New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-05-29
MR.. CAVERON TBREATENS.

Mr.. CAMERON TBREATENS.
Senator Cameron makes the fatal mistake
which so many bosses have made before INN.
One after another these WOuld-be dictatorS
have come to imagine that people and party
were c,eated for their sole use and beh0oi.
Once upon time, the story goes. ship
wrecked seaman landed on a whales back.
Conceiving that he had reached an island
created for his especial benefit, he proceeded
to build a fire. The whale, like the people of
some States, was thick-skinned, sluggish and
for time Indifferent. Ultimately, even
through his thick hide the fire became uncom-
Portable be moved, rolled over and smashed
the sailor with his tail. All the bosses come to
grief in the same way. When they begin to
believe that people and parties belong to them
the smashing process is pretty sure to com
mence very soon. Mr.. Cameron Is reported
by the Associated Press as telling
delegation of substantial men of Pcnnsyl-
vania who met him on Saturday, that " If
those who had heretofore supported the Re
publican ticket wanted to stab him, he was
"ready to receive the blow and he ,could
"OppoSe the protective tari0 IN the Senate as
heartily as he had upheid 1t. If you want
"to XIII the party" he said, eve will all go
"to destruction together" So a blow at Mr..
Cameron, i'll his opinion, is an attempt to
"kil the party" There was once a king who
sad "The >tate7 am that" But his end
was not such as TO encourage imitators and the
sort of despotism that became obsolete in En-
rope nearly century ago Will hardly flourish
in the United States at present
The Republican party does not consist of the
| Cameron family. That is fact, it seems,
which the present Senator of that name does
not know as well as his father did Nor does
| any man named Cameron own the Republican
party. 1t is possible that he may have bill
of sale of some individuals. But the party
belongs to itself 1t has a right to govern
the State of Pennsylvania because it consists
of majority OF the lawful electors of that
State. Ii L. a right to tumble Mr.. Cameron
overheard whenever he does not wish to ex
ccute its will, and, with the right, it has also
the power. Moreover, it is the absolute right
of the party to give free and full expression
to its will in its conventions, so that Mr. Cam
erOn and all other persons may understand what
it wishes. If any Boss attempts to deprive
the party of that freedom i'll the expression
Of its will, it is high time that he should bc
treated as the sailor was treated by the whale.
The Republican party of Pennsylvania will
find its task made very much easier by Mr..
| Camcron's threat in regard to the tariff The
State of PENNSYLVANIA has an opinion ON that
subject, which no member of the Cameron
family ever created or viii be able to over
come. 1t was an opinion strong enough to
control the affairs and the vote Of the State
before the elder Cameron was in public life.
PENNSYLVANIA trusted most fO0lishly those
Democrats who shouted for " Polk, Dallas and
the Tariff Of ~" and the elder Cameron first
gained seat in the Senate ds a Democrat i'll
1915 by reason OF that misplaced trust. His
party false as usual, repealed the tariff of
1912, and, though it was done without his aid,
at the next general election Pennsylvania gave
a Wing majority, and Mr.. Cameron was retired
from public hle, a Wing taking his seat in
the Senate. The younger Cameron can easily
transfer himself to the party from which his
father wisely escaped, but he cannot get even
the Democratic party III PENNSYLVANIA to sop
pose the tariff" or to defend any Senator who
opposes it. In fact, the Pennsylvania Senator
who opposes the protective tariff simply cuts
his own throat politically and departs from
public life forever. Mr. Cameron's threat that
he will betray the vital interests of his State
unless he is permitted TO be its Boss will con-
vince a great many practical and sensible men
in Pennsylvania that he ought to be deprived
of all power as soon as possible. He has been
trusted with great power as an agent of the
known will of Republicans of that State. The
man who can threaten to be false 10 such
trust unless suffered to have his own way in
everything, is an excellent man to put where
treachery by him will be harmless.
IL 41,otl
party deserved TO be beaten iii the Senate and
in this State, because it did not wish him for
dictator. 1t may be doubted whether Mr.. Cam
eron will succeed in part Ill which Mr.. Conk
ling has failed The New-York Senator did
make the Senate Democratic for a short time.
1t would have been much easier for Mr.. Cam
erOn to turn over his State TO the Democrats
if he had not threatened to fight against the
protective tariff. The answer lac will receive