Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-15
Business and Politics.

The New York Tribune of yesterday
printed communication signed George
Irving, dated Chicago, the 9th instant,
from which the following is taken:
apparently there are occasionally demo-
cratic office seekers who are interested In
booming Grover Cleveland for third term
in the White House. Those who are SO
inclined should make trip Of sixty days
through the south and the west partic-
ularly, or over any part or the country
their fancy may take them. and while so
doing interview the business men or the
! country wherever they meet them. Being
interested in the packing business in Call
fornia. my duties call me across the contl-
nent once year, and / come In contact
with wholesale grocers and bankers, VINO
are known to be superior class of bust
ness men everywhere. During the last year
have taken opportunity to draw out many
of them as to their political views of the
future. Particularly through the south.
where. generally. speaking, they have
always voted the democratic ticket they
will tell you plainly they do not want to
see a change in the administration. Busi-
ness men generally are prosperous. there
is staple value to everything. and they
can see no object in turning the country
over to the democratic party, whose lead
ers simply want office and the control OF
affairs and who are today rakinS the coun-
try with a fine-tooth comb for any kind of
an issue that would drift them into power"
Southern men of substance opposed to a
change in our national affairs? Hope to
see Mr.. Roosevelt reelected? Are prosper
Gus, and fear that change would unsettle
everything and bring the country to a SOUP
house basis again? This sounds strange
And yet why not? Mr.. Irving processes to
speak from personal knowledge. And we
all know that business is business. The
southern business man Of the better sort
is like his brother Of the north. or east, or
west. He knows what is good for him and
his interests. and 1t is but natural for him
to favor policies which make for good
times
When we give attention to the southern
politicians we are led to suppose that
southern democrats to a man are bitterly
hostile to Mr. Roosevelt, and. Of all things.
desire his defeat next year. He has
wounded the SOUTH we are told, in her ten
derest sensibilities. He has set the frater-
nal clock back down there full dozen
years by his appointment of two or three
negroes to office. Anybody but Roosevelt
The south wants him defeated at any cost
to the country, and is willing to bear her
share without a murmur. And so forth
That southern business men have talked
to Mr. Irving in the strain he describes Is
certain Others know from personal con-
yersation or correspondence what Mr.. Irv-
ing knows But these southern business
men are not going to vote the republican
national ticket next year. That Is too
much to expect of them in the circum-
stances that exist-down there. They oc-
cupy themselves precious little with poll
tics They are under fear of the machine,
which runs things on the basis of prejudice
and office-hunting. The politicians rparshal
the delegates to the national conventions.
and trade them there to the men who hold
out the strongest hopes of winning at the
polls and make the most liberal promises
about patronage. The label, then. goes"
The business man may wish for the success
of the other side, believing that 1t would
be best for the south and the other sections
as well. but, a rule, he Is regular at
the polls