The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1898-08-17

when President Cleveland frohiDileo
R.pubIican once Holders From
serving Their Party. Colonel stone
Promptly Went on the stnmp-Ihe
campaign to open With Bang OF
Big Guns at Pittsburg snd 70 Be
Full of speech Making.
Special correspOndence0
philadelphia. Aug. 81 suppose l
win have to plead guilty 10 originating
one expression in the political IAN
ruaee of the country, although / don't
give utterance TO II" said the Republi-
can candidate for governor the ether
day. Colonel Stone is temporarily So
iourning at Atlantic City. but comes
IN to town frequently. While the cam
paign will not be formally opened IN
iii the second week OF September When
the State League Of Republican CLUBS
meet at Pittsburg, the party entnusi-
asm has declined to await on fornal-
lsies this year, and the calls for Coionei
stone have been so frequent that ne
win have but little time outside OF MS
own state between now and the eiec-
tion.
He has alwavs been good cam
naigner. since he began making Re-
publican speeches before he was OF age
and his remark quoted above had REL
erence to this phrase. Offensive par
tisanship." which ne was the occasion
for President Cleveland TO emoaim
among the modern classics OF political
expression. Colonel Stone was the origi-
mai offensive partisan He happened TO
be United States district attorney for
the western district of Pennsylvania
when the state campaign OK 1856 came
on. and In pursuance OF President
CIevelands attempt 10 emascuiate as
MANY leading Republicans as possible.
received an intimstion that II ne dlo
not display offensive partisanship.
which is to sav IL he would SIT on the
fence and let his party ticket look out
for itself. he could retain his ONCE
That is just what he didn't do. He
went on the stump at the first call from
the state committee, and President
Cleveland promptly exscted the pen
atty by putting man IN his place
whose sartisanship. being Democratic
was presumably innocuous.
II the president had wanted va
eancy in that Office he could not have
devised a better way 10 get IL. for one
look al the head and neck that top out
the gigantic figure of the present Re
DnblIcan candidate for governor is
enoueh 10 indicate that he Is not well
huilt for taking orders from anybody.
He Is deliberate In the extreme In
making up his mil.d. as is usually the
habit with farm bred men. who like
10 roll a subject over from one end OF
The furrow to the other and back again,
but he doesn't sub-let the contract 10
anvbody else, and his convictions VIII
all stand without being hitched.
He comes naturally by his dispose
tion. with New England blood on the
one side OF his ancestry, and Pennsyl-
yania German on the other. His father,
although only a so acre farmer, poor
man ali his life. was the general trust
officer OF the neighborhOod. and for 20
wears before his death nobody In the
township thought Of making a Will
without getting him to write It. and ap
pointing him executor Of the estate. He
was naturally, OF course, man who
liked TO be the head OF his own house
hold. and so. when the present candi-
date for governor. at the age OF 10.
went after the cows one night. and
didn't come bacx. but followed his two
older brothers 10 the army instead. the
old gentleman promptly went after him
and got him discharged. But he shortly
discovered what President Cleveland
found out in 1856. that whether IL was
his country or his party that he
thought needed his services, his son
couldn't be neld Dacls. IL only a
short time till he ran away and en-
listed again. and this time his father
concluded he might as well let him go.
He showed the same independent
spirit in the matter OF his first nomina-
tion for congress The delegates had
been elected in the interest of the then
sitting member. Colonel Thomas NJ.
Bayne, but at the last moment h.
astonished everybody by declining a
denomination. and turned il over 70
Colonel Stone. who had not previously
been mentioned as a candidate. There
had been no contest, and the district
was so overwhelmingly Republican that
any dissatisfaction which might have
arisen from this unusual circumstance
would have had no effect on the re-
suit. but Colonel Stone promptly de-
elined 10 receive a nomination on any,
body else's credit, and went into new
primaries and won out on his own
strength.
One of the best descriptions OF how he
impresses people as a campaigner. by
the way. appeared In the Scranton Trf-
bune last week. as follows:
Colonel Stone. the Republican NOM
inee for governor. is not a popInIay.
nor a poseur. as those who met him
yesterday can attest. He Is a modest.
Straightforward and unassuming man.
who without any fiourishes impressea
the observer with his reserve strength
and his sincerity. No man who looks
him steadily in the eyes or takes care
fui measure of his words and manner
viii depart from his presence with a
feeling of skeptieism as to his integ-
rity or his moral courage. The clean
grit and stubborn fiber Of the obscure
Tioga county farmer boy who WORKED
his way To the front by sheer dint Of
persevering studiousness and Industry
is In him yet. and also the candor and
the total absence Of vain pretension.
Colonel Stone is not an orator and
does not try to be. Those who shall
go TO hear him during the ensuing
campaign with the expectation OF hear
ing thrilling exercise in word jugglery
viii be disappointed. because ne is not
that kind of man. In speech he often
becomes eloquent. but II is the rugged
eloquence OF honest earnestness, with
out a suggestion of stage play or make
believe His meeting with the people
is hand to hand and face to face. en-
tirely candid and unaffected. He In
dulges in no theatric attempts 10 win
applause or capture popular favor. He
says his say with homely directness
and his hearers are then let TO Judge
of 1t for themselves.
ut Is evident that Colonel Stones
brief visit to this region-wnsSn IN
merely preliminary-that the Republic
can candidate for governor will grow
steadily upon the public respect and
confidence the more he meets the peo-
pie OF the commonwealth. In his pres
ence the electorate will be conscious.
not Of the hysteria which is a pre-
dominant characteristic OF the various
so-calied reform movements OF the day.
nor of the semi humorous thimble rig
Ging which seems to be inseparable
from the Pennsylvania Democracy
since the death OF Samuel J. Randall.
but II win experience instead the tran
quiliity OF assurance which comes from |
confident mastery Of the situation. IL
VIII come to realize ere the campaign |
Is ended that in Colonel Stone We are |
n hnnr