The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-10-24
BOSSES WILL DECIDE.
INFLUENCE OF PLATT AND QUAY IN
REPUBLICAN POLITICS.

Their Candidate WIN BE Nominated at
the National Conventlop-Itw win BE Set
tied In Advance-They Have Strength
to Enforce Their Wishes.
The Republican political situation is
losing some Of its complexity. 1t seemed
probable for a time that the next ma
tional convention would meet without
any one or two of the five or six candi-
dates to come before it, excepting per-
haps Mr.. Mckinley, having a decided
advantage over the others. 1t looked
like free for all race, with the odds,
indeed, in favor Of one of the leaders,
but with great probabilities ON the side
Of some compromise candidate. That
kind of q convention is possible, how
ever, only to party whose members
manage their own affairs by their indie
pendent Judgment. Where a party is
run by machine, it must yield to the
Vaccinations Of its bosses. They do not
wait for the convention to assemble be-
fore maturing their plans or making
their arrangements. 1t is their policy
to have things we'll settled in advance
and to secure for the candidate who eau
be relied upon to yield to their wishes a
compact support from the communities
which they represent.
Not since the days Of the great trium-
virate, when the Republican masses at
last succeeded in throwing off the rule
Of Conkling, Cameron and Logan, has
there been less freedom in that party
than today. To those dictators, who
were at least men Of commanding abil-
ity and the highest personal integrity,
have succeeded such creatures as Thomas
G. Platt and Matthew S. Quay. These
are the men who are deciding today who
shall be the next Republican candidate
for the presidency.
As they manipulate the wires the
situation in that party becomes clearer,
They have already, it is understood
practically forced Mr.. Harrison out Of
the field. However little regard we may
have for the ability af the ex-president,
it must be said that he has maintained
a dignified position in his silent aspira
tion for third nomination, and that he
has not sullied his personal record by
making overtures to the men who are
owners in fee of the Republican party
in Pennsylvania and New York. He has
incurred their lasting displeasure, and
upon his head fall the first consequences
Of their undisputed supremacy. He re-
aliZes, it is said, the impossibIlity Of
making a fight for himself in the next
convention. His friends are therefore
ready to enter some combination in op-
position TO that already formed by Platt
and Quay.
While it is not Jpenly announced, the
preferred candidate of the bosses at the
present time is said to be Speaker Reed.
They are by no means tied up to his
cause They are not the sort Of fellows
to tie up to anybody until they have the
consideration safely in their hands.
They have made the fight in their states
in order that they may carry with them
those powerful delegations to the next
national convention and dictate terms
either to Mr.. Reed or to any other can
didate who may wish to purchase their
support. Mr. Platt has been fooled out
Of q cabinet position once, and Mr..
Quay has seen the patronage that he
values melt away from him without re-
turn. In the next campaign they pro-
pose to have the terms Of payment so
we'll arranged that they cannot be evad-
ed. While this brings Mr.. Reed into
prominence on the one side it serves alsO
to brighten the chances Of Mr.. McKin-
ley. As soon as one candidate assumes
dangerous prominence all the hostile
elements begin to coalesce about the
most prominent member of the opposi-
ton. If Mr. Reed is the candidate Of
Platt and Quay, and if he is to be beat
en- as such, Mckinley is the easiest man
to beat him with.
We hear therefore and shall hear less
about Allison and Morton and Cullom
and other "favorite sons. As the battle
thickens, the Republicans Of the differ
ent states will begin to gather about one
or the other of the two principal figures.
While it is too early yet to venture upon
any definite predictions, the chances are
that the next Republican nomination
will be dictated absolutely by the men
in that party who achieved most unen-
viable notoriety, Quay is perhaps the
best political general in the country to-
! day. Reckless in his choice Of means,
skilled in every political artifce and
subterfuge, with the experience of a
lifetime in building up political
machines and without single seri-
ous reverse or failure in his operations
within his party, he is now arrang-
ing his forces on a larger field and
intends to rule the next national con.
vention as arbitrarily as he does the
Republican party of Pennsylvania. The
fght will be between the bosses in the
Bepublican party and such Of its repre-
sNntatives as dare to oppose them. The
spirit of the party itself and all the
trend of its recent history in many states
make it more than probable that thu
bosses will whist Paul Globe
MKINLEY'S MISTAKE.