The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1903-08-15
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.
MR.. TALBOT AND HIS CONVENTION.

MR.. TALBOT AND HIS CONVENTION.
TowsoN, Nd, August 18th, 1903.
To the Editors of The Baltimore County Union =
AS resident citizen and voter of Baltlmore
county and as one who has at heart the lnteres.s
of the community in which expect TO spend
nv life, and as q member of the DemocrauG
party the principles and doctrines of which I
earnestly believe are essential to the welfare OF
this Government and the restoration and main
tenance of its institutions in their original ylgor
and integrity. desire to protest aga,insG the
shameless and degraded sacrifice OF tne niue
pendence of the Democrats of this county IN
the late Democratic convention
The spectacle there presented or delegales
chosen from the fifteen election districts of this
county tamely and supinely sinking every Ieel1,
ing and sentiment of manliness ana personai
and political liberty to further the purposes anu
execute the vengeance of man who for more |
than twenty years has stood in this county ioI
everything that is vicious corrupt ana oegraIetH
in politics, was certainly humiliating and mortl-
flying to one whose principles ana convlctllonIs
compel him to belong to that party OF Wnicn
that man is dishonored ana an un"eicono
whether this servility on the part of the mem
bcrs of that convention may be ascrlDeu 70 S1"
ardice or to selfshness know not, but TINS I
know that the Democratic party IN Baltlm0re
county cannot be smirched and polluted Dy pc
ing dragged through the mire OF such conven-
ton and retain the respect of the community
There are in Baltimore county today tnous,,
ands of young Democrats VINO are COPE of b SnT
choice-men of energy, ability, nlgn splrI1E anu
manliness-who never have and never WILL l,, az
long as Mr.. j. Fred G. Talbot remains the '.Doss
of Baltimore county, have opportunity of
taking place in the party councils, or oil repre-
Sentng that party as us Us by pemo
cratic convention in the existing condltion OF
affairs unless he shall have first secured tne
friendship of the "boss' and his endorsement:
Instead of encouraging the high principles ana
the lofty independence which is the life and soul
of pure Democracy, by making merit ana party
loyalty the stepping stones to advancement. it
is attempted to destroy and discredlt them ana
to degrade the members of the party into wil ing
| uhn nGf ia yUn
boss to enlist his favor Party loyalty counts
nothing, character and ability count nothing,
| fare of the party counts nothing, and the only
| thing which will secure recognition IN Ine DEM
ocratic party in this county under Mr.; IalpotIs
! efficient control is a plant, blind and unques-
Submit IS price too high for any respecting
ed honor.
Therefore I say that the only course for the
members of the party in this county to pursue
is to once and for all time rid themselves of the
the uncleanness, selfshness and the corruption
which has been brought into it by Mr.. Talbot
and such as he No halfway measures will do.
| The evil must not be "scotched" but destroyed.
| Once, indeed, Mr.. Talbot was supposed to be
| out of Baltimore county politics. He, upon
| promise to retire, was given the nomination for
| Congress. In Democratic district he was de-
| feated. He was given it again in the vain hope
that he would in decency retire, and that the
| party around whose neck he had chung with
| death grip would be freed of it's incubus. But
no; in spite Of retiring, at the next election of
his sleeves and started in to control the county
! With his force of subservient and willing Office
holders and "heelers," who had been trained for
| twenty years under his guiding eye, he went into
| the district fights. Instead of allowing the mem
bers of the different districts in the county to
name candidates they were expected to name
dummy candidates, it being perfectly under
stood that when these delegations came to the
convention no dummy would dare stand
and no chord of treachery meanness or corrupt
politics left innsbruck. With the better Demo-
Gratis ID many districts, too thoroughly disguised
with talbot Democracy to even come to the
| polls, he came into control of the convention,
His promises of non-interference had evidently
been written upon the sand and the 'boss'' was
once more in the saddle.
Thls convention, resting upon treacherous
ioundation OF broken n promises; was the crown
was absolutely none to say him yea or nay. He
| controlled it and he named the ticket from top
| to bottom. He neither asked nor took advice.
| 1t was his victory, his party, his convention, so
why should he? The nominations, therefore,
tributing his offices and favors not to reward
party loyalty, but to punish those who had op-
! posed him. to make them shy of thwarting the
| boss" in future, and in doing so he at the same
time gave the nominations to his personal
| friends irrespective of the success of the party
or the wishes of the people.
| In discussing very briefly the ticket named I
| will say that against the personal character of
the gentlemen who were named 1 wish to say
! nothing; but do say that it is a burning shame
| that one man of very mediocre ability should be
| allowed to force upon county of over 100000
| lnnaDltants-tne Wealtn1eSt and the lOveliest
! county in the State-a ticket made up in the
main of old office holders, men who have held
offices and drawn salaries from the county until
| they should be ashamed to ask for more think
| it shame that if we are to have life tenure of
| office in this county that the men in the county
who have discharged their duty with the great
There were two instances in the convention
of a brutal and careless disregard of the wishes
Of the people, OF this county in making up the
| The first was dropping Mr.. Charles H. Knox.
Mr.. Knox, during his incumbency as County
| commissioner, had endeared himself to the peo-
! pie of his county. When he went in the Board,
| with high tax rate the county debt was said to
| have Appropriated 100000; now the county tax
rate is 65 cents and the Treasurer reports about
100000 cash balance. Mr.. Knox's sound and
the Of regret that be had been
sacrificed to resentment of the petty boss of
Baltimore county.
The second was the treatment accorded Mr..
Jacob Elliott, of the 9th district. clean, stall
wartand loyal Democrat, he had served his party
and the support of four-ffths of the people of
the convention who were not bringing beneath
Talbott's lash. He had come to the convention
with his district three times, and yet Mr.. Tai
bolt, disregarding his high standing and charac-
ter, knowing that he had never held an office of
any kind, refused to recognize him. And Mr..
Talbot controlled the convention as absolutely
as the Car of all the Russias does his dependents
Therefore. say, protest against the conduct
of that convention, that cannot support any,
thing in Baltimore county which bears Mr. Tai
bott's trade mark, and that my earnest wish is
LndU G0e ClClZeuS Vi DdlClmOre county NAV adj
minister such rebuke to this perennial and oft
discredited boss that he will be removed once
and for all from the dominance of our party
regret honestly and sincerely the necessity of
opposing the nominations of a Democratic con-
vention, although do not regard the one recent
ly held as such, but as Talbot convention
feel, however, that cannot maintain my self
respect and at the same time endorse "Talbott-
ism" and what it stands for in Baltimore coun-
ty, and to vote for the ticket Talbot has named
would be to endorse Talbot and this l cannot
do. Very truly, Il. SCOTT OFFUTT
Correspondence Baltimore County Union.