The record-union., 1894-02-20

months watching these things going on.
When he thought the situation clear and
definite, he came out, and in q carefully
prepared statement said he was with
Milholland. With Platt goes the new
machine in potentiality. Behind the two
men is the mass OF voters in the party,
and the reforners stand aside with the
shell. Platt, the despised, has dived
clear under them and come up where
they hoped to be. There is a howl OF
rage and the split is clearly in evidence.
Now all depends on the tenacity OF the
thirty. Will they hold on and again re-
organize the party? VIII the force that
made for reform, an honest, irresistible
force in the beginning. be strong enough
to recommence the Encouragement OF the
party? Or, will the intellect and energy
die out and leave the party where IL was,
in the same hands, under an organization
almost Identical with the old one, with
only few petty leaders of districts gone
for awhile? | am inclined, from various
sources of information and judgment, to
think that the wound will heal where it
now is The Republican press is divided
and angry, but that is quite natural, for
some men have been badly hurt, exceed
ingly disappointed. Only one organ OF
the party is silent, but that is the greatest
of all, the Tribune. For the first time
since Horace Greeley founded it, one may
read it through day after day and see
nothing Of the news of the party, no COM
ment on the situation, no advice as TO the
policy. Yet MilhOlland is Whitelaw
Reid's friend and representative in poll
tics. 1t was this young man who, while
everybody was intent on nominating the
Republican candidate for President OF the
United States, proposed the nomination
of Reid for Vice President, and secured it..
/ 10 ic pI I1J,gI ar
still in Reid's employ.
The silence of the Tribune is hurting
the paper. Republicans scOld it and
Democrats jeer from the gallery, while
everybody asks what the matter is.
Either Reid is reluctant to stir up more
violently the factional feelings and is
waiting for calm to speak, or his illness
precludes his coming forward. 1t is
hardly possible that he is waiting to see
how things are coming out before defin-
ing the policy of the paper. For it is al
ready pledged indirectly by Milholland
and by Reid's friendship for him. Fur
thermore, Lemuel Z. Quigg, who was
sent to Congress in the election two
weeks ago, came from the staff of the
Tribune, and he acknowledges the serv-
ices and leadership of Thomas G. Platt.
This leadership of Platt is the key to
the whole situation. His support of Mill
holland insures that faction the popular
support, the backing of the body of the
party, but it repels the Union League
Club and all that that organization repre-
sents. If Plat and Milholland and
Reid carry the day, the effect on
the party will be enormous. In the
first place it will render impossible
the accession to the party in this State of
all the malcontents, and they are numer-
Gus, powerful, and originally Republic
ThnnGo n
party to become Democrats or Mug
wumps stood ready to return to their
old party. If they had done so New
York would have become Republican
State. All hope of this is not yet gone.
But if the Bliss committee give up their
fight and things heal where they now
are, the political situation will remain
very much where it was before. The Re-
publicans will win at intervals, when
discomfort with the Democrats becomes
widespread enough. The next election
will depend for its outcome upon the dis
closures made in the pending investiga-
tions.
Beyond that, however, is this still more
important result. The policy of the
party in the State will be narrow and
guided by small expedients. However
clumsy the details of the precinct work OF
the Union League and Bliss men may be,
their conduct in larger politics would be
directed by broad views, large principles
and ultimate ends patiently striven for.
Platt may be induced to cast aside his
past policy of dealing with his oppo-
nents. but, clever as he is. he is not the
man to look years ahead, as for instance,
Croker is. With Platt in the lead the Re
publicans may succeed for awhile, be-
cause Tammany must be defeated. But
the progress of political and party evolu-
ton will not meet with the great expecta-
tions New Workers had in mind when
they began to shake up both parties.
L