Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1893-01-19
Mr.. POWERS PROPHECY.
The Representative of the first Vernon
Iistrict nnd Iii. predicIlOn

The Representative of the first Vermont
district and Hi. Prediction.
From the Washington, u, c., Post; Indl
"A sort of mugwump goat among the re-
publican shsep of the Vermont delegation is
IL. Henry Powers, the handsome reprcson-
tative OF tho first district, who has just been
reelected But, although bis colleagues
never know when to count upon him, and
the good party organs of the Green Noun
tain state are very sparng in thor enco-
miums of him, Powers is es Independent
as "A pig on Ice, aud he would rather be
right than representative. The fact of the
| matter is that, during his college DAYS at
Middlebury, Mr.. Powers democrat
and although elected to Congress as re-
publican, he has never become quite ''dyed
in the WOOL
His first bold break away from party mud
sectional ropes was in the form OF bill to
repeal the bounty on maple sugar, which, of
| course, raised great rumpus in Vermont.
lsen he criticised the nntiquated system OF
| representation in his own State, where each
town, however large or small, elects but
one member of the Legislature. 10 the
Craig election case and the old Sbiey tent
claiIh he was found voting with the demo-
Gratis, but perhaps the greatest sensation in
| his district was caused by his opposition TO
| tie denomination of President Harrison.
Mr. Powers was chairman of the Yer
mont delegation to Minneapolis, and after
| looking over the grouud he telegraphed
| home that Harrison could not by any posi-
bility he reelected, aud favored the nomna-
ton OF Mckinley. This telegram raised
riot in tho republican camp the Ii. II.
| Powers club of Morrisvile even going so
far as to robuke their patron politician.
| while the democrats used il as n camueign
| document.
Or course, it was rough on him for
time, but events soon proved tho correct
ness OF Mr. Powers prophecy In a YER
| mont exchange recently he speaks as fol-
| lows, by way OF explanations Harrison an
taSonized Platt and Miller, and New York
went for Cleveland; he threw tho influence
| OF the administration in favor of Sherman
| and against Foraker IN factonal fight in
Ohio, and that State almost swung into the
| democratic column; he sat down on Charles
B. FarNell OF Chicago, and Illinois was
swept by the democrats; he ignored Henry
| Il. Payne of Wisconsin, and that State is
made solidy democratic; he refused to oc-
knowledge the existence of NJ. N. Estee of
California, and that State almost repudeted
him. These things sub5tantiate my position
that Harrison could not be elected"
men tary, the Posts notice can hardly fur
nsh unmxed qualification to the subject of
it, and it certainly cannot be very pleasing
to his Vermont constituents and friends.
Judge Powers is not recognized as a mug
wump," or goat" or a black sheep, in
Vermont. He did not pass any of his col
lege days at Middl ebury, and if be ever was
democrat, it must havo been before he
was voter, il not before the organization
of the republican party. He was elected to
the Legislature in 1868 as republican; and
though man Of independence, end apt to
| look ct things with his own eyes, he has
never broken away from his party.
We have never happened to see in any
Vermont exchange the Explanation"
quoted by the Post, and we must venture to
doubt that Judge Powers ever uttered it.
He is too sensible to say: 81 tod you so,
of andslid', whicn took every body in all
parties, by surprise. Had Mr.. Harrison
failed of election by q small margin
the gentlemen who thought it un-
wise to nominate him might claim
superior wisdom in their belief
that another man could be elected,
and that he could not be. But the dimen-
sions of the republican defeat make it alb
surd TO claim that Mr.. Mckinley, or Mr..
| Blaine or any other republican could have
succeeded where Mr.. Harrison failed. As
for New York, Mr.. Platt having done his
best for the ticket and Mr. Miller being out
of the country and not IN a position to he p
any candidate, the reverse in that State
can not be ascribed to any "antag onizingh
on the part OF the president, if any such
| there was. Neither of those gentlemen has
been silly enough to claim that he could
| have changed the result in the Empire
State and if the States mentioned in tho
above alleged 'explanation" as having
| been lost to us through disaifection with Mr..
| Harrison had all voted for him, he would
still, as things turned out, have lacked
seyenty-eight electoral votes OF "a ma orily
in the electoral college. If Mr.. Powers
| prophecy had been: Harrison can not he
elected, nor any other republican" it would
have been worth pointing TO now. But n
| prophecy that Harrison could not be elected
and that Mckinley could be, can not, in the
light cf the vote in the electoral college, be
| considered a anything to boast OF, and we
! do not believe that Judge Powers is doing
much Dragging, in public or private, or
claiming that his candidate at Minneapolis
could have been elected. Tue Washington
Post is itself quite often democratic as
republican-perhaps little oftener, since
election; and it undoubtedly would like as
much company in its wobblngs as it can
get. But it cannot claim this representa-
tive of the First Vermont district as mug
wump coutrsre.
FREQ Text hooks In VI I-sachusetts.