St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-20
A RoLrER BoLTEn.

A BOLTER BOLTED.
The Washington Post. which has now
become little more than special or
gan of the United States senate, has
a most remarkable editorial criticism
on the course of those Democratic
members of the Kentucky legislature
whe staid out Of the party caucus and
refused to vote for it's candidate, Mr..
Blackburn, to succeed himself as SEN
ator. There is no end to the bitterness
Of the Pcs; On this point 1t says that
Blackburn's offense is simply that he
does not sustain and will not approve
the administrations policy with ref
erence to silver coinage It terates
and abuses the fourteen boiling Dem
ocrats in the most violent terms. Il
offers them up on the altar of the stock
comparison, Benedict Arnold, and says:
''They are exploiting merely personal
grievance to the extent Of sacrificing
the cause they have pretended to cs-
pouse." This is the most extraordinary
argument that it would be possible to
advance in the interest Of Mr.. Black
burn, whose dearness to the Posts
heart seems to be due solely to the fact
that he is the present senator
The Post is perfectly we'll aware that
these fourteen Democrats bolted Mr..
Blackburn's nomination because Mr..
Blackburn is himself the grand high
bolter and arch-priest of treason in the
state Of Kentucky. To him more than
any other man it is due that Repub-
llcan sits in the governors chair in
that state today. To him it is due that
the control of the legislature was lost to
the Democrats. To him is due that
1rreconcilable conflict and feud within
the Democratic party to which there
Is no end in sight. If ever there was
a case where members of a party
were justified IN administering to one
Of their leaders a bitter dose of the
medicine that he had recklessly forced
upon them, it is this. There
was straight, square, stand
up fight in Kentucky previous
to the last state convention be-
tween two factions of the party. It
was a good-natured, honorable strug-
gle for control Of the state conven-
ton. No Democrat in those days re-
viled his brother because he was for
or against free silver. It was recog-
nized to be an honest difference of
opinion, which the voters of the state
referred to their party convention to
settle in the usual way by the will of
the majority. 1t was so referred and
settled. Mr.. Blackburn had made his
campaign, and SO had Mr. Carlisle and
Senator Lindsey and Mr. McCreary
In the convention the sound money
forces won by majority of nearly
two to one. They adopted platform
which became, from that time, until
another convention should be called.
the formal and binding policy of the
Democratic party. DESTROYS of har-
mony, and to that end willing to rec
ognize in an unusual manner the claims
of those who had fought against them
and been worsted, they nominated a
candidate from the free silver wing. A
few weeks later Mr. Blackburn appeared
as the leader Of formal organized
and formidable bolt against the action
Of the Democratic state convention.
From this single source flows all the
division and dissension that has since
existed, the present loss of the state
and the hopeless outlook for it's future
recovery. Mr.. Blackburn has done this:
and he has done it for no other reason
than because he bolted the last state
convention and repudiated it's plat
form. No matter whether such a man
as this is for gold or silver no matter
whether he is for high tariff or free
trade, no matter what his pretensions
or the doctrines that he claims to hold.
he Is unworthy of party honor and of
party trust. What possible claim upon
the suffrage of his party has a man
who has just been through a cam
paign in which his every energy was
lent to its defeat because it's policy
did not conform to his personal wishes?
The recalcitrant members of the Ken
lucky Legislature are Democrats be-
cause they refused to vote for Mr..
Blackburn. He is the man who set the
example of party treason, and it is meet
that true and loyal Democrats should
make him a first inglorious martyr to
the political policy that he saw fit to
inaugurate.