The Savannah morning news., 1903-04-05
NEW YORK TOPICS
.ossIP AND CURRENT COMMENT
FROM THE METROPOLIS.

.,.:,bur r.. WnI1eman and His Pres
ant influence ON Public Affairs.
WorI. of the American Protective
Tariff, League, the Most Perfect
poIiticinI Information Machine in
,h,. WOrId-GrOver Cleveland and
His Interest in Booker Washing
tou,. Institute-The Head of This
school and How Philadelphia and
New York Differ in Their Attitude
toward Him SOciaIIy--SOciety in
the Quaker City Takes Note of the
SeriOus-minded Man, the Man of
Letters, the Student, the Artist and
the Man of Affairs.
New York, April 4.-From occasion
al brief dispatches printed in the
newspapers. it is becoming known to
the public that Wilbur F. Wakeman,
General secretary of the American
protective Tariff League, is by no
means out of public affairs merely be-
cause he is no longer appraiser of the
mort of New York.
The truth is that his influence in
Washington is probably stronger at
the present time than it ever has been
in the past.
This is because by virtue of his work
in the Tariff League he has been one
Of the strongest factors in the coun-
trv in the last two or three national
campaigns, always working, first, last
and all the time for the high tariff
cause.
The American Protective Tariff
League, to which Mr.. Wakeman has
given his energies for about a dozen
years, is, perhaps, the best organized
machine in behalf of a political idea in
the whole world. Unlike the National
committees of both the great parties,
and equally unlike it's one time rival,
the Reform Club, it's activities never
cease 1t is kept up to quite as high a
degree of efficiency between elections
as it is in the most strenuous part of
a presidential campaign, though per-
haps the volume of it's work is then a
little greater. In fact its campaigns
are four years long, each one beginning
in earnest on the day after election.
In prlnClple Ine WOrK OF the 1aTlH
League is simple. The practical car
rying of it on, however, is a compli-
Gated matter.
1t is the Leagues scheme to be thor
oughly posted as to the political sit
uation all the time, in every doubtful
state of the Union, and, being posted,
to apply it's activities in those locali-
ties where they will do the most good.
In order to accomplish this it has es-
bred, in such states as New York an
Indiana, and from them it receives de-
tailed information at short intervals
as to the shifting political sentiment
in each one of the correspondents dis
tricts.
The use of the phrase detailed in
formation" is fully justified here, be-
cause, by reason of the correspondents
regular letters the League is kept in
formed as to the slightest changes of
feeling.
And when it is found that say
twenty-four voters in any given dis
trict are waverfng either toward or
against the ideas which the League
faVors, these twenty-four men, or as
many as there may be, are at once
placed in possession of printed matter
intended to either strengthen their un-
certain allegiance for protection or to
weaken their opposition. Necessarily
this makes the League one of the big
gest publishing houses in the coun-
try, SO far as the number of printed
pieces is concerned.
And naturally, too, the political re-
cords kept by the League are con-
tnuous and far more complete than
any other similar records in existence.
Their value to the Republican Ma
uonal Committee, in campaign years,
cannot be estimated, and the League
Is a perfect storehouse for writers and
speakers on protection, since the re-
cords naturally include reports on
manufacturing, farming, mining and
every sort of industry, gathered from
every available source
There was a time as limited above.
when the Reform Club. then as Who'll
ly devoted to Tariff for revenge ONLY
as the League is to high protection,
was quite as continuous in it's ac-
uvities as the protective organization
has beer ever since it's inception. But
these were the days when Grover
Cleveland and not Mr.. Bryan was in
the Democratic saddle
MI. CleVeland's personal interest in
the education of the Southern negro.
as eXemplified at the meeting to help
the Booker Washington's Tuskegee
Institute, held here one day this week,
was surprise to many.
1t need not have been, however, for
Mr.. Cleveland has long been an ad-
mirer of Booker Washington and his
work. Booker Washington. by the
way. has many admirers here, as in
deed he has in every Southern state,
even among those who do not agree
with the political party which he sup
ports.
His social recognition here, how
ever, has never been as marked as in
Philadelphia. There, more than once,
he has been d guest at private dinner
parties, the other guests at which
counted themselves members of Qua
ker Citys most exclusive social cir
Gle.
1t has been said to the writer of this
letter that Booker T. Washngtons
bearing at such functions is always of
the best. That he is as self-possessed
as any of the white men or women
present. 1t has also been commented
on such occasions is not at al! confined
TO special pleadings for his race or his
school. Instead, his talk is always
general, unless he is led to speak upon
his special topics, and of the widest
range. He is exceedingly we'll informed
upon nearly all matters of general in
terest, and his words are infused with
plenty of good hard sense.
That Booker Washington could be in