Evening star., 1903-11-28
wauling hours of night, and have wonder
ed what the missiles were.
In the "Amen Corner"

ed what the missiles were.
In the "Amen Corner"
It might almost be imag- ned that the
transient occupants of that famous Amen
corner at the Fifth Avenue Hotel feared
the presence of giant firecrackers under the
leather seats these days. 50 g;ngeriy do
they take their places and SO furtive1y do
they glance about them before sitting down.
1t has been good many years since tie
republican leaders of this state felt such
a puzzling uncertainty as to where they
were at as they do just now. That din
ner at the White House the other evening,
at which Senator Platt and Governor
Odell are supposed to have made IT all
up" hasn't cleared the situation a partk-
Gle. SO far the understanding of the oc-
cupapts of the Amen corner" goes.
The governor got back with a smiling
countenance, protesting rather too much on
the tune that ''of course Senator platt
shall always be looked upon as the lie der
in this state" thus ape ring to rurposely y
give out the impress on that hencefor;
'the easy boss is really to be regarded as
sort of leader emeritus.
The senator got back to the amen cor
ner" with just as many sly Little digs for
the protesting element of tie New York
republican machine, led by the governor,
as ever, and those who have known tie
senior senator from New York for a great
many years cannot see any very visible in
dicatiOnS that he has been Smoothed Over,
or that he has the slightest intention OF
be ng relegated to the position Of merely
nominal leader of TIE party in TIE state
that he has held within his grasp for 80
many years.
1t viii take a great deal more than a sup
posedly' amicable dinner to convince the
old wheelhorses of republican n who as
semi lie in the amen corner that Senat or
Platt purposes TO take / back scat. Time
and aga in. during the st five or six years
the stofy has been sprun., that things had
been so shaped that the ground was about
| to be pulled from under Mr.. Platt as the
republican leader of New York.
Mostly "False Alarm"
But all of these ssor es have been proved
to be the rankest kind of false alarms, and
the politicians who, stampeded by the
yarns made haste to go over to the other
camp, are still repenting their credulity.
The forehanded counts of noses "ag'fn the
! easy boss' are invariably deceptive. The
revoits, so-called against him always sim
mer down to nothing when the senior SEN
ator demands all hands to come into the
open and display their colors. Under such
demands. the carefuliy-nursed machines of
Mr.. Platts opponents have crumbled like
houses of cards. So that the shrewd old
timers of the amen corner are just look
ing things over out of the corners of their
eyes and waiting.
That's why the Amen corner is lacking
just now in spontaneity and cheeriness, as
1t We're. Those leather benches are, figura-
lively speaking. sharp fences upon which
nearly all hands are seated, waiting for
something more convincing than char
mony dinner to occur to let them know
| on which side they had better drop
And in the meanwhile the sage Old battle
SCARED veterans of many clashes under the
Platt banner are confidentially offering
two to one that when the smoke clears
away 1.-The easy boss will be found snugly
ensconced on the leading commissary
wagon, cheerfully engaged in picking out
the goodies c. L. c.