REFORMER
federacy under the aegis of the Government at Washington, which would tend to increase the export trade of the United States at the expense of Great Britain,” that epithet, borrowed from English politics, will have no terrors for an American.
To him who says that he cannot support Mr. Blaine because
of conscience, there is nothing to be answered since he stands
upon a ground beyond the reach of argument. He assumes,
however, a great responsibility, and we ask him to take good heed
as to his steps. We suggest to him that there may be a merit in
the self-discipline which permits the people to have their own way,
because even if our lives be cleaner and our judgments better than
theirs, there is still a possibility that our information is incorrect
or our conclusions from it erroneous. We appeal to him, if he live
in Massachusetts, not to mistake for conscience the resentment he
may feel for sharp words spoken years ago and which broadminded
men have forgotten, and if he live in New York that he see to it
that his conscience does not conceal his approval of certain
English views upon the subject of political economy. We in
Pennsylvania see no reason to strike at so distinguished and able
a Republican. We perceive no merit and no wisdom in hurrying
into an alliance which necessarily includes the most corrupt
element in American politics. We decline to form a league with
men who always opposed the measures we held to be of the most
importance, who now reject the reforms which we regard as
essential, and who still cling to those means of stifling minorities
which Republicans have discarded as unworthy. We feel that
whether or not Mr. Blaine was our choice for the nomination, his
election will best serve the interests of the people and that to defeat
him would be to aid in the restoration of “machine” methods, and
to entrust with general power a party which has given every
evidence of inability to exercise it in such a way as to promote
the common welfare.”
In 1885 I was appointed by the Board of Judges a member of the Board of Public Education for the City of Philadelphia, representing the Twenty-ninth ward. The appointment was due to the intervention of Judge David Newlin Fell, who then and ever since has been a close and helpful friend. Edward T. Steel, a successful Market Street merchant and one of my associates in the effort to improve political conditions, was the president of the board. He
