon. The interview was chiefly as ! to the present political bias of the Pacific t Coast. Mr. Montgomery is of the ( . opinion that the only man for the Repub- j licans to nominate in 1888 is James G. Blaine. He is of opinion that the force of circumstances will compel Blaine's re-nomination. This opinion is based upon another, which is that the Demo crats will re-nomin ate President Cleveland. Cleve-land. This will probably be the case." The comfort which Mr. Montgomery and other Republicans get out of the supposed . dissentlons a ; the Democratic party is not very substantial, and when in the hour of need they rely upon this com- fort, it will prove to them a mere vanity. There may be some dissatisfaction in the Democraticvparty over the policy of the President, but that dissatisfaction is very small and is nothing like so great as the Republicans wish it were. What improved im-proved chances would Mr. Blaine have in 1888 that were absent in 1884? His public record is made and that record defeated de-feated him. The public record of President Presi-dent Cleveland was not completed in 1884, and it was not until he assumed the office of President that he began to make j his greatest official record. His reputa tion has grown with his record, and he has three years in which to add to that record and reputation. This is. not all I that is in the President's favor. The wl.o'.e country recognizes the psrniciousness f of the spoils theory of government, and is demanding a thorough reform in the :? methods of appointment to office. Presi dent Cleveland is the head and front of this reform," and its chiefest exponent. This movement is universal and is confined con-fined fcp neither parly, and the politicians of "neither party can afford to ignore it, I - much less attempt to stem "the current I of reform. .Civil-service reform will " be the battle cry of either party I - i in 1888, and the chances for the success of the Democratic party in 1888 can be taeasured " by the success of the party in mtrodiiclng lactdal reform, and th mora jHeform fedeartdd from the more doubtful art .tfcelchincss bl success for the Democratic party in the next Presidential campaign. The politicians will give respectful heed to the demand for reform, no matter what their individual indi-vidual liking for reform may be, and they will give this respectful heed because it is the people who are making the demand. What can James G. Blaine do to convince the people that he is a friend of reform? He was in public pub-lic life a whole generation, but the record of that life proves Mr. Blaine to be anything any-thing but the friend of reform. For the Republican party to put Mr. Blaine up as their standard-bearer in 1888, is for them to march to certain defeat. Doubtless a mighty effort will be made to force a false issue upon the people in the next Presidential Presi-dential campaign, and the debate in the House last Friday on the resolution of Congressman Boutelle, of Maine, shows what this issue is. It is the issue that . was forever settled by four years of de-' vastating war and the expenditure of millions of treasure and hundreds of thousands of lives. James G. Blaine is a fitting leader to shout such a battle cry, -but that cry will nevermore lead to vie- tory in the United States. A political party that will seek to make capital by inflicting wrong upon one-half the country coun-try through prejudice and passion, is "fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils," but such a party is the Republican. |