The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1890-04-22
DEMOCRATIC LEADERSHIP.


The republican press, in commenting
on the death of Samuel J. Randall, gen.
orally speak of him as the last
great democratic leader. This is not
true. Mr.. Randall was never great
party leader in the widest sense of that
word. That is, he was not student of
politics, man who swayed his fellow
men by the force of his intellect.
Samuel j. Tilden was such a man.
Allen G. Thurman in his prime was an
other. Mr.. Randall was leader of his
party only in the narrowest sense.
When he was speaker of the house of
representatives he was the dictator of
that body. When he stepped down
from the speakers chair he was the
ablest parliamentarian on the floor, and
in the sharp party fights at close range
he was the most skillful commander on
either side of the chamber. But there
his influence ceased. He never sue
ceeded in shaping the policy of his
party in the wider field of national poll
tics. He did not even control the party
organization in his own state. For sew
eral years Scott, Wallace, Buckalew,
Curtin and Black, representative demo-
Gratis of his own state, were more or less
at variance with him, and on the tariff
issue wholly so. He was beaten in re-
peated contests for the control Of state
conventions, and when he made his final
stand against President Cleveland's
tariff policy in the tiftieth congress
all but two members of his own delega-
ton deserted him. Mr.. Randall was an
able, honest and useful public servant,
and in his death the party suffers
great loss; but not loss of leadership
10 far as the carrying out Of the party
policy is concerned. 1t is perhaps too
early to say what his place in history
will be. But it is not improbable that,
like Blaine and Conkling, it will be
found generation hence that he has
left little impress on his time. The
student Of politics will look in vain
through the annals of congress during
the last quarter century to find any
great measure of legislation, any sugges-
ton Of national policy of which Conk-
ling or Blaine was the author. And the
same may be said Of Mr.. Randall. All
three were men Of strong personality,
powerful factors in the politics of their
day; but their works do follow them.
New men are rapidly making their way
to the front in the democratic
party to-day. The party was never
SO we'll supplied with leaders
as it is now. Look at the men who have
come forward even in the last six
months. There is Gray, of Delaware
big bodied, big Drained man in his
early prime, an orator and scholar,
whose speech on the Montana case is
said even by republicans, to be the
ablest effort of the kind that has been
heard in the senate for five years.
What filter successor could Thomas +.
Bayard have? There is Turpie, of Indiana
another man new to the field of national
politics, whose speech in the same case
shows him to be a master of the Cicer-
oman art. Who could more worthily
wear the mantle of Thomas A. Hen
bricks? In the house of representatives
there is Wilson, of West Virginia, col
lege president and literary man, the
scholar in politics, whose mastery ar
raignment Of Speaker Reed was one of
the greatest speeches made in the house
for years. There is Bynum, of Indiana,
young, brilliant and able, whose speech
on the same occasion showed him to be
q man Of first rank among public de-
baters. Looking outside of congress,
we find the young men every where COM
ing to the front; a sure sign that the
party is abreast of the times and full of
vigor. In New York, still the pivotal
state in spite of the new stars on the
flag, there are score of young men,
who, even if Cleveland and Hill were
past the meridian, would still be able
to lead the party to victory. Such men
as Frank Rice, who headed the state
ticket in last falls successful contest,
young Mayor Chaplin, of Brooklyn, who
is quite likely to be the next nominee
for governor, William c. Whitney, Dan
iel S. Lamont, are men in whose hands
the destinies of the party may be trust
ed for the next twenty years. Their
equals cannot be found in the republi-
can party in the Empire state. The
western democrats, too, are putting the
young men forward. In Ohio they have
elected James E. Campbell, who is still
in the early forties, to the governors
chair, and his friends believe he will ye,
be called higher. In Michigan the
party organization is led by Don NJ
Dickinson, acknowledgement in Cleve
lands cabinet, a men about the age o
our own Montana governor; and SO OF
through the list from the Mississippi t.
the Pacific. The democratic party de
plores the loss Of every leader who falls
but it has q man for every vacant place
and the cause never dies.
THERE is apt to be wide differenc
of opinion between moral reformers an,
finance ministers. Where, for exam
- Wy ~ n, -.