The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-06-13
PRESIDENT M'KINLEY'S PART
Said to BE Openly Aiding the Re
publicans Who Want to Retire
~ nator Mason From Ac-
tive Leadership.
EEPtEILC SPECIAL

| P'sitioh idst year In favor of Cuilom AM
against Tanner. Now he faces another prob
lem Is he for Mason or Dawes? About tn,
Time that Congress adjourned press dis
patches from Warrington stated that Sen
ator Mason had made his peace with Pres
iaeht Mckinley. and the President would
lend assistance to Mason In his battle fol
Reelection The story was unchaIlenged for
modhs 1t remained for the President him
| self TO recently discredit the statement.
| On Monday last he took a long walk in
| the White House grounds with his arm
anectionately linked i'm that of Mr.. Dawes.
They confdentiaily discussed many things.
| The President never made a secret of his
| personal regard for Mr. Dawes. But Mr..
| Dawes has received more substantial evil
1 dences Of the Presidents regard than a
| promenade in the White House gardens.
He has appointed a great many Illinois Re
pubiicans to oifice. and he has n large num-
| Der OF good things now on the way.
There is no question as to the position
| OF the President and the Illinois senatorial
| situation. Mckinley wants Dawes, and
believe that Culiom and vast majority of
the Cullom push also want Dawes. The
| Few Cullom strikers who ostensibly are
| opposing the Comp troller Of the Currency
Tor United States Senator are neither hon.
| est nor earnest.
Limit the candidates for the Office to the
| present list and Dawes will win in a canter.
He can beat Mason. or Madden. or Low
| den-yes, he can beat a combination Of the
three. for ii Is not possible for the sup
| porters of the three-named politicians TO
| form combination on either. Dawes will
have sprinkiins Of friends In the other
camps. He Will be second choice Of sew
eral members in the caucus who are pri-
marily for Mason or Madden.
Mr.. Madden will make a spectacular cam
| paign with some secret features intended to
be very effective. There is very little ma
| terial In the Republican party of Illinois
ior sliek work OF secret nature. and
Mr. Madden VIII not succeed in any event
He might become effective as a ''knocker"
senator Cullom I'm Close Quarters.
Next to the President of the United
States. Mr.. Cuilom's position Is one Of ex-
treme deiicacy. In the Cullom-Tanner con-
test of last year and up to the election Of
Cullom to succeed himself. Senator Mason
kept hands and tongue off-he took sides
win neither His name was never men,
TONED Cuilom wants some Of his faithful
friends rewarded-Hunphrey, Worthington,
NILS Mis-; Cherry. Amss. Bethea. Rankins:
anything from the party. these patriots are
insistent for reward. and Cullom Is anx-
lou ioms 10 accommodate them Mason is will
collector OF the Port and Fred Coyne to be
Postmaster of Chicago. and half a dozen
County. Mr. Cullom consented and Mr..
Mason consented
Now. am told that Mr.. Dawes was con-
suited before any principal appointment was
made by the President this year so far as
Illinois Is concerned. Furthermore. and
right here is where Mr.. Cullom is likely
to get his brogans in the mud. both Mason
and Dawes are demanding that only their
friends shall be appointed.
Mason. being Senator. can defeat con-
frmat.on OF any appointee that is unsatis-
factory To himself. Most of them PRACTICAL
ly all Of them. are Cullom iieutenants. They
have fought and won one battle for Cullom,
la Va NJ nrfr.ff n.x, elx-~-
openly tied 10 the Mason cart or the Dawes
chariot. IL they successfully run the gaunt-
lst OF appointment with Dawes; it Is prob
Mason's influence in the Senate.
In other words. as friends OF Dawes they
will stand best with Mckinley. and as
friends of Mason they will stand best with
the Senate. Mr.. Cullom don't relish the sit
uation His friends have been faithful to
tached TO the Offices. All Of them are poor
men. who have been successful in politics
because they couldn't succeed in CONNER
cial or professional life. This may not be
exactly true regarding all Of them, so / will
qualify II bv stating that they have been
able to make more out Of politics than out
Of merchandise or profession.
Senator Cullom Is out Of the woods and
the point with the President and Cullom is
to land MIR. Dawes in the Senate without
too much friction. In conversation with one
of the Cuilom lieutenants he stated that he
liked Mason. and he liked Dawes a little
better. but he be DANCED II he wanted to
appointment from the President
Tanner Faction Not Counted.
The broken and scattered Tanner faction
Is not taken into account any more As an
element In Illinois politics IL died and was
buried with the leader. Individual menu
bers OF the Tanner faction are tying up
l expect TO see most of the Tanner people
beneath the banner Of the faction opposed
to Dawes and Cullom- Just now 1T is Ma
SON. Next year il may be Governor Yates
There is no doubt In my mind that Shelby
NJ. Cullom and Charles G. Dawes have
formed combination. i,,. and that they pro-
pose 10 control Illinois politics Mt least until
after the next presidential election
Maybe they will take Yates into their
Sounseis: ,a'la ana maybe they will not consider
MN AT ALL Certainly not In the event that
the Governor intends to mix in national
politics. Republicans Of Illinois might as
well make up their minds now whether they
will vote with Cullom and Dawes and prob.
ably Yates. or fight them under another
Dawes and CuIlom. backed bv President
Mckinley. probably can make any other
Illinois crowd look like a ragged dollar bill
and Governor Yates has given evidence in
plenty taat he knows buzz-saw from a
saw-buck. He lost several digits when the
last General Assembly was organized. and
he VIII either cross the Rubicon and defy
a political combination more powerful than
the Tanner machine ever was in its best
days. or remain on the peaceful side and
cides right he may save his head. IL he de-
cides wrong-well. he knows the penalty.
II Is not believed that Governor Yates has
the slightest desire to succeed Mason. But
there is a suspicion that he would like to
take CuIloms job In 1907. and In the mean
time would insist on a denomination as
Governor In 1904.
senator Mas0n's Chance.
1t is the Mason game to ally the disor-
ganized Tanner cohorts. join them with
Yates's. add his own legionss and give the
Dawes-Culiom faction a battle for life.
With this combination Mason could put up
a good fight. But IL Yates should join the
Dawes-Cullom fellows. there would be little
interest in Illinois politics for several years.
The three politicians could meet and agree
"A slate that would not be broken. The
only way to even disturb 1t would be Tor
Republicans at the polls to vote the Demo-
cratic ticket.
When Senator Cullom left Springfield last
Friday: after his conference with the Cous.
ley and Norton factions over the Alton post
office. he went direct to Chicago. and SEN
ator Mason was waiting for him. The con-
ference was long and earnest. particularly
on the side Of Senator Mason Only a guess
can be hazarded as to the subject. but II
is Surmised Senator Mason asked for some
pledges or an understanding as to the dis
ocratic congressional districts. The pup.
lished statement that Senator Cullom had
turned over TO Mason the appointment OF
Postmasters in these Democratic districts
Is positively denied by a close friend OF
CCllom. / believe Mason will get no OPP
pointments that will help him In his fight
for reelection.
Senator Mason Is working overtime con-
trary to union laws. in q desperate effort to
win the favor Of former leutenants of Gov
ernor Tanner. These are holding of in the
hope that Yates or the Dawes-Cuilom ele-