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About The Conservative (Nebraska City, Neb.) 1898-1902 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 20, 1900)
Conservative. TIIK NEW YORK CONVENTIONS.C OU YOU tl O 118 111 New York afford additional evidence , if any was required , of the farcical character of our nomina ting system. The theory of nominating conventions is ideal , thoroughly demo cratic and seemingly in accord with the representative system of government. In theory the delegates act for their re spective communities and are supposed to vote according to the wishes of their constituencies. But the practice is en tirely different. In the republican state convention the delegates wore not solicit ous about the wishes of those who elec ted them , but consulted only the pre ference of the ruling spirit and the real power of the convention , Thomas O. Platt. The candidates would have been the same and the people of New York would have had as much to do with their selection , had. the delegates re mained at home and let Mr. Platt an nounce through the newspapers the names of the men for whom he wanted them to vote. Nor was the democratic convention essentially unlike the republican. The same methods pre- The Crokor Convention. vailed. They differed only in the name of the one who gave orders. These were as faithfully carried out in one as in the other. Unquestionably a large majority of the democratic voters of New York favored the nomination of Comptroller Bird S. Ooler for governor. If the people of New Yoik had had the right to determine their candidate , Color would have been the man and he would have been the next governor. But when the delegate * met at Saratoga they did just as the delegates to the republican convention did , except that they went to Crokor instead of Platt for their in spiration. The Tammany boss im perially decreed that Color should not be the nominee , and he was not. Thus the will of Croker triumphed over the sovereign will of several hundred thous and sovereign people. The man whom Croker chose for temporary chairman gives us a very cor rect idea of the intellectual fibre of his political agents. His name was McCarren , first name unknown , a local Tammany celebrity. We do not know his ward. His speech to the convention was distinguished by this gem of forensic eloquence : "In each presidential contest some feature , apart from , the candidate and the platform , impresses the minds of the people , " ( applause ) and that , "when the history of the campaign of 1000 is writ ten , nothing will arrest the attention of those who may read it as much as the fact that in no contest that preceded it was the bell rung so loudly. " Then they all "whooped her up for McOarren. " It is the Orokers and. the McCarreus j that are expected to carry the state for _ , , . . _ , Bryan , and it will From Tildcii to Crokor , , be the Orokers and McOarrons to whom will be entrusted the responsibility of federal administra tion in the state of New York if Bryan is elected president. From Seymour and Tilden to Croker and McOarren is indeed a mighty step but such is the phenomenal change wrought by Bryanarchy. The democratic party in New York is not unlike the demo cratic party in other states that have yielded to the demoralizing and degen erating influence of the advocate of national repudiation. One who espouses national dishonesty cannot long retain the respect and confidence of those who believe in individual honesty. Ho must content himself with ostraoization from decent and reputable political associa tion and reconcile himself to an alliance with those of whom Oroker is a type. MARYLAND. , , , , _ . land gave McKiu- ley a plurality of 82,000. Up to that time it had been recognized as one of the strongest democratic states. That the result in 1896 was intended as a rebuke to Bryanarchy is evident from the vote in the state election of last year when the democrats , upon an old time democratic platform , carried the state by 12,000. Those who were active in the sound money movement in 1896 do not seem to be less so this year. The honest money league of Maryland was recently reorganized. This organization was started in 1896 by independent voters. Of the committee of seventy who were active in the original organiz ation , only two are for Bryan this year. If this is a fair test of the feeling among sound money men throughout the state , Mr. Bryan will again lose this demo cratic state. AS OTHERS SEE US. } P are poking lots of fun at the Quixotic campaign of Bryan and Oroker against imperialism. To really appreciate the humor of the situa tion one should rend the spicy and pointed comment of London papers upon the uncrowned Tammany king. Mr. Poultney Bigelow visited the United States to attend the democratic national convention. In the current number of the London Contemporary Review he tells how we make presidential candi dates in this democratic republic. About Mr. Oroker , the most important figure at the convention , Mr. Bigelow says : "The German emperor in the robes of the Black Eagle radiates no more power , , . , by smile or frown . King Croker. , than does His Majesty King Oroker holding audience in the bedroom of a Kansas City hotel. The Kaiser is limited by a constitution ; Richard Oroker is less trammelled , his power is complete ; he governs a com- mnnity vastly more rich and populous. than was the whole of Prussia when Frederick the Great ascended the throne and his treasury is full. There is not a crowned head in Europe tha1 ; does not envy Mr. Oroker ; there is not a crowned head west of Warsaw whom Mr. Croker cannot afford to pity. " The London Financial Times , in com menting upon Mr. Bigelow's tribute to our own Richard , says : "On landing in New York a few days before the convention , this western . _ . . . . , autocrat was met , An Unfettered . , , nomocracy. among others , by an eminent poli tician of Tammany hall , whom he had had occasion to reprimand. The offender was treated as an acquaintance , not as a friend Tammany knew at a glance that he was 'of no further use on earth at least politically. ' Then Mr. David B. Hill , late governor of New York , crossed the path of the Nikola-like despot. For the moment he was flung aside , but only for the moment. 'Mr. Oroker had ar ranged for the public humiliation of his rival he proposed him for the vice- presidency. ' The mano3uvre brought to their feet a string of speakers who nominated other candidates , and turned to the best account the fact that Mr. Hill declined in 1896 to throw in his lot with the free silverites , 'and thus the only notable democratic politician in favor of gold as a standard of value was drummed out of the party. ' Even Mr. Bryan , with his programme , figures merely as a pawn on this amazing chess board. Mr. Croker told Mr. Bigelow that 'he thought the time inopportune for a reform of the civil service , ' ( we are not much surprised at that ) ; he likewise showed indifference to the more wording of the platform so far as free silver was concerned ; his followers would vote for any platform , and there fore , his desire was to secure a platform agreeable to Mr. Bryan and his followers. ' Such is the western realization of dreams of rn unfettered democracy 1" Honorable Wil- BRYANARCHY . lmm Sulzer tllO AND THE IIOERS.lmm , well known Tam many congressman and erstwhile demo cratic candidate for the vice-presidency , is one of the leading pro-Boer statesmen of this country. He was the promoter , chief orator and custodian of the funds raised at the reception Ii3ld in Washing ton in honor of the Boer envoys. He got up the meeting to express sympathy for the Boers in their struggle for inde pendence and to raise funds for the widows and orphans of fallen South African heroes. Our own Windy V. Allen was one of the speakers. The now accession to Bryanarchy , the emo tional A. P. A. orator of Kansas City , Webster Davis , was also engaged as a spellbinder. But the position of grand sachem of this patriotic gathering of condoling statesmen , Mr. Snlzer thought fully reserved for himself. He led in the exhortation , after the manner of an