The Portland daily press., 1898-09-30

New York, Sept. %. I'm reply to let
ter from r. Fulton Cutting. president of
the Citizens Union, Seth Low has writ
ten to Mr.. Cutting as follows:
The thesis which you ask me to sustain,
briefly stated Ia that an independent
State ticket at the present time is unrea-
sonable, Improbable and likely to be
dangerous in it's effects upon the election
of Colonel Roosevelt as governor, of a
sound-money senator to the United
States Senate and of sound money repre-
sentatives to Congress. I think an indie
pendent State ticket at the present time
is unreasonable because / can perceive
no cause of ge neral Importance to be ad-
vanced by it, while there is the very def
mite danger that it will put to hazard
public interests of very great conee-
quence, think the movement unpro fit-
able also because I can conceive of no
good result to come from it. Already it
has put the City Club and the Citizens
Union on the defensive. To many it
seems an absolute breach of good faith
that the Citizens Union should allow its
EN- blem to be used in State campaign.
But waving this, have you considered
GQ0G, uuu5T bu6 pIllAOky law p0bSCu Aobu
spring, the moment the Citizens Union
obtains State emblem 1t becomes po-
litical party, and thereby acquires stat
us under the law which will make it i'm.
possible for anyone who values his rela-
ton either to the Republican or the Dem
ocratic party to affiliate with the Union
without losing his connection with the
national party to which he belongs. This
independent State movement, therefore,
If it were to succeed in securing as it's
emblem, on its vote for governor. the
EN- blem OF the Citizens Union would de-
stroy the Citizens Union or, at the
least, would make 1T impossible for the
Citizens Union thereafter to use the
same emblem. Neither do think any
nature of protest against bossism by
defeating State officers and here and
there q candidate for the Legislature ia
yorable to Mr.. Plntt only 30 elect instead
candidates equally subservient to ME-
Croker. The political boss is the product
of system, and the system remains I'M
shaken even when one boss Is defeated for
boss does not spring from his ntrol OF
the Legislature; but his control Of the
Legislature comes from his power to con-
troll nominations. That is the place at
which to strike In order to destroy the
system. 1t the independents will join
the pOllIlcal parties WlGD WHICH tney ARE
most in sympathy, and under the new
ballot law strive to control the party
nominations, they Will, in my Judgment,
be in position to deal much heavier
blows against the boss system than they
possibly can do by embarking upon po-
litical movements that never can hope
for anything but negative success.
think il, moreover, singularly unfortu-
nate moment for the Independents to t.
tack Mr.. Platt when he is proposing that
the Republican party shall nominate for
governor the very man who was the
choice of the independents for the same
Office. Colonel Roosevelt does not change
his character by accepting the Rspubli-
can nomination, nor by declining the
independent nomination. He is sure to
be a Republican in Office, if elected upon
both nominations; and he is equally sure
to be honest, independent and courageous
as governor. if elected upon the Kepubli-
can nomination only.
l think the Independent movement is
dangerous to the sound money cause, be-
cause assuming that the independents
nominate only sound money men. as you
propose, it will tend to divide the sound
money vote.
SETH LOW.
New York, Sept. 81.