The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1898-03-03
HANNA BROKE FAITH.
Story of Pledge Under Which
He Was Appointed.
IN PURSUIT OF BLACKBURN.
One Way to Make Witnesses Talk In
the Bribery Investigation-Bien-
niai sossions-Fee and SAL
sry Question.

thNithIlonS seem 10 pe coming In upon
Governor Bushnell from Republican
clubs and organizations, to visit and
address them, In way that certainly
does not indicate that he has lost caste
with the Republican party by his oppo-
sition to the election of M. A. Hanna to
the senate. 1t would be interesting to
be able to read the thoughts of those
members Of his staff and official family
who, In the midst Of the senatorial
fight, resigned, imagining that to stay
with the Bushnell ship was to go down
with 1t, now that the storm.is over and
the Republicans who are in the Bush
nell boat seem to be much safer than
those who are in the Senator Hanna
boat,
A fact that no doubt affords the
Bushnell Republicans great deal of
comfort is that this fall they will be
''in out of the wet" when the election
is on, and will not need to worry over
the result. 1t "a the Hanna factions
turn to do the walking.
The attitude of the anti-Hanna Re-
publicans toward the.department Of the
state dairy and food commissioner
Mr.. Blackburn--in the action of the
Legislature on the partial appropriation
bill foreshadovs, no doubt, the action
of the faction In general toward Mr..
Blackburn IN the election this fall.
They are evidentlyytrying to make him
all the trouble they can, and IL they do
not make general onslaught on him
at the polls, the regulations of all the
political prophets about the capital city
will be badly damaged. 1t will be re-
membered that 1T was Mr.. Blackburn
that made the first direct charge that
Governor Bushnell was trying to dis
place Senator Hanna as the candidate
OF the party for senator, and that he
wanted to use the appointments Of his
office In the interest of his senatorial
boom-giving the Cleveland attorney
ship for the department to Harry G.
Mason in consideration of his fight on
Senator Hanna. Very retentive memo
ries have these Bushnell Republicans.
It will be noticed that they have sue
ceeded in cutting the partial appropria-
tion asked for by Mr.. Blackburn just
half in two
The Hanna Bushnell Compact.
"What was the compact under which
Governor Bushnell appointed Mr.. Han
ma to the senate to succeed Mr.. Sher-
mani" asked a representative Bush
nell Republican the other day. tits
all over now" said he, "and there is
nothing to be gained by longer conceal
Ing the facts. Besides, 1t has been very
closely guessed at. The fact is that the
governor found such stress brought to
bear upon him by the friends of Sena-
tor Hanna and administration Repub-
iicans in favor of the appointment Of
Mr.. Hanna that he found 1t would so
seriously interfere with the harmony
of the party as to make it very doubt
full as to,wnether the party could carry
the state at the coming election, in
which the governor was, Of course,
deeply interested; and so, though ad-
vised against 1t by most of those men,
bers of the party from whom he had
been accustomed to take counsel in
matters of politics, he concluded to ap-
point Mr.. Hanna to the vacancy. Be-
fore doing so, however, he desired to
have an understanding with Mr.. Hanna
as to the control of the party machine
In the immediate future, especially
with regard to the approaching state
1election. There was meeting of the
4 governors representatives with Sena-
tor Hanna in Washington, and at that
meeting the agreement was made. 1t
was a compact made In good faith, and
carried out in good faith by Governor
Bushnell and his friends, though en-
tirely disregarded by Senator Hanna.
Governor Bushnell was apprehensive
that Senator Hanna would try to con-
troll the state executive committee; he
felt sure that some of his friends would
urge him to do so in order to avenge
a fancied insult to Secretary of State
Kinney, and SO he required Mr.. Hanna
to pledge himself to keep hands off in
the state election. Mr.. Hanna made no
objection to this. He readily conceded
that that was the proper course. It was
| a6AoOdj ih 4ShoiI bhdb Lao oSeituuS aS-
ward the state campaign should be ex-
actly that which Senator Sherman had
been accustomed to maintain.
Relying upon the good faith with
which Senator Hanna entered into this
agreement, the appointment was made,
and the governor busted himself about
his campaign, paying no attention to
what was being done by Senator Han
ma. 1t may not be a matter that re-
fleets credit upon Governor Bushnell's
political sagacity, but it certainly indi-
Gates the sincerity with which he made
this agreement with Senator Hanna,
that he did not know that the senator
had violated every pledge he had made
to him In the matter and captured the
Republican machine of the state until
the state convention had met at Toledo.
ut was a complete surprise to him.
Mr.. Kurtz had been closely engaged
with important business matters of his
own, and indeed, since the governor
had gone counter to his advice In max
ang the senatorial appointment. he had
mot specially charged himself with
looking after the AFFAIRS. Had he taken
the matter in charge, / do not think
Mr. Kurtz would have been SO COM