New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-04-12
"TTc PROPER LEADERS,"

Who arc tho "propcr leaders Of the Demo
cratic party? We observe that our neigh
Dor. Tho Times" speaks Of the " changes IN
the aspect of political affairs within the last
four Notwithstanding thereby the uncNpcd-
ed defeat Of Mil, for Speaker; the ofganila-
ton Of the House in opposition 80 the Mug
vumr, and in the interest Of free silver; tho
retirement 10 incon,picuouS committee places
Of the boistrrous young persons who had STUN
blcd into Congress by accident and mistaken
themselves for leaders the thcit oi the New
DIRK senate and the remarkable series OF po-
litcal ouiraces and crimes which followed ;
and finally. the GROWING outrg" and crime
of calling a state Convention in February in
stead of April or May-as " a cOnspr;i y against
the popular will Of the Democratic party and
its proper leaders" There has been good
deal of this sort of talk about " the proper
leaders, Of the Democratic party ever since the
confessional elections Of 1890. II Sc'n~ To
have been assumed that the Democratic vlc-
tory Of that year was due entirely 10 1.-The
Timcsr and " Evening Post" variety of news
uapcrs. and the George Fred Williams and
sherman ioar sort of young persons. and that
the leadership Of the party had accordingly
ldltl u ll'Il sNh'uhiif 'iiN"F" Wv ''''''''
pleased them They BEGAN 70 put on airs and
strut. Long before Congress met they had The
Speaker elected. The committees appointed, the
policy Of Congress marked out and the PrcSi-
dent nominated The Speaker was Mr. Mills
and the President Grover Cleveland OF course,
the only living statesman.
But it 50 happened that while these gentle
men were making their staff appointments and
Getting ready 10 lead, under the dclusion that
they had enlisted as Brgadcr Generals, one
or two other persons who had been Democrats
u long time and had control Of the machinery
of the panty ~ well as the confidence OF the
rank and file were making programme, lay
ing out a campaign, and doing some actual
leading They were not making much fuss
about it. but all the time were quietly at work.
Nor did they disturb the complaccncy Of the
Brgadieis. They let them believe they were
of considerable Importance, and made no sori-
Gus objection to their wearing cpaulets and
issuing general orders. II was understood
however, that the orders were not to be 0bcycd
They may not have been the proper lead
crs" that question they did not discuss but
they showed themselves at least to be leaders
who lead And not the least Of their leading
was when they led the so-called "propcr lead
ers, into camp. 1t clever campaigning on
their part So clever that the proper lead
ersD socalled were perfectly certain last No
vember that they were leading instead of being
led They did not open their eyes even when
Mr.. Hill and the others politely showed them
the door Of the State Convention telling them
that they might support the ticket but they
could have no voice in making the nominations
They did not even then apprchcnd the fact
that they were not leading the party, but that
somebody else was. They fell into line behind
Hill & Co., supported his nominations with
uproariouS enthusiasm, voted the ticket cner-
gctcally. and hurrahcd a little louder than any
body else over the victory.
And then the so-callcd "propcr leaders be-
gan TO get ready to organize Congress. They
had the logic OF the situation with them, and
were dead sure of clccting Mills Speaker, and
having plain sailing from that point to the
nomination Of Cleveland for President. But
the other persons were not idle They were
not the "proper leaders" perhaps. but they
led all the same. They smashed the logic of
the situation" they knocked out Mills, they
| relegated the Brigadiers to back seats. and