Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1879-07-23
THE WISCONSIN CELEBRATION.

AAE VASCONSlN CELEBHAIlON.
To-day has been set apart by the chairman
of the Republican committee of the State of
Wisconsin as the day upon which is to be
celebrated the twenty fifth anniversary of
the party in that State. It is announced that
several leading Republicans from abroad
will be present at Madison and contribute
their share towards making the celebration a
success. We presume that as much as posi-
BILE will be made of the event, for the party
is now wofully short of political capital, and
perhaps retrospect of the past history of
the party may furnish some material out of
which enthusiasm can be manufactured. At
least such is the hope of the party managers.
Ever since its organization the Republican
party of Wisconsin has been close corpora
ton. 1t has been run for the special glory of
very few men, who have dictated who its
candidates should be, and have framed
its platforms. No person pot in the ring
could hope, even remotely, for political pre-
ferment. In its palmiest days the Madison
regency was omnipotent. Horace Rublee
B. F. Hopkins, Elisha W. Reyes and s. J.
Conklin, of whisky fraud notoriety, sat in
judgment upon all matters that concerned
the State, and issued their behests with the
air of the czar of all the Russias. These
orders were obeyed implicitly by the rank
and file of the party, who never thought to
question the right of the regency to dictate
the party policy. When Hopkins died and
Rublee was sent to Switzerland there was
lapse of authority, but it has since been
renewed, and the Madison cabal is az power
full as ever. It has SD managed affairs that
score of men, all told, have filed
the principal offices in the gift of
the people during the twenty-five years
that have passed. Randall, Fairchild
and Washburn occupied the executive chair
as members Of the ring, with Lewis, Harvey
and Ludington thrown in to satisfy outside
clamor. Spooner, Hazelton and Petit were
the lieutenant governors, Lewis, Allen and
Breese the secretaries of State, Hastings,
Smith and Betz the State treasurers, and
Howe, Smith, Gill and Barlow the attorneys
general. These men may be said to have
filled all the principal offices in the State for
more than two-thirds of the twenty five
years in which the Republican party has
been in the ascendency, and but few of them
have yet retired from the political arena.
The same exclusiveness that has charac-
terized the selection of State officers has
governed the choice of members of Congress
for the regency has been as potent in Con-
gressional az in State affairs. @. G. Wash
burn and Philetus Sawyer have each served
ten years in Congress, Amasa Cobb and @.
g. Williams eight years each, John F. Pot
ter, Walter d. McIndoe, Jere M. Rusk and
II. E. Paine Elk years each. In order to at
tain the nomination and election to Office all
OF these men were compelled to swear allie
glance to the Madison regency and to do it's
dirty work. None of the governors since
Randall have been above mediocrity. They
have had their superiors in ability as subor-
dinates. The secretaries of State have been
fair clerks, nothing more. The treasurers
have had one happy faculty-that Of feath-
ering their own nests. The Congressman,
with the exception Of Potter and Washburn,
have scarcely made their mark. The former
succeeded in attaining national notoriety
through . chslleuge sent him BY Roger A.