Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1899-03-24
Dinners and Democrats.


swallow tail coats. he wants his
democratic club to be swell
club, and he is of the opinion that
the uniform which swelldom has
adopted is not bit too nice for Tam.
many. Ex Senator Hill has already
referred to Mr.. Croker's club as .'the
swellest in New York. and if the
shine can be knocked off the Union
League Club, Mr.. Crocker is the man
to do it.
| The Jeffersonian dinner shortly to
be given by MIR. Crocker's club will
be an affair which would astonish
Jefferson in more ways than one. In
the first place; real Jeffersonian de.
mocrats will be CONSPICUOUS by their
absence. The great majority of the
guests will be men who objected to
the Chicago platform; but Mr.. Gro
ker thinks that 1000 quarts of cham
pagne will be something of an offset
to this fact
1t was at first proposed to invite
many prominent democrats from
other states, but this feature is to be
omitted, and only New Workers are
to be allowed to get sip of the
champagne. This conclusion was
probably the result Of MIR. Bryan's
letter to Mr.. Belmont, the gentleman
who is sending out invitations. The
letter was charac teristically blunt
and uncompromising: "Invitatiou
received. Remembering that you
openly repudiated the Chicago plat.
form in the last campaign, I desire
to know, before answering your
invitation, whether yeu have since
the election publicly announced your
conversion to theprinciples set forth
in that platform"
MIR. Belmont's reply was very Gu
rious. He said, in effect, that the
personal opinions of those invited
had not been taken into considera.
tion in sending out invitations.
Perhaps We have not quoted him
literally, but that was the purport
of his reioinder. Tanner o, Hanna
would be eligible to an invitation to
Mr.. Croker's celebrated swallow.tail
Jeffersonian dinner.
The Constitution has always had
warm side for Tammany, and has,
on occasion, defended it from the
ISLANDERS and assaults of the enemies
OF democracy. Under capable lead
ers Tammany has oftentimes welded
a strong influence on national affairs
but we feaI that period has passed.
The ambitious young men of the
organization will discover before
long that Mr.. Croker has lead them
headlong into ditch 80 far as
nationai affairs are concerned. The
Tammany boss has already adverti.s
ed the fact thar he is out OF tune
with democratic principles; and he
is SO puffed up by the tremendous
power he wields in municipal affairs
that he imagines himself influential
enough to have the democratic plat
form written at his dictation.
He has already, with the coarse
insolence Characteristic of his meth.
dds as boss, disposed of the silver
question and set il aside, and, in his
conceit, he thinks he has committed
the party to expansion. Mr.. Croker
and those who are compelled to
train with him will have rude
awakening when the national demo.
cracy begins to fall into line.
Peery Belmont differs from Croker
in the fact that he has ability enough
to look forward to events: He is not
a democrat and doesn't believe in
democratic principles. His father
acted with the democratic party, and
was chairman of the executive com
mittee; but he dinn't know demo.
cratic principle from hole in the
ground. He was very shrewd man
however, and it was under his au
spicies that Manton Marble tnrned
The World against Horatio Seymour
just in time to defeat him, and later
on sacrificed General Hancock.
-Peery Belmont, who is now SO
busy helping Mr.. Croker out with
his 30 called Jeffersonian dinner, is
the same man who presided over an
anti-democratic mass meeting in
New York and denounced Bryan and
the Chicago platform. But, with a
shiftiness characteristic of his for
bears, he indorsed the Teller reso-
luton in 1897, and tried hard to put
Il H.. sat