Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-01-06


THE FIGHT IS OVER.
Bicknell Comments on the Inevit-
able Outcomc-Blythe VIII Not BE
V1ndictivc
Special to Times Republican.
Des Moines, Jan. G.-The fight is over
and the Gear and Bowen people have
Won, just as the Judgment of the best
has all the time Indicated
they would. Only the most perfect
ership fight in the condition it was
when the Gear people took hold of it,
ard 1T required great skill and unlim-
tied nerve to pass successfully through
yesterday and last night and this
morning without falling down. 1t is
not time yet to tell the story, but the
caucus of last night, which settled the
speakership and the senatorship too, at
midnight, was not a spontaneous upris-
ing or an accidental gathering. 1t was
part of Il plan of campaign that came
just at the right time, none too soon
and yet in plenty of time to do the
business. And after 1t was done. after
the forty-one men had signed the
agreenen to vote and work for Bowen
and another had telephoned that he
would do the same. 1T required somS
self-ccntrol to avoid an unseemly
demonstration, a thing that would be
the most natural thing in the world un-
der the circumstances. That the Gear
and Bowen men, after the long excite.
ment of the contest, We're able to re-
strain themselves until the proper time
q M Is.ra &
very creditable to their good sense and
management. The first impression was
to give the list to the morning papers.
but that was overruled by the wiser
heads. who wanted to protect these
men from being shot at all day today.
Plenty more men We're known to be
ready to enter the agreement when the
proper time came. and so the Gear
people simply said they We're feeling
very We'll and gave nothing to the
morning papers of Des Moines-not a
thing. They left these papers to form
their own conclusions from what they
could see, which was enough.
This fight will be food for conversa-
ton and storytelling and reminiscence
for many years to come. The details of
lit, many OF the most interesting of
!the.sa, will not be known until they have
been carried around in the deepest and
most secret recesses of mems hearts for
years. There Will be a great outburst
of explanation tonight and all next
week. to be sure, but the men who
know most about IT, on both sides, will
not tell their stories now. They Will
wait till the senatorial election is over
before they talk at all. except in the
most studied manner, and even then, IN
the heated condition of politics .in the
state, they will be very careful of what
they say, and no one will hear much
from the great political general who
knows most about itt-it is hardly nee
essary to name him. for tHere is but
lone j. W. Blythe and he keeps his own
counsel. 1t is one of his elements of
strength that no one need fear the es-
cape of secrets ccnfided to him.
Neither will there be any Growing
over the defeated, at least not by the
Irresponsible leaders. 1t Will be dearly
bought by long. hard and nerve rack
1 ing effort and the permanency of the
triumph of tonight will depend so much
upon the good sense of the victors that
they will be very careful about making
the punishment of the battle any
harder to bear. To save the party from
harm growing out of this contest VII
be the purpose of the leaders who are
| too loyal party men to do anything tc
make the pill any more bitter for those
Who have to swallow it. Six years ago
,l n
when a milder fight than this was hn-
lished, no man was more generous to-
l.ward the fallen than this same man
lwho managed that campaign for Sena-
| tor Gear, as he has this. The day after
lit was over. one of the opposition, who
| had fought him the hardest met him
land said: Well, you have run over Us
| and smashed us-what next? He re-
| piled in effect that they We're not in the
| smashing business and did not want te
run over any one-it was necessary t.
| win and now the fight was over, ii was
all over, so far as he was concerned
The bigger the politician. the more
eager he is to adopt all men as his
friends. Richelieu's maxim, First EN-
| ploy all means to conciliate-failing ir
| these all means to crush is the guild
| ing rule of many successful politica
1 leaders. But when the crushing is done
none but fools indulge in vaingloriou!
boasting and rubbing it in"
1t may now be considered safe to liv,
in Des Moines without being n roaring
ranting Cummins man. There are sew
!eral in that position who have NOT beer
saying much.
4 The effort to drag Governor Shaw in
to the contest yesterday indicates tn,
opinion in which he is held in the stat,
and promises that his political caree
will not end in January, 1902 when h,
retreS from the executive office. Th
:gOvernor has been perfectly true an,
consistent throughout this fight. He ha
not taken an active part, but his pref
erence for the election of Gear has no
been a secret. Nor has any amount o
Influence been enough to bring him int
the contest for senator. though plent,
has been exerted. Iowa will be prou,
next fall, when her governor is in de
mand in the national campaign all owe
the country, for he surely will be. He
now great national figure and his ser
vices will be valuable.
/; 1t would probably be safe guess I
{: say that some kilograms were sent fror
:, Deg Mofnes IN Washingfon early fhi