Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-05-06
ILLINOIS POLITIC
Confusion IN the Democratic
Position.
HOPKINS VS.. HARRISON
BOTH IN A FIGHT TO A FINISH.
Hearst Getting a Good Run for His
MISUNDERSTANDING as to
the Outcome.


the Outcome.
Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
CHICAGO, ILL.,, May s, 1904.
There is confusion about the Illinois po-
sition in the democratic national conven-
ton. 1t is natural confusion.
When the old Cleveland following and the
gold democrats combine with the Hearst
Bryan elements, the situation is difficult to
understand. What is to come of it is an
interesting question.
The first outcome hardly can be pleasing
to the friends of Judge Parker. After the
New York convention instructed for him,
1t seemed quite easy to offer the nominal
tlon for Vice President to the Illinois dem
ocrats. The offer was made and probably
in good faith. The question to be settled
was who could accept the offer. So far no
one has been able to do SO, because the
contest in the prairie state has been for
the presidential nomination 1t has gone
forward and is going forward just as
though there was no candidate of the name
of Parker with the New York delegation
back of him.
Illinois has twenty-seven votes in the
electoral college, and 1t is well known that
part of the democratic national campaign
the state Is a pivotal one The influence
of Illinois in a national convention Is pro-
portional to its weight in the electoral col
lege. With fifty-four delegates 1t can ex.
ercise immense power That is the belief
of both parties Four years from now the
republicans expect to utilize the votes SO as
to name President Roosevelt's successor At
present they take neighborly interest In
the ambition of their democratic brethren.
Cause Of the Confusion.
hioI,
has left the east in such doubt with regard
to the middle west, is due to variety
Of lightning changes. These have been
amusing to those who know the inside.
If Judge Parkers supporters or Mr.. Cleve-
lands friends do not enjoy the humor of.
the situation it is because their staid pol
itics is too slow for the western pace
few weeks ago, while in New York,
was told that the general plan of cam
paign on which both the friends of Mr..
Cleveland and the David B. Hill crowd,
which was backing Judge Parker, had peen
able to agree was that ex-Mayor John +.
Hopkins should be left to manage the can
vass for Illinois delegates He had bolted
Bryan in 1885, but had gone back into the
party ranks and had shown Strength
enough to become the head of tne demo-
cratic state organization. Mr.. Hopkins had
set up Representative j. r. Williams DIS a
| man of straw or fayorfte son. who could
hold the state from Bryan and Hearst.
Nothing more was EWdnteU
This having been the program, 1t sur
prises the passing observer, who tarrles
in Chicago, to note that the recent night
over the Chicago primaries was Hearst
Hopkins alliance against Mayor Harrison.
The alliance seems to be pretty thor
ough one for the mayor Is admitted to have
the worst of the contest. though he Is stu
fighting. When Mr.. Hopkins dropped Rep
resentative Williams as "a straw candiGlte.
Mayor Harrison took him up.
l do not find any experienced democratic
| politicians who think that Congressman
| Williams win cut much figure as a scandi-.
| date In the st. Louis convention, not even
| as a favorite son. The convention does not
| meet till June, but the campaign has been
| going on for weeks, and In many parts of
| the country districts the delegates have
been chosen and a hint given of the prefer
| cree for President. So far Hearst has had
| the best of the limiting. The Chicago pri-
| maries are likely to help him in the remain
| ing country districts
| The system which obtains among the ILL
| nois democrats is for the state convention
| to elect the four delegates-at-large and for
the delegates from the various congress
sional districts to the state convention to
| choose the district delegates. This focuses
| the whole ST. Louis situation at the meet
| ing of the state convention. But when the
| delegates to that assembly have been
! chosen it can be judged fairly well what
! their preference will be. Here in Chicago
and Cook county, of which 1t is part 1
| have not found any difference Of opinion
/ IidI J1odTSt Will nave d EdJOTlly u the
national delegates. Some of them may not
| be very strongly for him, but they have
| been chosen by means of combinations
which make 1t necessary for them to be
loyal to Hearst. Mayor Hopkins friends
! say that Hearst has more strength now
| than he will have when the state conven-
| ton meets, and that some of his allies, who
| Joined with him in order to defeat the
mayor will desert him. This may happen,
| but there is also the possibility that some
| of the mayors followers viii combine with
| Hearst.
| Having Good Run for His Money.
In a succinct way 1t seems to me that Mr.
Hearst is having a good run for his money.
These shrewd politicians who are manag-
ing his campaign do not expect to see him
nominated for President. What they do
expect to see is demonstration of power
in the national convention which will make
him and his neutenants a factor to be
reckoned with In democratic national poll
tics If he can control the Illinois deIega-
ton or the majority of it. their anticipation
does not appear to be so ridiculous.
There is yet the theory or the assumption
that the Hearst movement may be argued
or laughed out of existence Without ref
erence to the moral aspects of his candi-
dacy, but merely judging political proba-
bilities, as such, the theory is not finding
it's demonstration here. Whatever prestige
the Parker movement may have gained in
the south, 1t is not spreading over the west
like a blanket to smother other candi-
dacies Western politics is rugged. harsh
and practical, and the sentimental element
which has helped the New York judge else
where has made little Roadway in the Miss
issippi valley.
If the Bryan-Hearst influence in Illinois
is to be discredited at st. Louis. this must
come either through the strength of ex-
Mayor Hopkins. or of actual Mayor Har-
rison If the mayor could yet gain the
control of the statercorivention. triumph
there might enable himqto fight the Hearst
following to a finish But the opinion 1
have encountered here i'm Chicago is that
If the mayor succeeds In sustaining him
self locally that wianbe all he can hope for.
He is a candidate for the Illinois member
ship of the nationaljcemmittee.
1t is more important foIhim to secure that
position than to see ieither Judge Parker or
Mayor Mcclellan Gro Mr.. cleveland nominate
ed for President. Ofscourse. If he could con-
troll the Illinois delegation SO as to bring
about either of ta1ese nominations, his
recognition as the leader of the Illinois