The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1900-07-04
STATE POLITICS.
FACTS. GOSSIP AND COMMENT FROM
OUR EXCHANGES.
THE BOSS IN NEVADA POLITICS.
A True History of the Last Cam
paien.
THE BOSS IN NEvADAPOLITIc

sition and the proceedings of the Silver
Party convention of 1898 would be too
long for the purposes of this narrative,
although it would make mighty inter-
esting reading. A few remarks regard
ing its proceedings, however, will serve
to illustrate the ''rawnessn of wallace =
work and the motives thereof.
For long time previous to the meet
ing of the Silver Party convention the
prospect of fusion with the Democrats
had been on the taps. 1t was felt by
great many in the Silver Party that
the party which had furnished the Sill
YER Party with candidate for Pres
ident in 1896, and with which, in that
year, the Silver Party had marched
hand in hand to victory, was deserv-
ing of some recognition. Accordingly
overtures for fusion were made and,
surprisingly enough, Wallace was found
to be in favor OF it. But as usual, he
had a motive. He wanted to soc George
Humphrey elected Controller and he
was for fusion to the extent of giving
the Democrats the Controllorship and
no other Office worth having. The
Democratic convention was Ion to"
Mr.. Wallace's motives, however, and
as they did not propose to become tools
of the boss for the sake of Mr. Hum
phrey, the Silver Party convention at
the bidding of Mr. Wallace, called the
deal off.
OF all the men who had not submit
ted to the rule OF Wallace, it was said
one made mistake in not running and
that was Charley La Grave. Wallace,
already mediating treachery against
the Silver Party nominee to-be for
Controller in favor of George Hum
phrey, was not particularly anxious as
to who should receive the Silver Party
nomination. 1t was offered to Joe Me-
earthly, Alex MCGOWAN, w. L. Virgin
and others, all of whom for various
reasons declined the intended gold
brick. 1t was reserved for Sam Davis,
and he took 1t. This put out of the
way another editor, and also removed
an antagonist for the Office of Secretary
of State from the path of Eugene How
ell. But Wallace was not losing any
sleep over Davis getting the Romina
ton. And so 1.-THE push" were not
little startled when Charley La Grave,
after being put in nomination for the
Controllership made his spectular APP
pearance upon the platform and told
the convention that he didn't want to
go up against dead thing II he
had stayed in the fight he would prob
ably have won out as Davis was late
conner.
| A. c. Pratt, who had made probably
the best Surveyor General Nevada
ever had was another who had fallen
under the displeasure of Mr.. Wallace,
and he did not take the risk of going
before the convention wisely concluding
that the cards had been stacked for h.
| d. Kelly, another editor who had to be
looked after, so that Mr.. Stewart
might make his fight for senatorial
honors as cheaply as possible.
In all his manipulations OF this con-
vention Wallaces strength was main
| ly made up of the proxy vote. Lincoln
county had IL votes in the convention,
and two men cast those IL. One Mead
of the Elko-Tuscarora Merchantile Co,
which is held to be an appanage of
| Wallace, voted proxies. And the
same might be said of any county in
Nevada east of Churchill. And this
proxy vote was cast solidly for Wal
lace's men and Wallace's measures, for
everything from the Endorsement of
| Stewart and the refusal to fuse with
the Democrats down to the nomination
OF Sadler and Cutting and the defeat
of Cleveland and Bray. At one criti-
cal juncturs, in the proceedings, when
his henchman from Elko, following the
lead of the honest delegates from Tus-
carora by mistake voted contrary to
the programme, Wallace rushed in
among them and rebuked them, tel
ling them with profane expletives that
they were voting wrong, whsreupon
the boss's '.lambs' turned pale and
thenceforward voted right A more
| fragrant instance OF unlicensed bossism
and insolent contempt Of the rudiment-
airy requirements of common decency
probably never was before witnessed on
the floor of an American convention.
The close of the convention found
Wallace in a highly satisfactory frame
of mind. He had secured the indorse-
ment OF Stewart by the convention, he
had punished all his enemies who had
aspired to a nomination, he had four
editors on the State ticket, which in
sured cheap newspaper campaign for
his man, and, by the nomination of his
favorites, he had the control not only
of the party machinery but in case of
their election the State government
with all its patronage in his hands.
| We now come to the blacklist page in
the history of that maze Of intrigue In
which the black leader was involved
during the campaign OF 1898, the story
of the vilest conspiracy in the history
of Nevada politics, history which long
previous to that time had earned for
unfortunate Nevada the opprebrious
title of "the Rotten borough"
For long time previous to the Sill
YER Party convention OF '9S it had be-
come apparent that the popularity of
Senator Stewart, never very great, had
been on the toboggan slide, while on
the other hand, every successive cleo
ton had added to the strength OF New
lands, until in 1896 he had received the
magnificent majority OF 1910 over
| Doughty and Davis out of total of
8, 500 votes. Newlands' friends in Ne
vada, and all those who had become
weary OF the eternal promises of Stew
art and his corresponding lack of per-
formance, began to urge the candidacy
of Newlands for the Senatorship. Ech-
Oes Of these developments reached New
lands at Washington and when he re-
turned home in the summer of '9S it was
with a partially defined intention of
/ offering himself to the people of Nevada