The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-09-04

that body yearly met thee. IL a.
Lincoln that he never even asseiasa
of political candidae. and yet he was
able to manage his own campaign win
nnch excseainy ali p vdness and far-seeing
visdom that nc mistake was made. al
though ut tines- ne embarrassments were
great. CoionetAis xanaer mcclure, niins
the ahIest mo has ever taken part in
pecn.vlyaya or national politics, has only
.s..rI~ ssoken of the achievements OF
Irdcs pyis and his little band OF coun-
4rvmen. n 1860 with the highest admira-
ton hey had proven more than equal
to trse city-bred politicians who had
nnd, taken to bring about the nomina-
s;a-of William III. Seward.
he tendency of national committees
I'd been to select countrymen for their
Erecting officers. Governor Morgan and
August Belmont, who managed the cam
paigns Of 1850, were New Workers. it Is
true, but their associates were for the
most part men who had been bred In
country villages.
When Marshall Jewell took charge of
the national committee he had been in
political life only few years. Bred q
tanner he was already q man past his
prime when he was elected governor OF
the state of Connecticut. The only ex-
perience he had had in politics was such
az the caucus in Hartford gave him. and
after that a campaign or two IN Connecti-
cut And il seemed to those with whom
he was associated on the national COM
mittee a. IL this was a benefit rather than
an embarrassment for him. He had not
been distracted by those peculiarly dan
gerous though almost always petty con-
WILSON'S which are inevitably associated
with political management in the greater
cities.
The Democratic national committee took
for its chairman n man whose ypoliticai
training had been for most of the years Of
his political activity confined to little
village in the northwestern part of Con-
necticut, and yet Senator Barnum revealed
such qualifications as brought forth the
highest praise from Governor Tilden, who
was master politician, and wouid have
been leader had his lot not been cast in
New York city. The managers of the
campaign of 1884 on both sides were coun-
try-bred politicians, with the exception of
Senator German, and the chairmen IN 1883
for both committees were men who had
received their political training, one in
little village in Ohio and the other In
email village in Iowa.
William III. Morrison, now a member OF
the interstate commerce commission, once
said to the writer that the men who domi-
mated congress were for the most part
those who had come from small commit
mites. As q general thing, Mr.. Morrison
said, those who represent the greater
cities do not compare in intellectual force
aud political ability with the men who
come from rural communities. Mr.. Nor
rison might have quoted his own case as
IN illustration. He was bred in prairie
town in Southern Illinois, and when he
was elected TO congress he had no other
political experience than that which he
obtained in that lowland community.
Yet he managed two campaigns for the
election of a speaker with wonderful sue
cess. 1t was mainly through his political
work that Mr.. Kerr was able to succeed
James q. Blaine as speaker, and after
wards, in 1888, he conducted Mr.. Carlisle's
campaign for the speakership with such
extraordinary ability that when the vote
was taken it was found that il differed
from Morrison's figures by only two.
Since the war the greater politicians of
either house of congress have been coun-
trymen, with two or three exceptions. Mr..
Morrison, Mr.. Mills. Mr.. Stevenson and
score of the most influential Democrats
represented rural constituencies, and were
always greater power In the House than
those men who came from the greater
cities. On the Republican side the men
who gained great names were either from
villages or small towns. Mr.. Blaine, Mr..
Allison, Mr.. Window, Roscoe Conkling,
were of that number. and in the Senate at
one time there sat not q single man who
was a citizen of one OF the greater cities.
Sherman and Edmunds. the leaders on the
Republican side, were from towns con-
tanning about 10000 inhabitants, while
Mr.. Bayard and Judge Thurman were citi-
gems of cities of the fourth class.
There was a time when he was an active
politician when William II. Seward
thought very seriously OF removing from
the little town of Auburn to New York
city. He spoke TO his faithful friend Thur
low Weed about it. and Mr.. Weed gave
him this advice:
.Brother Seward" said he, ''if YOU want
to practice Law all your days and do moth
ing else. you may do well to open an office
in New York city. but you will bury polit-
ical opportunity when you do that. No
man can 20 from the country TO great
city without greatly handicapping his po-
will be any future for you If you 60 to
New York. Ii were to go there to live 1
should expect to lose all the political intiu-
ence which l now possess"
Mr.. Seward thought the matter over and
recalled the failures of so many men who
had gained prominence in New York city
but were unable to extend their political
influence very much beyond its bounda-
ries. and he decided 10 stay in Auburn.
lie afterwards became United States sena-
tor, secretary of state and narrowly es-
capped the presidency. MIR. Weed, in the
years when he had retired from active
political life, moved from Albany to New
York, and he used to tell his friends tn mt
that step more than any other indicated
that he had done with political activity.
Chatting one night at his house on West
Tenth street. only A year or two before
his death, Mr.. Weed said that Governor
Tilden was really the only successful
politician, at least in national
politics who had been developed
wholly in New York city. "For some
reason" said Mr.. Weed, 1.-The pursuit OF
politics in great city is not so successful
as IL is in a smaller community. When | was
lad went to New York from Albany on
u sloop down the Hudson river, and had
some idea of remaining there. Ny intui-
ton told me, however. that l would not
do well TO do SO. and so l turned up at
last in the little village of Rochester and
there | learned those principles of politics
which have controlled me in all my politi-
cal life. | could not have learned them in
New York. and my acquaintance with
politicians has suggested to me that the
country is the best field TO develop poii,i.
cal activity in. / do not know why il is
So but ii ii a fact"
Thus Thurlow Weed, who was a master
politician. agreed precisely with the opiu-
ion expressed by Judge Davis several years
later. l.. JAZZ EDWARDS