New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1881-05-27
4 UOHD tn DOTRTFRS.

They are certainly to be pltc1, these haplcsS
REPRESENTATIVES, who do not own their own souls.
and are not even free To obey their conStltu
cnts and keep themselves alive. Their case Is
hard The Boss saW, "Notc or die" .ThcIr
constituents say, " If you vote for the Boss You
shall die The machine can Kill the poor
man, be thinks. by preventing his nomination.
The people can Kill him. he knows 10y voting
for somebody else. If hc only owned himself,
this haplcss member would like to please his
constituents and do his duty, but hc doe, not
belong to himself nor 10 his constituents. Full
well he knows that if ever the machine goes
into bankruptcy one dilapidatcd legislator viii
he found among the assets.
There are not many OF these members, Let
us hope A great State Ike thi, ought not to
be represented anywhere 10y persons who wear
the collar Of a master. Yet there are some
members who do not know what To- do. They
know it is death to vote against a Republican
administration AMI against their constituents.
But they think it is death 10 VOTE against the
machine, even when that machine is used to
serve the private ends of "A Boss, and to dis
rupt and defeat The Republican party. Per-
haps they are night 1t may bc political death
for them either way. But do they think it
will help them, in that cast to bring about
the defeat OF the Republican party'
The power of the Boss and of the machine
is not as great a. these men think. Mr.. Rob
eItson has been doing his best TO resist 1t for
wears. and still has some life left in him. l.
that because he has a favorable DISTRICT Let
any man of pluck and character appeal straight
to the people, and he will soon find that the
machine is not quite as potent "a he had
thought it. Scattered all over the State are
men who have faithfully served their country
and Obeyed the will of the people, and who have
found that no party Boss was strong enough
to crush them. Yet resistance has been made
hitherto at "A great disadvantage. Nearly all
the patronage of the party has been used for
years by iIr. COnkliug, to compel Obe-
dience to him. He is not going to
reward or to punish anybody hereafter,
by means of any control over the appoint
ments Come what may at Albany, it is GER
tain that Mr.. COnklng will not dictate here
after to the President or to the Senate. He
has publicly accused the President of false
hood and yet il himself willing to stoop to
the pretence that the President thus accused
desires his election. He has insulted other Re-
publican Senators by the manner of his rcsg-
DuLDD, HdS uhIifu tii' 'H'y "b iui'h ~
Executive patronage, and has wrongcd them
by leaving the control of the Senate in the
hands Of Democrats. Yet nc has the GOODNESS
to pretend that his influence would be "a great
as ever, with the very Senators whom he has
insulted and wronged, if he should he reelected
Come what may Mr.. COnkling will not I've able
to pay or punish by means of patronage here
after.
Has the doubling member considered what
will become of the machine when control of
patronage no longer puts the steam into it,
Nine-tenths of the men who do the bidding of
Mr.. Conkling are paid, directly or indirectly.
Take away his power to pay, and their zeal in
his service vanishes. Mr. Conkling knows well
that his whole machine would go to pieces in a
single year. and he would be left high and dry,
one of the least popular men in the State, if he
had no control of the offices. lie confessed
this when he resigned his Office upon finding
that the chief post in the State was TO be filled
contrary to his wishes He confesses it again,
when his aids 20 up and down in Albany, pre-
tending that the President wants him re-
elected. Mr.. COnkling does not dare to tell his
followers the truth, that he is and for years
will be powerless TO get places for them. If
he did, he knows that his followers would be
fewer than they are.
President Garfield is not engaged in trying
to influence the election of Senator in this