Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1900-03-01
BOSS POLITICS.


article advocating that principle, with
which we agree which is that the
will of the majority, freely and talrly
expressed, must be respected. All fair
minded men agree with this, and the
surprising thing to US is that The Eagle
will talk in that way, and at the same
time &c on supporting the quay ma
chine and the set of fellows, who for
many years haYe made it a study now
the will of the majority could be SET
aside and the will of the Boss made
supreme.
The older ones of our readers VIII re-
member the Presidential campaign OF
1876. At that time that peerless states
man. and Republican leader, the ideal OF
Pennsylvania Republicans, James ".
Blaine was at the zenith Of his powers
mentally. physically and politically ana
by his devotion to Republican principles
and the cause of the people had endear-
ed himself to the Republican masses OF
the State. He was their ideal man tor
President and had the people been given
a chance to vote their choice for Presl-
dent at the primaries when delegates 10
iya1anla 6epuDntans Woliluf liasS60 5eeviali
that Republican of Republicans, James
G. Blaine How was the will OF the
majority" respected in this Conventions
The sequel will show. In the choosing
of delegates 70 the National Convention
the Pennsylvania Bosses had themselves
chosen as delegates, and by applying
the party lash they were enabled to
whip into line enough weak kneed dele
gates, who, added to fellows who fol
low politics as business. obeylng the
orders of the boss at all times and
"crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
that thrift may follow fawning, made
a majority of the delegation, and adopt
ed the 'gag rule" that the delegation
vote as a whole on all questions in the
Conven tion. They next adopted reEJ-
luton that the vote of the Pennsylvania
delegation be given to the amiable Gov
ernor John f. Hartranft, a man who
had about as much chance Of being
nominated for President as you or l
have of flying to the moon. When the
Convention met in Cincinnati the fol
lowing of Mr.. Blaine was large and
enthusiastic, be was the undoubted
choice of the people, but that mean,
low, jealousy of others that ever pre-
vades the mind of the Boss was in
force and the manipulators were at
work When the balloting began James
G. Blaine had by far the leading vote
of the Convention, but not enough to
nominate. The Pennsylvania delega-
ton under the dictation Of the Bosses
with one or two exceptions who stood
by Blaine regardless of the Bosses voted
for Hartranft, throwing awayU their
votes, whereas if the will of the people
of Pennsylvania had been respected the
delegation would have voted for their
choice and Blaine would have been
nominated on the first ballot, and
would have swept the country at the
fall election. But under the manage
ment of the Bosses the ba1oting con
tinued till finally break was made to
Gov. Hays, of Ohio, a good natured,
motherly sort of man, but who did
not size up to the requirement of the
Presidential office at that time. The
older ones of our readers will remem-
Der what hard fought campaign it was
and how near we came to losing alto
gether, as we won by barely one vote in
the electoral collage-Hays 1856, Tilden
Island all the turmoil and uncertain
sion, and danger that threatened the
country, was brought about by the
jealously, and selfishness of the Bosses
of the Pennsylvania delegation not
obeying the will of the people" and
voting for Hartranft and not for Blaine.
Then again in 1880 Blaine was the
choice of the Republicans of Pennsylva-
mia for President, but the same tactics
were played by the Bosses with the
Pennsylvania delegation, the vote was
given to another candidate and resulted
in Garfield being nominated instead Of
Blaine, and thus the will of the peo-
pie" was again thwarted by the dicta-
tion of the Bosses. The Eagle knows
all this, did not approve of 1t at the
time, yet for some strange (Y) reason it
still supports Quay and his crowd. who
thus brought about the defeat of the
choice of the majority Of the people of
Pennsylvania. And by this course the
people of this country Were deprived of
the services of one of the brightest
brainest and farseeing statesmen of
our time. James g. Blaine During
the short time that he was Secretary of
State under the lamented Garfield and
while in the same position under Harri-
son the people were given an idea of
his grasp of public affairs TrIe revision
of our tariff with reciprocity added. the
extension of our merchant marine, the