The times., 1898-10-21
GENERAL POLITICAL GOSSIP.

registered by. 10. o'clock tomorrow night
will rot be able to cast a ballot on cleo
tion day. After the full registration re-
turns are in the mAthematicians will get
out their pencils and commence to figure
on the probable vote. AT each headquar-
ters there is always maintained an able
corps Of lightnin8 ,calculators; they can
cipher out horoscope of the result whiie
you wait: will show you conclusiveiy how
utterly impossible it is for this or that
side to win or lose, as the case may be.
The old saying that figures never lie has
been wrenched considerably by the cam
paign mathematician. Unless they are
restrained in some way 1t will become
necessary In the near future to revise the
old adage and perhaps eliminate 1t from
the curriculum of the rising generation
altogether.
However. one fact will stand out clearly
when the New York registration is fin
ished, and that will be the size Of General
Apathy's army. II it should be exception
| ally large the Democrats Will have reason
| to rejoice. as the percentage of sulking,
stay-at-home Democrats In the Empire
State has never been very large. The
Democrats of New York as a class have
| generally had the courage of their con-
victions in the matter Of voting. They do
I not always vote with their party, but
| they come out and vote, just the same;
| they are not dodgers at the ballot box,
whatever else they may be. 1t has been
the custom of the Republicans to mani
fest their disapproval of their party's
course by sulking and refusing TO register
and vote. casual study OF the New
| York elections of the past will prove the
| accuracy OF this statement. When Mr.
| Cleveland was elected governor of New
| York, for instance. in 1882. by the then
| unprecedented plurality of over 10000. his
| total vote was less than that cast for the
| Democratic State ticket the following
year, when 1t barely scraped through by
pluralities ranging from ten TO twenty
| thousand and the head of the ticket
| Isaac II. Maynard, was beaten for secre-
| tary of state by Gen. Joseph B. Carr by
| over rs 1000 Democratic votes defeated
Maynard that year, as they did in 1888,
ten years later, when he was forced on
the party by David b. Hill and nominat-
| ed for judge of the Court of Appeals.
|
| In 1894 and 1886, the two great Repubi-
can tidal wave years in New York, an
analysis of the vote shows that the Dem
| ocratic kickers for the most part voted
direct with the Republicans. The in
| crease in the total Republican vote in
those years was due almost wholly TO
| Democratic detection; the Democrats
took this direct way of expressing their
disapproval. In 1887, however. when the
| reaction set In the Democrats elected
| their candidate for Judge OF the Court OF
Appeals by plurality of 6l.0o0. But it
was discovered, when the returns were
canvassed, that over $1,000 Low or Re
publican mugwump ballots were voted
| blank on the Court of Appeals judgeship.
| over $1,000 Republicans, in other words.
| disapproved of their party's policy and
management but did not have sufficient
| courage to 60 on record except in the
negative way of voting blank ballots In
the history of the G. o. p In New York
there is no evidence that any considerable
number Of Republicans at any time left
| their party and voted direct with the
! Democrats. The nearest approach TO ii,
| perhaps, was in 1884, when Blaine was
running against Cleveland but even that
year, when partisan feeling was as
strong as II ever has been and the rancor
of the anti-Blaine Republicans at fever
heat comparatively few Republicans voted
the Democratic ticket The largest pro-
portion of the .3nti-Blaine Republican
voters simply remained away from the
polls.
1t was estimated yesterday that fully
2oo, 900 voters in New York City alone had
failed TO register. Ordinarily the last two
days of registration in New York are
very light so the chances are that the
registration IN the city will be nearly
100 coo less than II ought to be when the
people are thoroughly aroused IL the
falling off is anything like as heavy in
the remainder of the State the defeat of
the Republican ticket would seem to be
almost a foregone conclusion, in spite
of everything that the President and the
members of the Administration may be
able to do to stem the tide.
Col. Roosevelt's friends have apparently
overlooked the fact that the old Blaine
guard in New York is still in existence,
and that the majority Of its members have
not forgiven Roosevelt for the course ne
pursued in the Presidential campaign of
1881 Roosevelt was a delegate to the Re
publican National Convention of 1884, and
with the late George William Curtis was
conspicuous on the floor of the conven-
ton in his opposition to the nomination OF
Blaine. Curtis and Roosevelt opposed
both Blaine and Arthur; they were In
favor of the nomination of Edmunds.
After the nomination of Blaine Curtis
openly bolted his party and came out
squarely for Cleveland. Col. Roosevelt;
was not far behind him, and it is quite
| certain that he did not vote for Blaine.
Roosevelts attitude in the campaign OF
1884 was the. chief reason why Mr. Cleve-
land at a subsequent time retained Mr..
Roosevelt on the civil service commission
The Blaine contingent in the Empire State
are noted for having long memories, and
from inside sources it is learned that they
intend to settle their old score with Col
Roosevelt on November s.
Lieut.. Gov. Timothy L. Woodruff, OF
New York, is very young man, but he
seems to have a proper appreciation of the
wonderful qualities of his running mate
on the Republican ticket. In a speech In
Brooklyn, following Roosevelt, the other
night, Woodruff got off this remarkable
statement without being called down by
his chief: when Mr. Roosevelt had Dew
ey assigned to that task (meaning his as
signment TO command the Asiatic squad
rom he knew the man he was having as
signed, and he knew just what would
happen" In other words. Woodruff would
have the public believe that Col. Roosevelt
knew six months before 1t occurred thai
the Maine would be blown up In the har.
Dor of Havana; that war with Spair
would result and the first move would bs
to capture Manila and destroy the Spanish
fleet in that Vicinity: that he had all thi.
in mind, and carefully figured out wher
he told the President to order Commodore
Dewey to the Asiatic station, 1t is re-
lated by a gentleman who was present
and heard the gallant Tim make his as
tonishing statement that Col. Roosevelt
did not even blush or show any signs o.
self-consciousness, but. on the contrary