Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-07-12
TAMMANYss, AT WORK
Southern and Western Democrats
Being Entertained.
SEEKING A F0a 70 Mr.. BRYAN
The Man to Oppose Him Has Not
Yet Developed.
r EP U BLICANS FRETTED
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.

| Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
NEW YORK CITY, July IL, 1889.
Southern statesmen are having a pleas
ant time at the seashore Every day two
| or three Of them turn up at the hotels and
| then mysteriously disappear The next
heard of them they are at the resorts set
| Ting the affairs of the democratic party.
Some of the western men are also begin
ming to come in. They occasionally drop
| down to Coney Island to see the sights,
but apparently they prefer to stay in town,
where their presence can be known.
On inquiry I haven't found much that
was definite about the business. The New
York democrats yearn very earnestly to
get away from Bryan and free silver. If
they can do that they think they can
strengthen themselves in the city and in
the state and secure lot of material adj
vantages which the republicans now gain.
So everybody down south who can show
that he is member of a committee or has
something to do with the politics of the
state comes to New York and is welcomed
Usually he starts out by telling how he
himself is against Bryan or against free
silver That insures him a few pleasant
comes. 1t is generally an opinion that
while his people would like to get away
from free silver, they can't get away from
Bryan or, while they would like to get
from free silver The New York democrats
apparently do not think that a confidence
game is being worked on Them for, in spite
of these confessions they take right hold
OF the next pilgrim who wants dip in salt
water.
Western Men More Blunt.
The western men are a little more blunt
Nest of them whom 1 have seen tell the
New York democrats that there is little
hope of any movement which has it's begin
ming in the east Some of them have the
notion that if Tammany and New York
keep in the background the experiment may
be made of winning the party over to new
issues, but that it can't be done so long as
the eastern democrats are recognized as the
movers in the scheme The western men
are aggressive. and would not mind putting
up fight against Bryan on the issue,
though not against his candidacy But
they all agree that it must be kind of
spontaneous movement in the west and
south and not to be directed from New
York, which is the home of the money
devil, the money octopus and various other
kinds of monsters that stalk abroad in po-
atical campaigns and devour innocent coun-
trymen who live in the back districts of
the south and west , il
Many whispers are heard about what will
be done at the meeting of the democratic
national committee in Chicago next week
lneSe eastern democrats nave been led to
believe that while the Bryanites would re-
tain apparent control, the meeting would
show that they are. in reality very weak
Much of the burrowing that has been done
has been for this purpose. An Illinois DEM
ocrat who is not friendly to Bryan told me
yesterday that this was all a mistake. He
said that the committee would affirm very
strongly its subsection to the Bryan IDEAS
and that his own notion of defeating those
tendencies was to quit bothering about the
committee organization and to make a
bold fight among the masses of democrats
from from, now on until The meeting of the ma
mitted. was a hazardous move, which would
be combatted by a large number of ambi-
tlous men in the party who want to get to
the front and who fear to antagonize the
Bryan influence. This Illinois man was not
sanguine of the success of his own plan,
but he was willing to try 1t. He wanted
to know my individual view, and I told
him that nothing yet to my mind indicated
get away from its own shadow. Bryan told
the New Workers at the dollar Jefferson
banquet in April that whatever additions
might be made by the next national con-
vention to the platform of SO, not SEN
tence would be taken away from it, and
that seems to be the situation.
Saratoga Conference.
After the meeting Of the national COM
mittee in Chicago some Of the western and
southern democrats who are now enjoying
the seashore will have chance to try the
waters at Saratoga. The Tammany poll
ticians gather there every midsummer, but
one of them told me that this years gather
ing would really have to do with national as
we'll as municipal politics. He said that
they were going to find democrats in the
south and west who had the nerve to stand
with them and the fight against the Bryan
ties would go right ahead. According to
his statement, it wouldn't be a Tammany
fight at all. that the rich and influential
1nT &c of Nar VOrly
value of the organiZa ton, propose to CO.
operate with them. There is something in
this statement. Tammany does afford an
organized basis, and the influential New
York democrats who sometimes fight it and
sometimes support it know the strength Of
the organization. Tammanys battle cry is
Down with the trusts" This does not
mean the municipal trusts which can only
exist by the grace of the organization, but
the trusts in Ohio and Arkansas and other
far-off places
organization how Tammany could be made
the basis for rallying the anti-Bryan ele-
ments of the party when the warriors them
selves Were becoming tinctured with Bryan
ism. He replied very promptly: 1T can't;
but the old man is in England and hasn't
found it out yet" Nevertheless, he told me
that too much Importance should not be
given to the Fourth of July incident when
former Governor Hogg of Texas provoked
such strong Bryan demonstration Bryan,
this district leader said, had been gaining
stiSHSth llle poyS, WHO WoulQ give
him next time more than the perfunctory
support as the regular candidate, which
they accorded him the last time, but when
they came to realize that the organization
would be endangered by supporting him at
this period they would become reasonable
and Tammany would be neither Bryan
nor an anti-Bryan organization. He also
said that John c. Sheehan would lose in his
fight against the organization, and that
when Mr.. Croker returned nobody would
be found going against his wishes.
A Mix Up of Names.
Another Tammanyi man said that Croker
wouldn't mind the snufHng out of the Van
Wyck candle because the men who pro-
posed to regeneratei the party had reached
the point where they cUuld put forward
somebody of national prominence. The
Van Wyck move ith has been found, con-
fuses the democrats out in the country, be-
fhaIr Inn lrrafa1 hara u,.o