New-York tribune., 1896-01-20
"TOO LlTI."
crowding.


Possession of power breeds lust Of power,
and with it It's reckless use. Then comes in
the law Of ccmpcnsaton and Il sorely bcSet
minority. stung by resentment Of accumulated
wrongs turns and asserts itself But with
patient people. trained to endurance and hard
cned 10 the chances of untoward circumstance.
resentment comes slowly SO slowly that the
p0sscssors and abuScrs Of power mistake us
slow coming for lis abscnce. and proceed to the
selfish Use Of opportunity as though there were
no law Of compensation. no reaction. no here
after They do their mistakes some
times. bu; usually too late. As when the re-
stored French monarchy in 1880. after long
trifiing with the people, undertook to avert thFr
resentment by voluntary abdication. and 10
conclate them by yielding To a legitimate sue
ccssion. Too late said Iamartinc The
French Chambers echoed the answer and The
revolution went on.
History does repeat itself in little. Here.
under our eyes in comparatively small mu-
nicipality we lave seen within hardly moro
than score Of years powerful organization
grown SO great and arrogant to put the qucS-
ton in the face of the people whom il ruled and
pundcred. What are YOU going to do about
II. Anu IL l)Hll'Hl lD'Vpl' St'ou IT, anu I'i
long time made no answer. Al length they did.
And then terms were offered. But an angry
people said il was too late. So only little
more than year ago, when the same organizl-
ton offered paltry concessions TO a people who
had become tired and weary Of miSrule. The an
swer was sent by popular vote "Too late. And
SO now when in the last reSluum of the com
parison the final bclitling Of the historic paral
lcl we come down from the high arrogance OF
an Orleans dynasty 10 the paltiy tyranny Of
Republican County Committee; down from the
breezy buccanerring manner OF "Bli' Tweed
and the skilful spoliaton of Richard Croker to
the Cheap Jack methods and dead oprn-and shut
processes of Edward LautcrDach- when we come
down to these and find Mr.. Lauterbach Offering
the same sort Of concessions that all abuScrs Of
power. great and small. have offered TO save
themselves what shall we say but return the
old answer Too late"
Mr. LautcrbaCh and his compccrs are ready
10 make concessions. II is so announced That
is after continuous protest has been made hy Il
large body Of wcll-known. prominent and nflu-
entail RcDublicanS against the legality the pro-
priciy the honesty and the binding force upon
the party Of every step that has been taken in The
proceedings preliminary to the election Of these
persons to the places they occupy. from the initi-
alton in the enrolment 10 the elimination Of the
whole business and after these persons have
tossed off with contempt all objections To tho
manner of their proceeding and have deliberately
gone on to make their own succession secure:
after all this they turn to the great mass Of Re
| publican voters Of the county who are indignant
at having been cheated and deceived. and say,
az ,,.,n IL, dam, tl..
| enrolment upon which alone this organization is
| based was false and fraudulent. Let MS get
together upon that understanding, and have ii
| new enrolment; We concedc that ii Is ncccs-
sary and we will make it ourselves" There has
| been something that seemed TO the casual OBJ
| server like brazcn assurance in the manner with
which heretofore these people have deliberately
walked over the opposition OF decent Rrpub-
| licans in their way TO the accomplishment Of
! their purpose. But in their present proposition
TO revise the rolls-the false and fraudulent rolls
which they made thcmsclvcs-aftcr they have
exhausted the use Of them, and TO set things
right by a new enrolment. in which they say
they will rcal,v be honest and square, they
reach the limit Of monumental gall.
These fellows. Sitting there. a Republican
| County Committee which the party. rich in
resources and more abundant in public spirit ard
unsclfsh patriotism than any political organ
! iZation in tie whole world beside, could not trust
with money enough in the last campaign to pay
| the rent Of It's own meeting place. And a com
mittcc. too. which had so little general sense Of
things rs publicly 60 faunt the poverty to which
! lack of credit had reduced II. This committee
after having ~ every step in its faction breeding
career gone out Of IT. way 10 obstrucl every
measure that honest citizens asked for to max,
their persons and properly safe and their loca
government decent. This committee. made III
Of names that need no comment c0mbnaiio:
whose rceklng odors need no description. Foi
this committee. after having achieved by fraud
corruption and crime its forcordaincl purpose tt
fix Itself in The position Of the executive body Of
n party Of honest and well-meaning citizens
where IL could use their name and prestige ant
influence and power in carrying ont its owi
! foul !csgns-for this committee. after all this t,
undertake to keep up It's fooling by Offering Il
correct the rolls from which ii derives Its tltls
and It's power. And not for now. Not for tai.
committee. But for some indefinite future
when. II things so on rs now. there VIII he n
need OF any committee. for the party IT repre-
sents will be dead and rotten. No. NO. II II
too late for this County Committee. conceived Il
| fraud and born in .rlmc to do aTythin. bu
| resign That's tic only public service II can do
There's line tha. mus; be drawn bciwcei