The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-05-08
POLITICAL NOTES AND GOSSIP.
The Talk of Townc-Tbe ..,r,ipa.

The Talk of Towne.-Tbe -.Jr,in.tion
of the Hon. Charles a. Towne, of Culuth.
for Bryan's running mate by g ser-st.p-
cient coterie of statesmen who lirpear to
have met by chance at CHI. 80 o. Satnr-
day last. has not been received r-a oois-
! ferrous appreciation by rne De-, Tatic
leaders IN Washington. When > 7a."r
Jones. Chairman of the rsT->arar'r Ne
/ tional Committee, was sss '"Ju: II
yesterday he said: Il read sorI st1 ny ,,huut
/ 1t in the headlines of the neTrspapsrs his
morning. but the matter was 81 sueh little
{ importance to me that l did not red. what
! you newspaper men call the story.
/ looked for other things in tue paper OF
| more Importance and of gene Al interest.
! Further than this Senator Jones' you'd
not express himself for pui ication. The
! Hon. B. F Caldwell. Of III nnis, Who tas
/ q considerable Vice Presidential COON of
| hi: own to interest hi:, said: 1 don :
| suppose there is anylrlt.,. serious in the
/ talk about Towne. The zeal serse of the
| proposition now seems - he Dewey for
| secor,i place. | believe the man who picks
| the Admiral for Bryan's running mate
/ will show himself to be a prophet" And
/ no more than this could Mr.. Caldwell be
/ induced to say for publication. The re
! marks of these two influential Democrats
! contain the essence of what nearly every
/ other party leader had to say on the sub
( iect of Towne's candidacy. Some o. them
were extremely critical of the Hon. Willis
J. Abbott, the press agent of the Demo-
! cratic National Committee. who appears to
! have started the Towne boom. The opin-
/ ion is growing that the energetic Abbott
| has Unwarrantably enlarged his sphere of
/ activity. This is not the only boom he has
| started since he has had charge of the
! National Committees Bureau of Promotion
/ and Publicity. 1t is pointed out that colo
/ mel Abbott is not expected to promote the
| boom of anybody for Vice President. his
| duty being simply to record and dissemi-
nate such acts of the National Committee
| as the officials of that organization may
| direct him to disseminate. Some time ago
Chairman Jones felt called upon to define
| the functions of the press agent as those
which pertain only to routine analrs, ana
! such as are entrusted to all the other EN-
| ployes of the National Committee. 1t is
! thought that Colonel Abbott's boom Tor
| Towne will cause him trouble with the
managers OF the party organization, ana
| that as a result of his too eager desire 10
| make his services conspicuous chanSe
| will be made at the head q the Bureau OF
| Promotion and Publicity.
Colonel Dicks Return.-The Hon.
| Charles F. ". Dick, Representative oil the
! Nineteenth Ohio district, Secretary OF the
Republican National Committee. Chairman
! o: the Ohio State Republican Committee,
| and other things too numerous to mention.
I returned to Washington yesterday from
! his flying trip to Cincinnati. The Even
/ ing Times of Saturday had good story
! about the object of my visit 10 Cincinnati
said Colonel Dick yesterday afternoon
eyand ct n
| deed and the best part of it was that 1t
was romance, pure and simple II is
/ fact that / went to Cincinnati last FRIDAY.
I Yes sir; sure | did. But it is not fact
/ that my mission was to meet the advance
/ guard of the Mid-Road Populists and ad-
/ wise with them as TO the action OF their
! National Convention, which meets IN I'm
! cinnati Wednesday. No, STREE not DIT
1 of it. Nor did | go there TO see George b.
! Coy. Never, The real truth is that went
/ to Cincinnati on private business, transact
! ed that business Saturday. then got on the
! train and came straight back to Washing
1 ten. Still | have got used to the newspa-
/ pers romancing about me, and l enjoy
| their little stories quite as well as an!
! body else does. And now that you nave
! the truth and nothing but the truth. l
! hope you will print it, Nevertheless and
| notwithstanding there are eyil-minded
/ persons who will not feel that Colonel
/ Dick has revealed all the truth about his
! hurried Zip to Cincinnati on the eve OF the
/ Midi Road Populist National Convention
until he tells exactly the nature of the pri-
/ yate business that carried him there at
such an e1oehai time. The charge made
I by Senator's Pettigrew, Allen, Butler, and
! other conservative Populist leaders In
| Washington TO the effect that the
Hannaites were paying the freight for
the Mid-Roaders has gone unchal-
| lenged for a month or more. No
body charges Colonel Dick with paying
the freight from his own wallet, though
the colonel has been known to issue
checks as loans to Populist statesmen
! heretofore.