The times., 1898-11-15
GENERAL POLITICAL GOSSIP.

Senator HannaS recent interview on
politics and things in generai is brutally
frank, He says in substance that the
Dingley tariff law is a failure; that it is
not a revenue producer, and must be
amended. He believes in taxing tea,
coffee, sugar, and many other actual nee
essaries; thinks that the people like to
be humbugged. and that they do not mind
paying an indirect tax, no matter how
heavy it may be. Mr. Hanna's success
has made him cynical and Indifferent to
so-called public opinion. 1t will be OBJ
served, however, that Mr.. Hanna did not
make public his real sentiments untn
after the election. If the Hanna program
is to be carried out there ought TO be no
great uncertainty about the election OF a
Democratic President in 1890.
That Mr.. Croker's policy of silence and
evasion with reference TO silver and the
Chicago platform of 1896 in the late cam
paign in New York was blunder is
strikingly demonstrated by the returns
from the Eleventh. Congressional district
where William Sulzer was running on the
| Tammany ticket. Mr.. Sulzer is close
I
tions of his own, and he declined to sup
press them in obedience to orders from
| Headquarters. aHe was the only Congress
sional candidate in the city of New York
who came outssquarely and unequiyocal-
ly for silver and the principles enunciated
in the Chicago platform. Mr.. Suffers ma
jority in the district two years ago was
less than two thousand. This year he is
elected by a ma jortty of over ten thou
l..
candidate for governor. by two thousand
votes. Mr.. Salzers personal popularity
had of course omething to do with his
| large vote. bupit must be apparent to the
dullest mind that the silver sentiment in
New York is very strong. and that II is
| a great mistake on the part of the Demo-
.cratic managers there to try TO suppress
II. If Judge Van Wyck had had little
more of Mr.. Sulzer's courage he might be
| governor-elect of the Empire State today
Senator Charles ]. Faulkner, of West
Virginia, arrived in Washington last even
ing from his home in MartinsburG. He
said that it would require the official can
vass to determine definitely which party
would be In control of the West Virginia
legislature on joint ballot. The official
canvass began yesterday, and will prob
cations" Senator Faulkner added, favor
the Democrats: we will have majority
in the assembly sure. and the chances are
that our party will be in control on joint
| ballot"
The West Virginia situation gives prom
Use of becoming interesting by the time
the legislature meets in January. 1t is
openly charged by many Republicans that
Senator Elkins secretly connived at the
election of a Democratic legislature in
order to have his father-in-law. Henry G.
Davis, who is gold cure Democrat.
elected as his colleague. The job was set
up, it is charged, some time ago. A close
analysis of the legislative and Congress
sional returns in West Virginia reveals
some very curious facts. but of course
they may be only mere condolences. For
| instance. Mr.. McGraw, the Democratic
candidate for Congress in the Second dis
trict, against Mr.. Dayton, was defeated
by the falling off in the Democratic vote
along the line of the West Virginia Gen.
tral Railroad, which is controlled by
Davis and Elkins. The Davis and Elkins
employees appear to have cut McGraw, but
at the same time they were thoughtful
enough to vote for the Democratic candi-
dates for the legislature in their vicinity
Mr.. McGraw's friends claim that If he
had not been knitted by the Davis-EIkins
combination that he would have been
elected by over two thousand majority.
When Mr.. Davis comes up as a candi-
date for the Senate, it is said that formal
charges will be preferred against him
Proof will be produced, it is intimated
that he betrayed his party and cannot
honestly style himself a Democrat. Nc
Graw's friends are up in arms. They say
that If Davis is elected Senator from
West Virginia this Winter it can only be
by the aid of Republican votes.
| The advices received from Nevada re-
garding the status of the legislature of
that State are conflicting. The Republic
ans have apparently elected their candi-
date for governor by a plurality of
| twelve votes, and 'ithey also claim that
the legislature will be anti-Stewart by a
! good majority Senator Stewart on the
| other hand, wires his friends here that he
| will have two-thirds of the legislature at
his back, and that his reelection is an
absolute certainty, 1t is to be hoped that
Senator Stewart is not mistaken. He
| would be missed from the Senate cham
ber perhaps more than any other Sena-
tor. He was first elected to the Senate
in 1864, thirty-four years ago. He served
two terms and retired, in 1875, to practice
law. In 1887 he was reelected to the
Senate, and has served continuously in
that body ever since. Senator Stewart
says that his retirement in 1875 was vol
untary on his part that he declined a
reelection at that time. If he had re-
mained continuously in the Senate from
the time of his first election he would
have broken all records for length of SER
vice in that body. Although in his sew
enty-second year, Senator Stewart is as
active and vigorous as the average man
of fifty.
The inside gossip of the attempt of the
War Department clique to keep Gen.
Miles in the background and throw dis
credit on him on every occasion has
!, political motive behind IT. 1t seems, so
the story goes, that the astute Hanna dis
covered in Gen. Miles possible rival to
Mckinley for Presidential honors in 1900.
, He knew that Gen. Miles through his
, connection by marriage with the families
e | of John Sherman and Don Cameron had
always had strong political backing. He