The morning call., 1892-05-01
IL DEMooRATIe cEUBs.

~ = H - A1A--'A1 ~ = = ~ -.a@~ -
The enrolment en- Friday. evening in the
Democratic clubs Of the Assembly districts
Affords small comfort to thos5 who antici-
.pated The .birth Of an eXpurgated edition of
theDemocracy at the hands Of the TeOTgan-
izers. To a superficial observer it looks as
though the ref0rmerS had been swallowed
by. the old Buckley gang. The voice is the
voice Of Jacob. bat the hands are the old,
hairy hands of Esau
In club after club the reader Of the lists
Of new officers finds the old familiar names
Of Buckley's heelers-wlth the distinguished
JAKE Lindo at their head. There may be
some new men among them-there prob
ably are; but the rank and file Of the sign
ers Of the rolls appear to be the same old
stagers who trained with the boss Of Bush
street ard voted as he bid. They have lost
their captain, but their hearts are still true
to Poll From all appearances they will
loam up at Tuesdays primaries and at the
November election in the old uniforms,
with tie old flag. and iubUed with the same
old purpose of sending to Sacramento a
delegation which does not 20 there for Its
health. and Of filing the Board of SupeTvis-
Crs with members who know tie value Of
railroad franchise.
=
tile gar an attempt was made to reOTganiz3
the conquered States with material consist
ing Of oval men. But it was found impos-
siblp, simply because there were no loyal
men. Everybody had fought in the rebel
armies and nobody loved the Union. So
here almost every man who has been promi-
neut during the past ten years in Demo
cratic politics was until lately a follower Of
Buckley. took his orders from him and
aided him in acquiring the fortune on which
he is living & life Of elegant leisure in
foreign parts. There were few Democrats
IN Office who GisapprOYed Of the methods OF
the boss. But they kept their mouths
pretty tightly shut at election time. While
in private decent Democrats did not besi-
tate to denounce the wholesale corruption
which Buckley fOstered hardly any leading
member Of tie party dared to criticize. him
IN public, and the rank and file Of the Demo-
cratic, voters chung to him as though in their
minds: honesty and TOguery were as one.
This rank and file have nov been register
ing al the clubs. Are theysthe same men or
different? Can the Ethi0pian change his
skim?
A decent respect for pubIsc opinion should
have prompted those who have been con-
spicuously identified with Buckley in the
past to take a back seat in the present
movement and abide awhile on the stool OF
repentance. But no indications of any such
purpose are apparent. One OF Buckley's
leading leutenaDts is said to be directing
the movements Of the reformed Democracy.
Behind him is believed to be the power
which supplied Buckley with the sinews of
war and enabled him to carry elections, In
consideration Of his influence at Sacra-
mentO The ways of politicians are dark
and mysterious-tEe public will not see its
way clearly until after next Tuesdays
primaries; but if it turns out that the new
general committee is mainly composed of
ex-heelers Of the fallen boss, there will not
be much difficulty in appraising reorganiza-
ton at its real value.
1t is singular how politicians concentrate
their eyes on machines and ignore voters.
A boss thinks he has attained his hearts
desire when he gets control of the machine,
forgetting that if he falls into public odium
the voters viii smash him and his machine
to shiveTs without a moments warning. At
the late election in Louisiana a party which
expected success suddenly rau foul Of an
adverse majority Of 10000. There never
was a purer man in this country than
Charles James Folger, and his party was in
control in his State; but when lie ran on
machine nomination he was defeated by a
majority Of 100000 In all American COM
munities the mass Of the people keep silence
on political matters. A man has his party
and is expected to vote his party ticket; he
does not, as a rule, proclaim his intention to
bolt, but suddenly. on election day, without
notice or warning he bolts from long cher
ished discomfort, his neighbors bolt with
him, and party which reckoned ON success
is showed under. If the reorganized De-
mocracy of San Francisco fanc es it can
step into Buckley's old shoes and poll his
old vote, with the help Of the secret back
ing he enjoyed. it is probably destined to
get lesson which it may not get over in
hurry