The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1890-05-16
A BRISK ElGhI COMING

New York state will he the battle
ground for a lively fight next autumn.
The widespread dissatisfaction with
republican management ut Washing
ton leads democrats in the state TO be-
lieye that they can carry the legisla-
ture. The fight is worth making, be-
New York elects a United States
senator next January to succeed viii
liam NJ. Evarts. The legislature which
adjourned last week, had ~ republicans
and IL democrats in the senate, with II
republicans and 81 democrats in the
assembly, rs the lower house is called.
The republicans are i'm the habit of
getting away with New Works legisla-
ture. The federal senators have been
seward, Morgan, Fenton. Conkling,
Evarts, aud so on through the list of
republicans, with a single break that
let Francis Herman i'm for term,
more than a dozen years ago: and that
interruption was accounted for, in part,
by the fight involving Conkling and
Fenton. No parallel To that situation
presents itself this year, but the demo-
Gratis figure OH the prevailing feeling of
unrest and dissatisfaction with exist
ing conditions that manifests itself in
the inland counties.
should the democrats happen TO pre-
vail, there are a good many men in the
party who could worthily occupy the
seat in the senate which Mr.. Evarts
has failed to ill. That gentleman's
career i'm congress has been a grievous
tSnnp,tptp,a. a.. HE ..arsx. atl a, a..
people, and there's no accounting for
il. except as his friends infer that he
was long past his prime when senator
ial honors were put upon him.
More's the pity. There are profes-
sional fields in which for a generation
Mr.. Evarts stood almost without n
peer among the citizens of the re-
public. Other men are doubtless ms
gifted as he In certain directions. but
his distinguished achievements gave
him exalted rank in several fields. lie
stood with the most conspicuous as Il
jurist, he was an authority as a consti-
tutional lawyer, he vas an ideal plat
form speaker, he was one of the coun-
try's most gifted scholars in the range
Of general literature, he was the fore
runner of Chauncey NJ. Depew and, in
his prime, he easily outshone the New
York Central's president in entertain
ing table talk or in the formal toast, he
easily sustained his reputation when
he vas a cabinet officer. With all the
rest, Mr.. Evarts has always been looked
upon as a glorious specimen of Ameri.
can citizenship in its very best mani
festation. lie is proud of his country
and the country has a right TO be proud
of him, but he has been a failure in the
senate. Age may be responsible for
this, yet Mr.. Eyarts is only - years
old.
IL may be that Mr.. Evarts' failure is
due TO the fact that, for nearly three
decades, New York state has demanded
that its leading representative in the
senate be a politician of conspicuous
ability rather than "A statesman of
commanding rank. For that matter,
New York's record in the senate has
not been Of great account since the
days of william III. Seward. except with
Roscoe Conkling, who certainly lacked
the instinct of craftsmanship. but who
had superb qualities in political leader
ship, thus answering the demand of
the people Of his state, as we have Just
pointed out. Conkling went down, not
because of his failure in the realm of
statecraft, but in a fight that was pure.
ly within the field OF practical politics.
What of the rest OF them? Lapham
and Herman are forgotten, Fenton is
remembered AS governor but not ms