The Savannah morning news., 1902-11-28

gress Che was reelected for n second
term) he was on the Committee on
postroads and Postoffices and derived
from that experience such an acquain-
lance with transportation conditions
that in five years he appeared as pres
ident of the United States Express
Company.
He did no more as representative
than he has done in recent times as
senator. lie was seldom recorded in
the voting on the important recon
struction measures, an exception in
class being those measures which dealt
with elections. counts. and technical
matters. lie took no part in discus
sions; he is not recorded on the supple
mentary civil rights bill In the Forty
third Congress. and on the act of that
congress for the resumption of specie
payments he did not vote till the uues-
ton came up on final passage, when he
voted with his party
Denouncing Ciyil-ScrVice Reform.
1t was not till 1877 that he became
conspicuous in New York politics Then
it was by joining with Roscoe Conkling
in publicly denouncing Rutherford b.
Hayes and John Sherman at the Roch-
ester convention, and assisting in the
beginning of that curious factionaF
warfare in the Republican party which
had such extraordinary results 1t WAS
then that Platt first intimated his gem
cral position in a public speech Civil
service reform had been ,''magniiied in
to unseemly proportions" and had be-
come a "shibboleth" that "nauseatad
the public" He was referred TO i'm the
newspaper reports as IAN obscure but
deVout member of Congress-" and a
tool of Conglings Conkling, il APP
pears to have been felt, although he
had had trouble with President Hayes
over spoils sometimes thought of pub
lie duty, but in Plat he recognized
one who always kept an eye single
upon the proposition that there is no
other political fulcrum than the public
Office, and no other source of political
power than the rewards of a party.
Platt's first appearance out of his oh
scurity' was. then, in a notable tri-
umph of Conkling in getting the better
of the reformers of his party. such as
George William Curtis, for instance
He had served Cornell and he had
served Conkling as quiet worker
for the party. running to and fro over
the state OH their political errands. In
that way he presently found himself
in possession of somewhat wide ac-
quaintance among politicians who were
of 'Value when he decided to become
Conklings Me Too" in the United
States Senate. Absurd as his candi-
that to have been the disbursing agent
of offices for Cornell and for Conkling
was to have interested the rank and
file in his favor. Besides he had OBJ
tanned the craftsmanship of the Repuh-
lican State Committee He Immediate
! ~ recognized the latent possibilities of
that. He was really the discoverer of
the party state Craftsmanship as the
seat of the most mighty in New York
Republicanisn. 1t was reported by the
Tribune Dan. u. 1881 that, counting
state officers of all grades, high and
low, with their deputies assistants and
clerks, there We're 100 workers for AIr
Platt" about the Legislature and they
finally brought on q caucus which
| nominated him for the United States
Senate.
In these beginnings he had struck all
the keynotes for his career-in the am
orous lines ITO Stella" in, Pig Pot
ter" in the desire to make money, in
handling politics as one would a COM
mercial enterprise, in going to Con-
gross not to discuss and legislate. hut
to get and distribute offices where they
! would do him the most good. He was
one of the earliest to indicate that a
mans record or methods in politics
| need not as a mater of course deter
mine his advancement with his fell
| low-citizens.