The Saint Paul globe., 1900-04-28
DICK BELLS BLIGHTING TOUCH
PALSIED BY THE DISTRICT COIJRT.

9oi CSu' when man VINO is a candidate
for office has his best friends offer a
weak apology for him. as the Pioneer
Press did yesterday morning for McCar-
| dy, the juggler, his case is in pretty bad
shape. Yet it is to this complexi m tho
cause of the new gang has come. Abuse.
Vil11cation; falsehood, shameless and un-
| limited, crocodile tears over the pr-spec-
tive injury to the city, and newspaper
| sensationalism are now the only reliance
that is left to the cheap grafters Of the
| city hall.
| The one man to be commiserated by all
disinterested men is Chet Smith He en-
tered upon the campaign In perfect good
faith. OF course, nobody knew him, and
he wasn't especially good-looking, but he
| had fooled around the Commercial club
| and like bodies without attracting atten-
tfon, and, above all other occasions for
public distinction, he had been designed
by his friend, Mayor Kiefer, as his can
d1date for the office of city assessor,
| which is quite nice berth in its wav
and offers quite a few opportunities to a
shrewd and watchful man. But he chose
| to set himself up in opposition to his
friend K1efer for the nomination, and he
| has to bear the consequences.
|
1t does not receive the sanction of the
q e, the proposition that Chet Smith
| withdraw from the campaign. The sug-
gestion is merely the result Of arrant
| coWardice, even though 1t have as It is
understood to have, the implied sanction Of
the candidate himself. The conference
recently held on the subject of the very
sad condition of the Republican finances
ought not to have discouraged him.
| Some nj ba or
! pressed the belief, to be sure, that Mr.
Smith ought to withdraw in order to
save, II possible, the council and Nc
! Cardy. But any reasonably observant
person sees already that the council is
i beyond salvation, and that nothing short
of concentration of all available resources
on McCardy will even enable the Repub-
lcans to plant a graft that in the course
of time may grow up to the proportions
| of a growth of opportunity. The council
is doomed. Everybody recognizes that.
! There is absolutely no hope there, and
but very little in the case of McCardy.
| e
The Bell fiasco has had a stunning eR-
| feet. The money which has been lavished
! by the politicians in paying counsel fees
| and law expenses in that case will never
prove to be the bread thrown on the wa
| ters. 1t merely presents lost oppor-
tunity, and all the sophistry Of the Dis
things, will never transform it into any
| thing more or less than a public expos
| ure. of a huge strike inaugurated to
raise the wind and help the cheap graft
ers of the city hall to keep. their places.
/ But it is ended; and it's ending has hast
ened the footsteps OF the Republican re
/ form" conspirators in seeking a secure
! retreat
The only hope left is the possibility
which individual candidates on the Chet
Smith ticket possess by reason of their
good fellowship to secure Democratic
/ votes. That is the search some of them
are on now. An assembly candidate, who
is a little convivia1 in his habits, was
| heard in his cups last evening to express
the conviction that there would not be a
grease spot left of the outfit except the
remains of few men ike himself, who
1 had always chosen his personal friends
| from among the Democratic people.
-
The German scare is, .if-anything, worse
than the Bell fiasco in Its results. The bo-
! gus reformers have been able to humbug
the Germans, who are an exceedingly
conservative people. But it will work no
longer. The old leaVen OF. Know-Nothing-
| ism, which is so strong in Republican pol
icy. has made itself too well understood
among the COMMUNICATIONS, with the
result that the deception does not Work
| any further.
For a number of years, through the ef-
forts of a few marplots like Stadfeld, the
| Germans and the Irish=Americans have
been kept at war. through national preju-
! dices They have. as a result taken oppo-
| site sides, and their strength, as against
!, the KNOWN Nothing idea, has been dissi-
pated. Even this tendency is at an END,
! and the actual facts are beginning TO
ich
some chance for further delusion were
it not for the bad break of the Dispatch
in irving TO ''iolly' the Germans into
voting for Chet. But the scheme failed.
It was exposed, and the result is that the
return of George Thompson has no appre-
ciable effect on the situation.
The Manhattan franchise grab has had
a wonderful effect in this way. The little
/ scheme to put off the voting on Mayor
| Kiefer's veto until after the election has
not done bit of good. 1t is just the
! same. Everybody looks on the scheme
as merely another trick in which the re
formers, are so we'll versed. The other
scheme of Clerk Jensen, in getting legal
] opinion to justify him in performing
| ministerial duty, while 1t made well In
| formed men laugh. has arouseS the mass
| of the people as too transparent to be
thought of save as public Insult
| Combined with all this is the pronou1c-
! ed conviction of success which perNadeS
| the Democratic ranks. Mayor Smi h Is
| doing wonderful work The people are
realizing that it is not the success or de-
| feat of any given candidates trat Is In
| volved, but the defeat of the entire gang
! Of servile grafters who are now In pow
er. That is the end to which all are
working, and it is the end that will be ac-
| complished, in spite of all the anci Mt his
| tory that may be dug up, and in The
! teeth Of all the falsehood and infamy
| which have marked the last despairinS
| effort of the gang.
The sentiment of the people is arous-
ed The meetings of the Republicans
there not being the usual amount Of mon
ey in hand and Oar Reese's mission to
the national committee having proven a
failure-are fiat stale ard unprc ftab'e.
and the average worker is DISCOURAGED.
1t is now every man for himself, and the
devil take the hindmost. And, as it Is
the hindmost which is in front. it is re-
ceiving desperate treatment in these try-
ing days.
Even Mayor Kiefer, in his self-sacrifc-
ing labors on behalf of his political assas-
sins, has laid down. He sees the hope
lessness of the case, and the folly of try
ing the temper of his most loyal support
ers by going out on the stump or Else
where, and saying and doing thiacs w ich
cnly grieve and insult his friends. 1t Is
all day with the gang, and only the d.
rect interference of Providence can row