Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1882-06-28

tered of ce of his ancestor" Gu
parry was doomed to ignominious an
deserved defeat Neither public pat
ronage, nor official assessments, no
private bounties for the purchase
political mercenaries, nor all the re
sources of a powerful Machine coul
have averted this untimely fate. l
would have been defeGted because i
deserved defeat, and the people make
no mistakes. To save it from sucl
disaster was the object and purpose o
the Philadelphia Convention. l
seeks TO redeem the party from tn
tyranny of its masters, to reclaim for
the right to assert its higher purposes
and honest convictions, and to send i
upon mission of public good rathe
than personal gain.
| / cannot take the time to recount tC
you the causes which led to that con
vention, nor discuss them in detail
The circumstances which made it 6
necessity are as familiar to you as tC
me. Let me tell you, however as
briefly as | can, what that convention
was, what it signifed and what il
aimed TO accomplish.
First of all, it was protest against
the personal domination of which
spoke In popular speech this has
become known as Bossism. 1t is a
centralized power which controls your
primaries, your conventions, county
and State, in their nominations and
their deliverances, and in a word
dominates the political life and ac.ion
of the party You understand what /
mean, but an illustration will not be
out of place many suggest them,
selves to me, but let one or two suf-
fee. You remember the Harrisburg
Couyeution of 1880, called as it was TO
make provision for the representation
of The State in the Natio 1al Conven-
tion soon to follow and nominate a
candidate for the Presidency. Here in
Pennsylvania there was no doubtful OF
uncertain public sentiment. Seldom
has public opinion in our day so
clearly aud enphatically indicated a
preference as then. Upon one subject
there was practically entire unanimily
-uncompromising hostility to thi. d
term in the P, esidential Office. Dele
gates went to Harrisburg, fresh from
their respective constituencies, and it
was expected of them that they would
declare this sentiment in unmistaka-
BILE terms. Present, not as delegate,
but as the deus eG machi.aa, was the
Senator from Pennsylvania. Cheers.
The pa ty aud its convention thought
one way; he happened 70 think anoth-
er. The primary allegiance of the
convention was to him, and not to the
party 1t shamefllly recorded his
DEGREES, abused the trust coutided to IL,
and outraged a public sediment as
pronounced and clearly defined as
though ascertained by popular vote.
1t declared General Grant to be the
choice of the Republicans of Pennsyl-
vania, aud decrced that to promote
his nomination the odious unit rule
should be adopted, Mr.. Came. on
himself being the unit, and his the
rule absolute and unconditional. The
power lodged in the role, the rule in
the unit, and the unit in the imperial
will of Mr.. Cameron.
YOU CANNOT FAIL
to remember what storm of indigna-
ton followed; but your wrath was i'm
potent TO deter the autocrat of the party
from executing his settled purpose.
The scene shifts .rom Harrisburg to
Chicago, when he as Chairman of the
National Committee, and my distin-
guished opponent, General Beaver, as
Chairman of the Pennsylvania delega-
ton, combined to destroy the liberty Of
the Individual delegates, and clst the
entire vote of the Stale for one who
was not the choice of our people, and
against whose candidacy they were
irregocably committed. Together they
took up the cry of the Jaoobite, "tbe
king shall have his own again." and to
accomplish his restoration, they hesi-
tated not TO betray the people they rep
resented. Applause. But this per-
sonal combination is not limited to
popular conventions; it asserts itself in
your Legislature as well. You remem-
ber, how in the recent Senatorial strug.
gle at Harrisburg, with unblushing
servility Republican majority gather
ed in the private parlor of this same
Senator, and at bis dictation presented
as the regular candidate for Senatorial
honors, this same gentleman whose
cooperation he had received at Chica'
go-and who is now his candidate for
Governor. These instances will suffice
to show where, and in whose hands
this centralized power is placed
| Against sucn autocratic rule the Pbila
delphia Convention entered it's most
emphatic protest. 1t would have the
Republican party say to those men
who assume TO control it, as the virgin
queen said to the naughty earl, "My
! Lord leicester, l would have you un
derstand that L alone am mistress, ant
l will have no masters" Applause
But that convention, my fellow-citi
zens, had larger and deeper signifi
canoe than that. 1t did not spend il!
force in simple protests. 1t contem
plated by its action, not merely the re
buke and dethronement of political die
tators, but with an intelligence tha
comprehended the source and origin o
these troubles, it declared against tha
nefarious system which makes Bossisn
possible, and which has corrupted ant
demoralized the politics of the presen
Cay, far beyond all other influence
combined. Except for spoil5 of office ant
Government patronage, there could b'
no Bosses. To this vicious system
which places public Offices at the arbi
trary disposal of men in public station
aud makes of them rewards for devo
tion to the political fortunes of hin
ho bestows them, we can with abso
lutte certainty trace our present politi
cal disturbances. Consider, if yol
please. the numerical force of thos