The Irish standard., 1904-03-05

"A deep-cheSted, blg-bOned man of 30
years, with leonine head, gray and
bushy; long, large face, shaven,
swarth and heavy; blue-gray eyes, set
deep under a massive forehead and
droop-lidded like st. Bernard hound
the saturnine countenance of Span
ish bull-fighting and the large man.
ner of a latin-bred Irish schoolmaster
such is William Bourke Cochran,
New York's greatest orator, who has
just been elected by Tammany to sue
ceed Mayor Mcclellan in the house of
representatives, says James Creelman
in the New York World.
AS Mr.. Cochran is already recog-
nized as the man who will speak for
New York in the coming Democratic
national convention-quite aside from
the commanding position which his
abilities must give him in Washington
his views on national questions, ex-
pressed in The World, to-day carry I'M
usual significance.
Two national conventions have list
-ened to MI. COckran's brilliant but in
effective denunciation of Grover Cleve-
land as an element of democratic dis
cord and disaster. Now Mr.. Cochran
regards him as the hope not only of
the democratic party but also of the
nation.
'"There is one man who in his person
represents the issue upon which the
democratic party must appeal to the
country this year," he said. "And if,
because of past differences, that man
SHOULD be set aside, it will be difficult
to escape the conclusion that the party
thinks more Of it's resentments than Of
its principles and is Influenced more
by it's past antagonisms than by it's
present purposes toward living issues.
That man stands in the minds Of the
American people for the moral law ap-
piled to public questions, national and
international. If he is not the repre-
sentative of that idea on this continent
lnen no representative can be found;
and if this year is to witness, as I be-
lieve, q revolt against policies which
have demoralized the nation and made
it moral suspect in the eyes of the
world, we have only to choose a candi-
date whose character and record en-
bodies the principle of that revolt to
ensure victory"
There was time when Mr.. Cochran
was looked upon simply as man of
large lungs, rolling rhetoric and i'm
,pressive presence orator to sway
conventions and crowds under the di-
rection of the real party leaders.
Twice he was the spokesman of Tam
many in national conventions, but
both times he was recognized as the
mouthpiece Of other men, having no
initiative or authority of his own. But
in 1896 Mr.. Cochran showed that he
had developed will of his own by re.
85s fusing to support Mr.. Bryan and the
free silver movement. 1t is true that
in 1900 he returned to the democratic
party, but he proclaimed his continued
opposition to free silver and was care.
full to make it known that his speeches
for Mr.. Bryan were due to the anti.
imperialistic issue.
So that to-day Mr.. Cochran is no
longer regarded as mere orator, but is
accepted as man of serious parts
His utterances show steady develop.
ment of the logical faculties. His
enemies denounce him as mercenary
in politics, a schemer whose great for.
tune-for he is millionaire-was not
made in the practice Of law; but his
friends declare that these charges are
the product of malicious envy. How
ever that may be, it is certain that he
has become formidable figure in poll
tics and that he will play an import
ant part in the events of the near fu-
ture. His return to congress, in which
he once made such brilliant record
fighting for sound money and tariff re-
form, is regarded as an event of conse-
quence and as sign that TammAny
( realizes the necessity of sending men
OF ability to Washington. As Tam
Il Il ss,