The herald., 1894-09-04
SOME OF THR ROCKS IN SIGHT.

The Republican county convention
will meet today. We hope it will nom
mate good ticket, for it is very pos
sible that some of its nominees will be
elected, and in the interest OF good gov
ernment We want to see unobjectionable
men placed in Office. The convention
certainly will not find itself short of sp-
plicants for nomination to choose from,
for their name ia legion. II their merits,
capacity and fitness are in any way
equal to their numbers, the convention
will not select Objectionable men because
they are without good material to
choose from.
But there is one fatal danger the dele.
gates will have to meet and overcome.
As the party that is in the majority in
the county, they offer a powerful in
ducement to designing men to get con-
troll of the machinery OF the orgsniza-
ton so as to control it's nominations for
ambitious or corrupt purposes. Hence
we see that there is a strong effort made
in certain quarters to get this control.
If this design is permitted to succeed,
their party will drift into the shameful
condition that has 80 long existed in
San Francisco. where both the great
parties have been for years under the con-
troll OF corrupt bosses. The Pepper Buck
ley-Keily exposure will show how these
parasites fasten themselves upon the
body polite. We have been measurably
clear from this serious infiction in Los
Angeles heretofore; but if it once fsstens
itself upon us We will find that it will
cling to its vantage ground with ten
acity that will take the most drastic
methods to dislodge. The insidious
approach of the wouldbe boss must be
resisted at the start, or, like the devil
fish, he will get his tentacles fastened
securely upon his prey. He will come.
perhaps, like Pepper, as reformer, but
once he gets his grip upon the party
machinery he will work 1t for all it is
worth. We can see signs in this opening
campaign of his advent upon the local
political stage.
The eagerness with which the hungry
ofice-seeker will pile in upon this con-
vention is instinct with danger to the
prestige of the party. We don't know
that this woald cause us much anxiety.
but it shows that there is a strong prev
alent opinion in the rsnks OF the tax
eaters that a nomination ia as good as an
election. and when this conviction be-
comes fixed the party that is the object
of it is in the greatest danger. 1t af-
fords to the professional politician a
fruitful field for the exercise Of his tai
ents and gives unfit men their opportu-
nifty. If the character of the ticket
produced by this convention bears the
unerring earmarks of corrupt bargain
ing and the success Of unfit candidates,
the people will know how TO deal with
it. The majority the party now boasts
will disappear like mist before the morn.
ing sun. The people will welcome with
open arms any other ticket that bears
upon ito face the evidence OF honest
selection. II none OF the leading par
ties should give us an unexceptionable
set of nominations, then there is nom
partisan power in this city and county
that will cut the Gordisn knot and save
the people from the clutches Of the pro-
fessional ravagers and despoilers.
II the corrupt boss is to be a feature in
the future party politics OF this county,
the people will not be slow to ignore
party politics in our local affairs and
select their officials alone on the ground
OF their honesty and fitness.