Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1882-05-26
The Pennsylvania Independents.

The Independent Republican move
ment of Pennsylvania is a live, earnest
movement, and its promoters are deter
mined to fight the Cameron faction and
bossism to the bitter end. On Monday
convention of this party, consisting OF
delegates from every section of the State,
TO the number of two hundred and
fifty.one, assembled in Horticultural
Hall, Philadelphia, and the proceedings
were unusually exciting. The plat
form adopted contains as its chief plank
a declaration against bossism and the
spoils system, and full State ticket was
placed in the field against the regular
nominations.
A dispatch from Philadelphia regard
ing this movement states that it is pO-
tent reality, and has shaken the Repub-
lican party of the State to its very centre
No matter what the consequences may
be, the Independents have inhexiDly
made up their minds to make the issue.
The opposition to Cameron is so great
that with this faction it is no longer so
much question of party success, as it
is to defeat the old political dictator and
owner of the State. This has been strik-
ingly illustrated by a letter from Mr..
George w. Merrick, Postmaster at Ito
ga-one of the most prominent men in
the movement, and the nominee of the
convention for Secretary Of Internal
Affairs-in which he writes:
This autocratic despOtism is too much
for honorable men to bear. 1t can be
shaken off by defeating Cameron. /
know of no way so sure to do that as to
defeat the State ticket Mr.. Cameron has
imposed upon the party. 1t may not
result in the victory of an Independent
Republican tic ct. 1t may result in a
temporary victory for the Democratic
party. Very well. The first object
should be the defeat of bossism. Moth
ing can be worse than that, and see no
hope for the Republican party but in this
course"
Such words from a man occupying the
position of Mr. Merrick are very signif-
cant. They convey in a nutshell the
feeling and spirit of the movement, and
display a hostility towards bossism which
is ineradicable and overshadows all
other considerations.
This Independent movement in Penn
sylvania is also of unusual interest, not
only to the citizens OF that State, but to
those of every other State in the Union.
The battle cry of the party is, as we have
seen, Death to Cameron and the spoils
system" This is another form of saying
death to Radicalism in Pennsylvania, p"
for the clan Cameron is so identified with
the Republican party in that common
wealth, that it cannot be overthrOwn
without that party sharing in its down
fall. 1t is the pillar which has long up
| held the Radical temple of PennsylVa-
MIA, and if this Independent Sampson
pulls it down the whole building must
tumble with crash.
But should the movement succeed, the
effects will not be confined to Pennsyl-
vania alone 1t will be the begin
ming of the end of the spoils sys-
TEN in the country, and that simply
means the destruction of national Radi l.
calism, which, since sectional hate has
ceased to afford it nourishment, is now
kept together only by "the cohesive
power of public plumber" The success
of the Pennsylvania Independents, there
fore, Will sound the knell of the Repub-
lican party throughout the Union, and
the future of the NOV ment will be
watched with universal int, rest.