Evening star., 1896-09-11
Attitude Of Democrats Toward the
National Ticket and Platform.
INTEREST," IN NEXT WEEKS CONVENTION
Senator Hills Conference With
the Tammany Leaders.
HARD TO GET FUNDS
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.

the Chicago platform and Messrs. Bryan
and Sewall next week. The convention Is
to be held IN Buffalo Wednesday and will
nominate q state ticket. That, however, is
considered Of secondary interest as conf
pared with the attitude toward the national
ticket and the doctrines laid down In the
national platform.
1t would not be very hard to predict just
about what would happen II 1t were not for
the fact that two or three men who have
usually controlled the state conventions, SO
far as relates to the construction of state
platforms. are preserving q most mysteri-
Gus silence as to their proposed action.
Chief among these is Senator Hill. On most
occasions in very recent years Senator Hill
has had q great deal to say about the man.
agement of these party gatherings. 1t is
possible that he may do so this time, and 1t
Is possible, on the other hand, that the con-
vention may have gotten away from the
Senator and will take him with 1t as it
makes running jump for the Chicago
platform.
Hilps Conference With Tammany.
Senator Hill has recently had a confer
ence with some Of the men who control
both the state machinery and the Tam
many organization. Tammany, which de-
clared formally in favor of sound money
year ago, and which sent sound money dele
gates to the state convention which chose
delegates to Chicago, has gone squareiy
back on this record and is now shouting
loudly for Bryan and free silver. This, at
any rate, Is the fact so far as the leaders
who have the management Of the organiza
ton Is concerned. There are some of the
most prominent men in the organization
who will not support Bryan and who do not
hesitate to say SO. They were delegates to
the Chicago convention. and they maintain
the same attitude that they did when they
sat in their seats in the Coliseum. But
John c. Sheehan. who Is acting as the
leader of Tammany in the absence Of Rich
ard Croker. has committed the ancient So
ciety to the platform and has selected dele
gates to the Buffalo convention who will
obey orders from himself. The delegation
contains fewer men whose names are
known outside of the 14th street wigwam
to state convention for many years. Such
men as ex-Mayor Hugh J. Grant, Gen.
Daniel E. Sickels, Rollin NJ. Morgan, john
r. Fellows, John B. Mcclellan, Delaney
Nicoll and ]. Sargent Cram are not on the
list They are for sound money. and that
shut them out.
A few hours before the delegates to the
state convention were chosen in New York
city Senator Hill was here and had a con-
ference with Mr.. Sheehan and other Tam
many leaders. Some of the prominent men
from up the state" were also present, and
the situation which will confront the party
have thought that Senator Hill took this
occasion to make last appeal to Tam
many Hall to refrain from .ndorsing the
Chicago platform and ticket. Others have
thought that he simply asked the r"pre
sentatives of Tammany to follow the ad-
vice Of Chairman Hinkley of the state
committee, and refrain from putting them
selves on record before the date of the
state convention, and yet others who saw
that Tammany proceeded with all haste to
elect free silver delegates a few hours .af-
ter the Senator's visit, came to the con-
clusion that Senator Hill had determined
to ndorse the Bryan and Sewall ticket him
self, and allowed that fact TO become
known at the conference. But Senator Hill
Is silent, and no one can say positively
what advice he gave to Tammany Hall or
what Tammany Hall made to aim. 1t is
believed by those who have followed clcse-
ly the various assembly district conven-
tions, that majority of the delegates who
will be at Buffalo will favor a SQUARE in
form. Senator Edward Murphy and his
lieutenants, who control the state ma
chinery. let their position In favor Of Bry-
an be known before the first of thase con-
ventions was held, and a wink Is as good
as nod to the great majority of demo-
Gratis OF the state, who owe allegiance to
the organization. and are great sticklers
for Regularity" So, it is doubtful IL any-
thing. unless 1t should be the powerful
hand of Senator Hill, can stop the Buffalo
convention from indorsing the ticket
Hard to Get Funds.
There are many interesting developments
in connection with this plunge into the
gulf of free silver which Tammany has
taken. One Of them Is that Tammany Is
finding 1t hard work to get campaign funds
this year. The men who have in other
years been liberal contributors have either
locked their wallets up in the safe and
gone to Europe. or begun sending checks
70 no ~
Indianapolis the other day. John C. Shee-
han Is the chairman of the finance COM
mittee OF the Tammany organization He
succeeded Richard Croker in this position.
The resources are SO few this year that
Mr.. Sheehan has recently felt called upon
to issue an open circular letter appealing
for funds.
The fact that such a letter as this one
mas come out OF Tammany Hall is indica-
ton more strongly than almost anything
else that has occurred that 1.-The tiger is
In different lair since the events Of two
years ago. when Mayor Strong was elected.
Mr. Sheehan makes no bones of the situa-
tion, and he has issued a call which would
have been regarded two years ago as a GU
riosity worthy of being framed and hung
up In the museum of some curiosity hunt
er. Time was when II Tammany wanted
any money it used to send out word to
some thousands Of office holders and some
other thousands of saloon keepers. naming
such amounts as 1t seemed to the leaders
would be appropriate contributions and the
cash always came in.
This year Mr.. Sheehan approaches the
subject in this way:
For the necessary funds we appeal to
the patriotism and loyalty of the people
OF our city. We appeal to those who love
their country and who desire to again see
1t prosperous and happy. In the name of
the thousands of suffering people who are
now in enforced idleness, but who. with
our old, tried and sound financial system
restored. will find plenty Of work, we ask
you to help us. No matter how small the
contribution. it will be cheerfully and
gratefully received, and those who con-
tribute are assured Of an economical and
5udiclous disbursement Of the same"
Under the system which prevails in the
Tammany society the chairman of the
finance committee has an assistant or dep
uty. who Is one of the officers of the Co
lumbar order of Tammany. His official
title Is the Wiskinkie. It is his business
to go about and diligently collect cash
Daniel M. Donegan is the Wiskinkie now
and he is busily trying to get In dollars
He says 1t Is not q good year for collec-
ton.
Candidates for Governor.
Three or four men have been mentioned
as possible candidates for governor on the
democratic ticket. Most prominent of all
is John B. Stanchfield Of Elmira, who was
formerly the law partner Of Senator Hill.
Mr.. Stanchfeld was early in the field. He
was a member of the lepislaturo ona ~