The herald., 1894-06-18
somR POLITICAL spncuLArIoNs.

SUNNI SFhCULAILUNSs
Saturdays Chronicle very wisely eau
tons the Republican party not to be
over confident az to the outcome of the
etate election this fall. This is wise ad
vice. The fact is that the party Of
great moral ideas" has much OF dis
indignation in it's own ranks il it does
not show reasonable degree OF political
ssgacity. The race is not always to the
swift nor the battle to the strong. There
ia one element Of the campaign which is
an uncertain quantity to degree even
beyond the proportions in which the old
parties will contribute to the Populists,
and that is the effect which tina autocracy
OF Dan Burns and the accession of Buck
ley to the Republican ranks will have
upon the chances of Republican suprem-
acy at the polls. 1t is mistake to as.
sumo that Burns's dictatorship is accept
able to the mass OF the Rspub b.
licans OF California. Not all the
dash and talent of Daniel have
blotted out the fact that his administers.
teEzed by signal prohigacy, and that his
own personal integrity was unmistak-
ably smirched. Perhaps one OF the
most amusing features of our politics is
the colonePs sttitudinizing in favor Of
purity at the primaries, after he had
exceeded Kelly and Crimmins in their
own methods. 1t is all very we'll for this
facile politician to assume that he can
fool Republicans, but it remains to be
seen whether his fellow partissns are as
green as he put them up to be- A Re.
publican boss with Buckley on the side
will certainly be distasteful to many
members of the party throughout the
state. At the same time Democrats
ought not to count too confidently on
the Buckley adhesion to Burns operst-
ing altogether In their favor. 1t certain
ly cannot fail, however, to have some
good effects to offset the losses which
the Democracy will encounter in some
quarters.
The Buckley problem is one that can
not be diemisaed with a word. He lie
now back in the party to which he nat.
urally belongs. Following upon the
chaotic upheaval of the Workingmen,
Higgins, former Democrat, became the
Republican boEs, and Buckley, former
Republican, became the Democratic
boss. 1t would puzzle both orgsniza-
tions to explain away their completely
with these persons. Both parties were
equally guilty, and the leaders of each
must find it difficult to feel any unusual
degree of selfrespect as they think of
the past. But, upon the theory of allow
ing bye-gones be bye-gones, the exact
effect of Burne's coalition with Buckley
cannot be estimated just now. He is
supposed to have a great influence on
the vote south of Market street in San
Francisco, and in all the centers where
the trough" element most do congregate,
and most probably he has. But his
power is very much curtailed by the
adoption OF the Australian ballot law.
tzans in the elections of two years ago
that body was sufficiently powerful to
ASSURE the election of Demo.
cratic United States senator in the
person of Mr.. White-shows that sthere
are multitudes OF Republicans who do
not carry devotion to party to any IN
due lengths. Without Buckley, Col.
Dan does not carry with him the conf
dence of his party to any great degree,
and there are liable to be many Repub-
licans who will not enjoy the attempt to
resurrect the blind boss. Still it must
not be forgotten that Buckley was
prominent in Democratic politics when
both Stoneman and Bartlett were
elected, and that there are times when
the political conscience is very elastic.
While it is claimed that Buckley can
control from three to five thousand
votes in San Francisco, and while his
knowledge OF machine politics 10 pro-
found, he is likely to repel as many
votes of decent Republicans as he may
control those of irresponsible Demo
Gratis, with whom self-respect counts for
nothing. The Republican situation in
San Francisco ia still further compli-
Gated by the imminent detection of Gen.
W. Fl. L. Barnes, which would prob.
ably involve that of his popular and
versatile son. Take it for all in all,
there are few campaigns in which it has
been more difficult to forecast the re-
suit of special issues than in the cur
rent year.
Every now and then we hear IL init
mated that there is prospect of a
fusion between the Democrats and the
Populis!s. The persons who indulge in
these speculstions cay that Webster, the
Populist nominee for governor. has been
a Democrat aud that many of the other
nominees on that ticket have been
Democrats. and so on. 1t may be safely
said that the Democratic party haze