Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1894-01-27
Plum Trust Versus Crackers.

There RE today in the ranks of the vast
ing and emasculsted Maine Democracy two
very distinct and hostile factions viz: the
Plum Trust and the Crackers. Both are ap-
propriately named the former, because of
the fact that, having just now the ear of the
Prophet, it is intrusted with the placing
of such Federal plums as are ripe for dis
tribution in the Pine Tree State; the
latter because of the dry and insub-
stantial character of its political pabulum,
and its resolute purpose to crack the Plum
Trust. The fight is now on. From Kittery
to Quoddy Head resound the hoarse slogans
of the gathering clans. Soon the gittering
sands of Bourbon aspiration bid fair to be
with bloody corses strewn."
We do not know that the members of the
Plum Trus. are to be blamed for seeking
their fill of fruit. They are, obvious
liz, Demo Gratis, and to be a true
Democrat is to be plum hunter.
Without the hope of plum, there would be
no Democracy. 1t is the subtle chord that
binds together the members of that organi-
cation. Hope of the true Bourbon order is
plant of thrifty growth and lives largely
on air. It is often invisible to those outside
the mystic circle. To the faithful, how
ever, it is an ever present reality, and will,
often, hold them to sustained effort ex-
tending over long series of years. What
would it avail any Maine Democrat
to hold a position in the state organic alton
if it gave him no better chance at the plum
tray? Is not the custody of the plums the
only legitimate function of Democratic
State committee in Maine? Where else,
pray, could it find vent for its energies?
The Crackers, who, numerically, far out
number the members of the Plum Trust.
should look at the situation candidly, and
endeavor to be patient. 1t is probable that,
in the beginning, the Plum Trust planned
army of well-fed retainers. Rut this has
been bad year for fruit, and what plums
have come to hand have scarce sufficed to
satiate the appetites of the corporation. 1t
10 always thus in Democratic life.
Feathers and brass buttons are in the rear
in times of war and in the van in times Of
peace. The sturdy men with dented
shields and notched claymores who are at the
front in days of strife, are so far at the rear
in times of peace that few of the spoils of
battle ever reach them in the
apportionment. Well may the SCARED war
riors of the Cracker faction, painting in the
sombre shadows of the arena, their muscles
yet knotted with the agony of conflict, strike
down the artificial barriers that encompass
them, and follow Sparticus Jones into the
mountain Businesses to there assail the
castles of the Plum Trust. Is the love of
Office dead, is the Bourbon spirit
frozen in their veins that they should
longer crouch and cover like base
born slaves beneath their masters lash?
Forbid the thought! Arouse ye sleeping
hosts! Shake off thy unseemly lethargy
and follow thy heaven-appointed leader to
the garden of Hysperides, there to strike
down the barons of the trus. and to shake
the big fruit tree till the green earth is
strewn with juicy plums of richest hue, and
rarest flavor, end all shall have their fill.