The new North-west. [volume] (Deer Lodge, Mont.) 1869-1897, 1891-08-14

'-It-iSE tGiG SEI!itiS Ill MN h4ttLtii
have ASSERTED! itself sooner or later; but lis
development might llagc taken IN catirelv
different course had lie remained Iii Port
land
Mr.. Blaincs career us Il Statesman Is tF.E
deselopmcnt5of his career rs :. politician
His extraordinary influence in political
management Sss developed very soon after
he entered politics, and it is due partly 10
u zeal and enthusiasm which were aOnie
thing phenomenal, at least III the expert
enec Of Maine politicians, x political cam
paigD with Mr. Blaine in Milne had all
the elements OF Il great battle lie was
chairman of the state committee of his
party Tor many years, and the work which
he did III that capacity was frequently pbe-
nomenal One ona Occasion, when a ltss-
perstte battle VAS 3eiug fought in Maine
and the Greenhacis party seemed likely TO
secure supremacy, it was the fortune OF
the writer to sec Mr. Blaine as the mana
ger of u campaign. lie was probably tho
most ubiquitous man who ever took part
in any CANVASS. He would be seen one
afternoon i'll Portland, and perhaps the
next morning would be heard from in the
uttermOst part OF the state. lie was in
Aroostook county one day and penobscbt
county the next; he descended upon the en-
emy here and there with the celerity of the
hosts of the xAssyrians. He was no headquar-
ters manager; he carried his headquarters
in his hat and his head. He would spend
halt the night in Il compartment of 4 sleep
Ing car, debating correspondence, analyz
Ing reports, studying the weak places in
his own lines and the strong places in the
enemy's, and making drafts upon his re-
sources which were always met. He was
autocratic and yet tactful; lie ruled with
iron whom and tX tb ra1vat "a,
it was wise. He was utterly without self
consciousness. Not Il trace of that deadly
mapnerlsm for 4 politician which is called
Dig head was apparent in his manner.
his overwhelming personality, that very
quality which afterward made him SO con-
spicuous in national affairs, was perhaps
never afterward SO splendidly made mani
fest. His theory of politics was the theory
of the general in battle; and that is that
success must be won at all hazards short
of dishonor. He once said that politics
was not gratitude, but that it was power
perhaps the most perfect epigrnmmatic
description of the science of politics
ever made 1t was such management rs
this, kept up long after he had become IL
national figure and even Il presidential
possibility, that distinguished Mr. Blaine
us Il political manager. No man has ever
excelled him i'll this direction.
1t is not generally known that Mr.. Blaine
IS passioliatcly fond of music, hut in his
family this disposition has long been rec
onnized aud catered to. One of the most
pleasant illustrations Of 1t occurred a few
years ago at the Fifth Avenue hotel, in
New York city. Mr. Blaine had just come
from Washington, and had been assigned
to tho apartments in that hotel which are
always reserved for him. In the office of
the hotel were gathered many men of in
fluence who had come to call upon him.
Their cards were sent mp, but to none of
them did Mr.. Blaine grant an audience. He
was tired; he was not in the mood for talking
politics or business with any one. Gould
the crowd in the corridors below have seen
him they would have been amazed, aud his
actions would have dispellcd any suspi-
cions regarding his state of health.
A young lady, Il member of the family
party. who was quite pianist, was in his
private parlor. and Mr. Blaine, having
given orders to admit no one excepting
members OF his family, tripped across the
parlor floor with the exuberance of boy,