The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-11-28
Welsh on Wanamaker.

In the current issue of City and
state, Herbert Welsh. the high priest
of Pennsylvania retormers. discourses
with interesting freedom upon the next
senatorship. Mr. Welsh is violently
opposed to Quay and Quayism. and
therefore cannot abide any of the can
didatcs supposed to be friendly to the
Junior senator On the other hand he
finds it impossible to warm up at
thought of Wanamaker, and not being
a patron of the Wanamaker advertis-
ing department., he frankly says so. lie
admits that the Philadelphia merchant
has some good points, but he still says
of him:
We do not think Mr.. Wanamaker is suit
ed to the place. He Is reouted to he a
man of very great wealth, and he has met
with very great success in building up an
immense dry goods business. But we
think there are already too many men or
great wealth in the United states senate,
and that the fact that men possess money
in suuerahundancc Is getting to he TOO
prepondera ting q reason for sending them
there. We think that for this reason alone
ii would he wiser and mere wholesome to
choose some one not so closely associated
in the public mind with great riches. Mr..
Wanamakcr's first prominence in the pub
lie life of the country was obtained by h!s
success in collecting an enormous election
fund estimated approximately at $iOo,p~.
1t was this service which gained for Mr..
Wanamaker place in the cabinet, cstab-
fishing a precedent. which, as Mr.. George
William Curtis always held, was unfor-
tunate and dangerous. Mr.. Wanamakcr
was without any other distinction in ma
tional politics to account for his selection.
1t has been urged that Mr.. Wanamaker
showed distinguished ability as postm1s-
ter general. 1t was natural to suppose
that his well-known business training and
ability would fit him to effect very prac-
teal improvements in the postal service
But Mr. Wanamaker did not apply bust
ness methods. as we understand them. to
the postal work of the government. GER
tainly at the beginning of his incumbenry
although later on he was more favorable
to them.
But this is not all of Mr. Wclsh's
disaffection. He adds: "Some of the
methods which have been employed by
his reputcd agents during the past year,
to promote Mr. Wanamakers candi-
dacy for the senate. are, in our opin-
ion, deserving Of severe rcbuke. We
do not say that Mr.. Wanamaker him
self employed these Objectionable
methods, but they We're used brazenly
by State Senator Kaufman, his reput-
ed agent. and so far as we know were
never disavowed by Mr.. Wanamaker.
We refer to the attempted purchase by
Kaufman of editorial praises for Mr.
Wanamakcr in the newspapers of Lam
caster county. We called on Mr.. Wan
amaker to disavow Kauffman's act just
before his journey to the Holy Land,
and again just after it, but without
response" OF course. That was a
trivial sin compared with certain other
methods employed in Wanamaker's be-
half, very evidently with his knowl-
edge and consent. Silence in such mat
ters is discretion.
The candidate who would please Mr..
Welsh most is Hampton l.. Carson or
ex-Minister William Potter They
would make excellent senators, without
doubt. Why are such men not sup
ported by the good people of the Quak-
or city?