Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1899-08-25
POLITICAL BOSSES.

POLITICAL BOSSES.
No Man Ever saw the Day He Could
Handle Kentucky.
Do you say you are afraid of pOIit-
/ ical bossism In Kentucky? III you are,
you are a little too timid. | am not,
| know that the man never did live
and never will live who will ever be a
boss in this grand old commonwealth.
Henry Clay never saw the day that
he could boss Kentucky politics, and
John G. Breckenridge, the biggest and
brainiest man that ever grew on Ken
lucky soil never saw the day that he
could boss the Kentuckians in politics.
/ saw Henry Watterson try to be a
boss once, and / need not tell you
where he landed. / saw Bradley try
it once on the other side, and / need
not tell you where he is now. A gov
ernor without follower, eve.te.n his
own party, from Mills Point to the
mouth Of Sandy. ! saw the one
time idol of the Kentucky Demo-
cracy, John G. Carlisle, try 1t
once, and / could not, if wanted
to. tell YOU where he is today. All
that l can tell you now Is that he is
not in Kentucky, and that the Louis
vile and Nashville railroad system. of
which Mr.. Goebcl has been telling, has
not an eight-driver engine that has
power enough to pull him across the
Ohio river into the state of Kentucky.
But somebody says he is afraid Of
political bossism. Now, | am willing
to be fair; / am amiable today. The
truth is / am too weak to fool men
anyhow For the sake of argument 1
will grant anything that you claim.
will admit every postulate and con-
II. hr9f
me- please, to beg leave to dissent from
your conclusion That is the only
thing ask for. You say you do not
like the present political situation.
Well, for the sake of the argument
will admit what is not true, and say
that do not either. You say 1t is bad,
and for the sake of argument | will
say 1t is worse. We are agreed that
far. and now l simply want to have
you answer me question.
Why Dissension?
What are you going to do about 1t?
Are you going to help things? Are you
going to cure the sick patient by call
ing in the Republican doctor? If you
do, instead of quinine, he will give you
and arsenic sure. There is
no sense in that. Is there anybody
who believes that there is system of
political bossism in this state? For
the sake of the argument ! will admit
to be true what / know is false, and
will say, "All right, agree there is.
How are you going to cure it? BY
voting the Republican ticket? Oh, no!
Why even fool we are told, can learn
in the College of Experience. Wise
men can learn without going through
with the experience, but people like we
who are not bright can only learn in
that college.
Have you not seen bossism in New
York represented by Tammany from
the time of Boss Tweed down, to the
present, overthrow and trampled in
the dust of defeat time after time, and
has that defeat of the bosses ticket
cured bossism? There is a practical
test that tells you you cannot do 1t
that way. But if we are to have a sys-
tenn of Democratic bossism here, for
Gods sake don't swap the witch for
the devil, don't jump from the frying
pan into the fire, and take Republican
bossism. [Cheers.l
But, gentlemen, these are makeshifts
and subterfuge. They are not honest
reasons advanced by honest men.
This is too big a question to be meas
ured upon the comparative merits OF
the men. What matters II to you,
what boots 1t to me, whether Wat Har-
din or Stone or Goebel was nominated
for governor of Kentucky? All three
Of them were decent men. There is not
one of them who would not make a
efficient and creditable
governor. What difference would 1t
make to the people so years hence, or
for that matter, 10 years hence,
the one or the other of those
worthy aspirants had succeeded in
the nomination? Not whit.
It makes little difference to you or me
today whether one man wins or an
other man loses. 1t does not matter
much to the people of Kentucky
Goebel and the rest of the
state ticket shall rise in triumph in
or go down in the dust of
defeat and disaster. 1t does not matter
much to the people of Kentucky or of
this country whether I win before the
next legislature of Kentucky in my
candidacy for The senate or go down In
a long and lasting defeat 1t does not
matter so essentially to the people OF
Kentucky or of this country whether
the great and matchless leader of the
Democratic hosts. the incompatible
Nebraskan, William Jennings Bryan,
shall be elected or defeated in 1900,
but 1t does matter, and matters much,
to the people of Kentucky and to the
people of this country whether the man
who represents the principles for
which Bryan stands, for which / stand,
and for which Goebel and this ticket
stands, shall win or lose in the coming
contest, [Great applause.1
NO EXCUSE
Has Any Democrat For Abandoning
His Party's Faith.
know, my friends, that you have