New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-02-12
THE REVOLT AGAINST FRAUD.

THE REVOLT AGAINST FRAUD.
The Tribune is so accustomed to being mis-
represented that the Misrepresentation now so
current of It's attitude toward the Lauierbach
County Committee the Republican State Com
mittee and Governor Morton occasion neither
surprise nor resentment. That attitude shall
not he misunderstood. however. by its readers
If It is within our power to make II absolutely
clear unambguous and unmiSakablc. And it
is only by its own utteranccs that The Tribune
must be judged. lis views upon current ques-
tons are frankly expressed upon It's editorial
page 1t is not only uncandld. hut meanly dis
honest to call ii in question upon any pretcnce
for what does not appear here.
First of all then we say that neither The Irib-
une nor. SO far as we are able to discover any
one Of the long list of Republicans who have re-
corded their Indignant protest against the fraudu-
lent proceedings upon which the Lauterbach
usurpaton is based has the rcmotcst idea of
boiling from the Republican party. No one
knows that better than the scheming intriguers
and the ridiculous newspapers making the
charge The trouble here, If it be trouble. does
not and will not. affect the loyalty 10 the Re
publican party Of the State and the Nation Of Il
single one Of the thousands who are protesting
50 energcticaly against the usurpatiOn of the
name ard influence and authority of the party
in this county by an Illegal and fraudulent com
mittce They who say otherwise. and who talk
as if this indignant protest and uprising threat
ened either the integrity of the party or its sue
cess in November. are misreprcscnting facts with
deliberate dishonesty. So far as those Repub-
leans are concerned who are engaged in the
movement to rescue the county organization
-b,l.
from the faint Of dishonest management, there
IS no danger that the National or State tickets
will suffer Whether the men who for the last
year have been noisly Boosting their party loyal
ty and in the same breath dcnouncins viciously
and bitterly trusted party leaders for not helping
them to official places will be equally loyal Is an
other question.
The matter Immediately in hand-that upon
which division has been called-is in its essence
local. 1t relates 10 the conduct Of the affairs OF
the Republican party in this county 1t is not
merely matter Of policy, nor does 1t relate solely
to the details Of management. 1t goes deeper
strikes bedrock. 1t is whether an honest party
a party Of honest. high-minded and self-respect
ing individual voters-can permit Itself to be
managed. and all the necessarily complicated
and various machinery Of its organization be
controlled by an executive body VIGOROUSLY ana
confesscdly founded upon and selfperpetuated
I'm the most garlng frauds and heinous crimes;
frauds upon honest voters and crimes against
morality and law We leave out Of consideration
the undsputed fact that the men against whom
this protest is raised have been arraycd against
every measure Of municipal reform TO which the
party pledged itself in 1891 the further fact that
they have for the last year based all their camor
against Republican municipal administration
upon the refusal Of that administration To bctray
the citizens who elected it and go back upon its
own aT;e-electiOn promises; and the still further
fact that these men are in such rcputc among
solid and substantial Republicans that they could
hardly raise money enough in the last campaign
10 pay the rent of their headquarters. However
nertinent these facts may be to n consideration
OF the general question. we leave them aside for
the present and address ourselves TO the main
point in issue.
That is simply that if this County Committee
were composed Of white-winged angels, and a
thousand or half thousand of the best-known
and most influential Republicans in the county
had come forward with a protest against the
legitimacy of their title such as has been offered,
backed by such incontcstablc proofs Of fraud in
the enrolment and dishonesty in the primaries,
the white winged angels could not afford 10 toss
off the protest this County Committee did the
respectful protest Of the Committee Of Five Hun
drcd Further: If the State Committee was also
body Of white-wingcd angels. 1t could not afford
TO treat the same protest and accompanying doc
nments in the dscOurteOus and contempuou;
manner with which it dismissed the whole affair
last SATURDAY, And still further. that Governor
Morton. were he also n hcavenborn seraph di-
yincIv anolnted and appointed for the Prcsi-
dental succession. could not ignore the fraudu-
lent and criminal transactions OF the men who
have appointed themselves his Spokesman with
ont taking some small chance of entering his
high Office in prospective with smlrch upon his
wings. That's all there Is to ii. The Republican
marty can sustain 10 damage from protest,
however energetic and indignant against Il
us,,rpaton of It's executive functions IN this coun-
~ by q body founded in falsehood ana fraud
and perpetuated in power by unpublished crime.
On the other hand 1t will suffer serious damage
II not irretrevable disaster If 1t consents to bear
without some unmlstakable demonstration or