The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1902-04-28

SpeCuIuted We have other ana more
important matters to enlist our interest.
| AS will be seen from the quotation IN
another column the Philadelphia Press
| disclaims participation with the OIL
vers, Quay and others in the attempt to
name u high elective official of Penn
sylvania without preliminary reference
to the people. The Press very disn-
genuously. 1t seems to tbs, says that this
cannot be done. Yet we have only to
| turn to the files of the Press to discover
on that Journals repeated testimony
| that 1t has been done and that the al
legged doing of 1t by the very politicians
with whom the Press Is apparently now
in cordial fellowship constituted the
| CHIEF reason why, for a season. the
Press chose to overstep the lire of party
regularity in state affairs and become
an "insurgent" and bolter.
our contemporary, feigning ignor-
! ance, wants to know what the present
fuss Is about, adding: Are not the
primaries going on just as they always
have? Cannot the leading candidate
win delegates Just as he has done?
| Cannot the party preference be ex-
pressed, just as 1t has been?" IT would
be an affront to the Press intelligence
to assume that il requires information
On these points. Its news columns
have answered every one of it's in
Quiries more eloquently than we could
hope to. But for clearness' sake. and
in the interest of public instruction,
N.o Sh h,1 ,t
conceive TO be the exact facts in this
case, and rc-state candidly our own
opinion Of them
The fuss is about the cold -blooded at
tempt of Senator Quay TO put John Z.
lclkin out of the race for governor,
after Mr.. Elkn had won delegates,
both by the convention system and in
open primaries in seventeen out of the
nineteen counties which had spoken up
TO that time. Had Quay, at the be-
ginning, given notice that he would op-
pose Elkin's candidacy, instead of en-
couraging it, Quay's subsequent action
would have afforded to Elkin's friends
no ground for complaint. They might
have thought it scant gratitude. in
view of what E,lliin had done for Quay,
but it would at least have evoked no
fair charge of cruelty or uncalled-for
dissimulation. Quay, the same as any
other Republican, has the right to
favor or oppose any candidacy for pub
lie office. Unlike the Press in years
gone by, we do not dispute that. Our OBJ
lection to Quay's course toward Elkin
is, in the first place. that under the cir
Gums tances it is inhuman; and, second
ly, that as we view the outlook, it is
politically uncalled for and full of
grave menace to the party's future.
Yes. indeed, the primaries are going
on, and. as the LuZerne result showed.
the people are still with Eliin: but the
Philadelphia Press is not so ignorant
of the power of Il federal ofiice-holding
machine as to believe that, with Quay
fighting Elkin and tying up delegates
by means of "favorite SON. booms, used
wholly for local effect there is here
after to be Il fair and untrammeled eX-
preston Of party preference. If the
Press believes this today, it has unbe-
lieved whal it used to proclaim. All
that the friends of John =. I.lkin want,
and this they have Il right to demand,
is free field and no favors: IL fair
chance to let the majority will of the
Republican people of PENNSYLVANIA
bring itself into play by the open vut-
ing of instructions to the selected state
delegates. II then their man is out
voted, and it is shown that he is not
the peoples choice. their acquescence
will be immediate and cheerful, and the
effect upon the party will be without
trace of injuriousness. But if the OPP
posite plan is persisted in; il Il few
men, owning delegates as trading
properties, under instructions or mani
pulations of 4 dictatorial power, shall
force upon the Republican ticket
nominee for governor whose creden-
tials lack popular Endorsement and rep
resent II sitting of the popular choice,
it will not matter that this man may, |
in his personal record and public ante
cedents, be above reproach: though he
were Charles Emory Smith himself
and, as our readers know, there is no
man III olil,t NHOIl lie |
Tribune respects or admires more |
highly--yet would his certificate of
nomination bear the inelfaceable |
stamp Of an odious derivation and |
there would, we believe, once more |
arise the danger which twice in recent |
years has swept this stalwart Repub- |
lican commonwealth away from her |
Traditional moOrings.
BY all the rules of political conduct |
which it has championed in the past, |
the Philadelphia Press, if sincere then,
ought now to be with The Tribune in |
its fight for fair play in the Republican
canvass for governor. We regret that
it is not. Nevertheless, the fight will
go on. 1t is Il fight for principle, and,
while we expect and intend to win, we
had rather be defeated and go down
with uplifted colors, than to see that
principle fail into oblivion in Penn
sylvania
We trust that this makes our atti-
tude plain.
The president. so Washington advices