Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-03-03
THE NEW YORK SPLIT
Causing Disguised Democrats on the
Outside to Talk Loud.
BOSS. PLATT HELPING 1T ALONG.
Some Political Uttera1ces Drawn Out by
the Faction Fight.
GROWERS SILENCE BEING CRITICISED
rFRoM A STAFF CORRESPONDENT,

| NEW YORK, March 2.-Tromlnent w est
ern Democratic politicians visiting New
York express their deep disgust at the
status of the family quarrel in this State.
They're - selfish, provincial, one
horse crowd" remarked one of these, hotly,
speaking OF the New York Democrats.
''They want the earth and want to divide il
up among themselves. They would see the
whole national Democratic party in ruins
before they would stop wrangling over q
New York Alderman. 1t has been SO in
every election They are not Democrats
They don't know what Democracy is. Dem
ocrats believe in the rule of the ma jority.
Democracy means majority rule or it
doesn't mean anything. To the so-called
Democrat of New York it means to have
your own way in any event, or down comes
the shanty.' Out in nv State we acquiesce
in the will of the majority Of the party, and
the man who won't do that is never called a
| Democrat afterward. Nothing short of the
| most extraordinary causes can Justify bolt
ing. do not say it is never justifable-
but it is desperate remedy, to be applied
| only in desperate cases. Here it is chronic
thing. There are generally two or three sets
of boilers They all call themselves Demo
Gratis, too They make me tired!
A Dull Ihud in Pickle.
'The worst of it is that these bolters
usually choose some very important cleo
tion in which to make their biggest kick.
This is done because they know the party
will be placed in imminent peril if they are
not placated. That they have some purely
local scheme to carry through makes no differ
ence. 1t is q sort of political blackmail levied
upon the party. The fact that this is a
pivotal State and liable to 60 one way or
the other is the only thing that makes the
chronic boilers important. If it wasn't for
that they would never be heard of-they
wouldn't exist. tell you the West is get
words-there will be something dropped in
the Chicago convention, and New York will
hear it.
There is a good deal of this talk even
among New York partisans. Some of it is
quite amusing. While it is going on, the
Republican managers very shrewdly side up
with the disgruntled factions and encourage
the row. One of Boss Platt's ieutenants is
my authority for the statement that but for
the willy Boss the late mass meeting here of
Democratic malcontents would have been
failure and the May convention would have
never been heard of. Further inquiry sat
isfied me that there is much in this. The
Republican managers, quick to see the i'm
portauce of the split should it become per-
manent, packed the hall The Cleveland crowd
were allowed to engineer the proceedings,
but fully half Of the audience were Repub-
]icans, and these voted liberal supplies of
enthusiasm at every step. They whooped
up things all the way through. In the
meantime, the bolters, Democrats, Mug
wumps and nondescripts beloved and
paved up the earth in grand style, conf
dent that they were carrying all things be-
fore them. When the Committee of Fifty
went to Albany, therefore, they were so in
that they claimed the majority of the De-
mocracy of the entire State was behind
them. This claim was anyhow necessary, it
is true. because it is only upon the assump-
tion that the February convention and the
State Committee represented but minority
of the party, that the boilers could have any
standing in court.
Republicans Egging Them On.
But the carefully cooked meeting, fairly
boiling over with enthusiastic indignation,
soothed the consciences of the doubters
The engineering of this break cannot be
laid to Republican sources, but there is
plenty of evidence to be had now showing
that the Republican managers skillfully
threw themselves into The breach and made
it wider and effectively permanent. 1t was
the cleverest bit of political work ever ac-
complished. 1t will only be really appre-
ciated, however, should New York candi-
date be named at Chicago, and the conse-
quent loss of this State to the Democracy
continue the Republican party in national
power For once the Platt machine worked
smoothly "Divide and conquer" is the
Republican motto and it has been commune
Gated to the uttermost election districts OF
tie State. The effects will be apparent in
the bravery of the Cleveland boilers at Chi
cago next June.
Will this second set of delegates be ad-
mitted to the convention and have voice
therein as to national Democratic candi-
dates and the declaration OF Democratic
principles? There are plenty of precedents
for such a course Possibly they will be
allowed an equal share with the Hill dele
gates. That is what will be demanded
nothing less. If this comes to pass the
National Democracy will have effectually
crushed the party organization in this State.
1t will make boiling respectable and pro-
fitable and put a fresh whip in the hands of
the political blackmailers of this city
wherewith to scourge the national party.
What the Difference Illustrates.
The status of the Democratic party of
New York reminds me of the wise political
utterances of distinguished Missouri Dem
ocrat. We were discussing the situation at
the Fifth Avenue Hotel the other evening,
when he said:
"It illustrates the folly of making the |
chief test of Democracy a blind belief in an |
shifting, uncertain percentage |
of taxation. The modern Democratic leader |
reduces Democracy to its lowest terms bv |
making Its sole aim and reason for existence |
the difference between 80 per cent and 45 |
per cent on imports In general statement |
that is the difference between us and the |
on the tariff From |
the party of Jefferson and Jackson |
and Tilden we have become by the |
forced processes of narrow minds a |
party OF 10 per cent ad valorem. If it were
q question of free trade and direct taxation |
it would at least be distinct principle at |
issue. But we are asked to accept as a i
great vital principle a'mere question of de- |
gree and that in the most intangible and |
general form-a question not susceptible of |
specific practical Demonstrations question |
that can never be settled because the exig- |
encies that create it are constantly chang |
batable, on which we might be |
right to-day and wrong tomorrow
a question which involves 80 many conflict |
ing individual interests that the nearest ap-
proach to legislative solution plunges us
head over heels in discord. A degree of |
a certain form of taxation can never be a
great vital principle. Are you aware I am
as much of tariff reformer as John G. Car
liSie and on that question am in full ac-