St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-24
Horizontal Mr. Morrison, Of
Illinois, Alleged to Be
Considered Such.
The Prairie State Delegation
May Be for Him in Ger
tain Events.
Possible Explanation Of the
Sudden Polishing of Mr..
Blaine'S Boom.
Cleveland, Blaine, Hill and
Hosts Of SehemePS in
New York.

CHICAGO. May 23.-Col. William R.
Morrison, chairman of the interstate
commerce commission, and for many
years chairman of the ways and means
committee of the house of representa-
tives. has suddenly forged to the front
as a someN hat formidable presidential
candidate, and his friends assert he will
be presented to the national convention
as the choice of the Illinois delegation
in case Cleveland is not nominated by
storm in the early enthusiasm Of the
convention. The meeting of the new
committee in the city today was the oe
casiOn for the gathering of most of the
Illinois delegates and of politicians from
all quarters of the state, and was pro-
ductive of not little surprise when the
presidential preferences of delegates
were canvassed.
The forty-eight delegates from Illinois
are instructed to vote as unit in the
national convention, and recommended
TO favor the nomination Of Senator
Palmer in case it should be deemed eX-
pedient to come West for presidential
candidate. 1t now appears certain, how
ever, that Col. MOrriSoIe and not Sena-
tor Palmer, is the choice of a very de-
cided majority of the Illinois delegates,
and that after a primary ballot for
Cleveland and complimentary one for
Palmer it is the intention of that ma
jority to throw the solid support of the
forty-eight votes of Illinois to William
r. Morrison. Under the unit rule, im-
l., u -,
very easily be done, and as even the
friends Of Col. Palmer cOncede that Col.
Morrison has a majority of the delegates
in the delegation. there IS little doubt
this plan can be carried out.
Morrison Is Not IdIing.
It was perhaps by no prearranged CO.
incidence that Col. Morrison himself
was in the city today on his way to at
tend meeting of the commission at
Minneapolis, but however that may be,
he was busy most of the day receiving
visitors and holding conferences with
political leaders of the state. To the
press the great tariff refOrmer main
tanned a diScreet9Sllence as to his inten-
tiOnS and presidential prospects, but his
friends were quite enthusiastic, insist
ing that he would receive the support
of Missouri. Arkansas, Texas, Kentucky
and, indeed, nearly all the solid South,
whenever the Illinois delegation should
present his name TO the national con-
Vention,
1T is our belief" said State Central
Committeeman BrintOn. leader of the
Morrison forces. tonight, that Col. Nor
rison is the inevitable heir to the Cleve-
land vote. whenever the nomination of
the great eX-president seems impracti-
cable. In the first place, he was the pio-
neer in the great tariff reform move
ment, and, while many believed at that
time he was in advance of his party,
the day has come when the chief issue
of the party is every principle which
Col. Morrison first promulgated and ag
gresSively advocated. | will he frank
enough to say that we expect MOrri-
sons first great support to come from
the Southern states, where he has al
ways been strong, and where he is the
choice of the party next to Cleveland.
Then, too, MOrriSOn's excellent mill
tary record will add to his availability
as candidate. He is a two-war vet
eran.s He served with valor in the Mex
lean war, and several decades later was
shot almost to pieces in the great civil
war. In addition to that. he has always
been right on all great public queS-
tions. We expect and believe it proper
that the Illinois delegation, in the in
terest of harmony, should cast its first
ballot for Cleveland, its second for
Palmer, and then give its solid support
for Morrison. In this way all factions
will be harmoniZed and good feeling
prevail,