Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-05-28
A -fRlENpLY" COMPACT.
The Clique That Engineers the AHAirs of
the Nation.

The sea1skin scandal recalls public
attention to the fact that the men who
are closest to Mr.. Blaine politically |
constitute a clique which embraces |
some of the most daring spectators in
America Its existence first became |
notorious during the period of the star /
route scandal. Prior to that time Mr.. /
Blaine. as is well known, had taken q |
very considerable financial interest in |
the affairs of Arkansas in connection |
with Little Rock railroad securities |
and with casting anchors to windward |
in the formation of national banks In |
this connection he made close friends |
of some of the most notorious carpet |
bag politicians of Arkansas, and from |
Arkansas operations were extended to |
New Mexico, where his friends raided |
the public lands in much the same
style as one of their number-District
Attorney Clayton-made his debut in
Oklahoma under this administration
This clique. bound together by COM
mon utilization with MIR. Blaine and
having headquarters both in Wall
street and Washington. has operated
through resident members in West Vir-
ginia, in New Mexico, in Arkansas, in
Montana, in Oklahoma, and wherever
else there was an opportunity to turn a
penny through politics, as is now being
done through Mr.. Blaine's sealskin di-
plomacy.
In its personnel the connection is
made between those engaged in Mr..
Blaine's deals with Fisher, in his guano
diplomacy, and in the star route con-
tracts Prior to the nomination of Mr..
Benjamin Harrison, his son, Mr.. Rus
| sell b. Harrison, was taken into full
| fellowship and into open partnership
| with Ellins in the Montana operations
of the syndicate which in Montana was
active in land schemes and in po Gtics-
Young Harrison, who went to Montana
to hold minor federal office, had no
| capital of his own, and when he was
taken into the clique there is little or
no doubt that the deal for the nomina-
ton of his father had already been
made. In pursuance of this deal Mr..
Morton, the American representative
of the French syndicate engaged in the
| guano deal, was made vice president
| through the same influence which made
Mr.. Harrison president--the influence
| Of Stephen B. Elkins as the political
familiar of Mr.. Blaine.
The history of the Harrison admins
| tration shows how the deal has been
carried out. We need not 60 beyond
Arkansas and Missouri to find a sufi-
| cient illustration of how all-powerful
has been the influence of these specu-
lators over Mr.. Harrison. They have
been the power behind the throne of
the second of tine Harrison dynasty.
| They have dictated appointments; he
| has merely assented. The patronage
| of the administration has been under
their control, and they have used it to
promote their private ends, regardless
| of party as of public welfare
Such notorious facts make it a very
serious question how far Messrs Blaine
and Harrison are free agents in connec-
ton with the extensive political and
speculative operations of these men.
| The weight of the evidence tends to
show that Mr.. Blaine acts under COM
pulsion. He seems to be literally in
the hands of his friends" of the men
whom in the past he has used for his
own purposes; whom now, when the
end of his career is in sight, when he
has opportunities to make an honora BILE
record in closing it, he might gladly
shake off if he could But it is inevita-
BILE that when public man of national
reputation makes such alliances he be-
comes the slave of those he expected to
use only as tools Desperate men, with
no regard for public opinion, caring
nothing for what is said of them, bent
on getting the largest possible amount
of unearned money in the shortest pos
| sible time. they are not to be trihed
| with, as Mr.. Blaine well knows after
his experience with Fisher. Having
once ''got cinch" on him they use it
| either to control him or ruin him-to
control him regardless of whether it
/ hmm lafi
under such circumstances must be eX-
IRENE. He is the victim of these men
and of the deal they made in his name
J in nominating Mr.. Harrison.
On Mr.. Harrison the hold they have
| was esta blished prior to this deal, and
it has been strengthened since through
the speculative operations in which
Russell 3. Harrison is used with what
is clearly studied ostentation, leaving
no doubt that he is played as a stool
pigeon by experienced operators whose
designs he is not capable of understand
| ing.
Whatever the bitterness privately
felt towards each other by members of
| such com binationS, it cannot manifest
itself in open rupture The same IN
fuences which nominated Mr.. Harrison
bind him and Mr.. Blaine together. No
matter how much they may distrust
and dislike each other, they cannot
separate. Mr.. Blaine will not desert
Mr.. Harrison nor will Stew Elkins de-
| sert Mr.. Blaine.
The operations of Mr.. Elkins and his
associates in Behring's sea show how
| ruthlessly Mr.. Blaine is used The
| governing idea of these spectators is
to make all they can while the Harrison
administration lasts, and they are
utilizing every opportunity. regardless
| of the scandal created when it becomes
no longer possible to conceal the fact
that the machinery of the government
of great people is prostituted to the
private ends of a band of financial
freebooters--St-L Louis Republic.