The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-11-23
G0RMAk LEFT BEHIND.
His Vain Reliance In 1905 On The
Methods Of 1884.


TimesJ
From the day German took the
leadership his fame began to 90. At
first the Democrats looked on with
stupefaction. They kept expecting
/ that tomorrow, or next week, or next
month, German would display some
of the old time genius But the day
and the week and the month passed
by, and the Senate Democrats trod
/ deeper into the swamp. Now they
are offering explanations, and saying
that German was great man once,
but Is not great man now because
his right hand has lost its cunning:
and they are preparing to follow
Bailey or each other, or themselves in
the fight of this session.
But Germans right hand has not
lost its cunning. He is the old q or
man, only the age has passed and left
him.
There are two Gormaus-the Cor
man of legend and the German of
reality. The German of legend was a
great politician, a wizard of his craft,
a magician, a man who could do mir
acles. That was the German who
was hailed as the Moses of the party
in 1908. 1t is the German of reahty
whom the Democrats are contempla-
| ting now in the cold gray dawn of
the morning after.
The state of politics has changed
entirely" was Danton s explanation
to the mystifed politicians of France.
who tried to steam 1891 with the
broom of 1885. of why their efforts
failed. That is what. is the matter
with German.
Politics today is not what it was in
1890. 1t has changed, and for the
J better. The politics of petty chicane
had its day. Tricks that 30 years ago
were chuckled at with more or less
approval, and resented only by the
victims, arouse.a storm today. Morey
letters and Murchison letters are not
sprung on the eve of an election now.
German cannot reali re the truth,
and tries to patch up his defeat with
new tricks. Least of all does he un-
derstand his own State. Ten years
| ago Maryland, took its place, not only
in the column with State of the new
politics, but at the very head of that
| column. GravestOnes used to vote in
Maryland. In default of a handy
gravestone you could have voted your
pet dog. With the revolution of 10
years ago there was such a sweeping
change that MARYLAND is intolerant
now of even what the men of Cor
mans day looked upon as a smart
but honest trick.
Maryland is naturally Democratic,
and in 1899 came back with large
majority. German resumed power.
! The legendary German, the great
| political wizard, would have seen the
the portents of the times; he would
haye taken the helm with a chasten-
ed spirit and ruled in accord with the
new conditions. Instead, he began
! just where he left off.
As means of regaining the conf
dence of Maryland he devised the
trick ballot. Its intent is to prevent
voters from voting as they intend. 1t
can be shifted around from year to
| year, to meet eXigencies and to foil
| persons who laboriously learned how
to meet the trick of last year. For
instance, having abolished party en-
blems, one year German arranged to
| haye the names of the Democratic
candidates printed in Roman and
those of the Republicans in old Eng
lish; rightly reckoning that it would
be hard for an ignorant voter to
read the old English.
| Another year the illiterate voter,
! having learned to recognize the let
| tiers Rep" German brought into
being a phantom third party and
named it Reputation party" to
| bring to no account this hard-learned
! education of the illite, ate. Another
! year, he hit on the clever idea of
/ printing a broad black line under the
Democratic column and leaving all
other columns innocent of black lines.
so that the iIiterate Democrat
might find his way with ease along
i the ballot aud the illiterate Republi-
| can might founder.
! To German all these things seemed
/ honest enough and in accordance
with the spirit of the times In 1880
everybody would have called them
ingenious. And why Maryland should
| take them so seriously the German OF
reality could not see. The German
of legend, the great German would
have kn own.
1t was German, they say, who de-
feated Blaine by Selling upon Burch-
| ards hapless Rum, Romanism and
Rebellion utterance and plastering
! the dead walls of New York with il
! just before election. Whether Cor
/ man deserves the credit of this or MOT