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
