The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1906-07-19
NJ. r. Patterson and His Fight.

phls friends and announced to them
that he was receiving letters from all
over the state urging him to stand as a
candidate for the nomination for gov
ernor ON the democratic ticket, they
looked upon the proposition as an i'm
possible one, and so expressed them
selves. The machine was Cox machine
and it was all-powerful. There was no
hope of winning its support or of di-
viding it; and, without this, there was
no hope of success. Defeat was newt
able. His seat in congress, it was
pointed ont to him, was secure for ma
ny years to come, and this he should
retain until conditions changed and be-
came more favorable. When to this
he reptile that he realized the strateg-
ical disadvantage Of his position, but
that he intended challenging the ma
chine and destroying it, the practical
politicians smiled commiseratingly be-
cause of the apparently absurd serious
ness of the announcement. Those
among his friends from whom the spirit
of romanticism had not been wholly
exercised by the priests of utilitarian
ism coniured up fanciful pictures of the
Libyan st. George Staying the dragon
and rescuing the royal maiden; of the
brand Excslibur rising ont of the water
and the "arm clothed in white samite,
mystic, wonderful" of Percivale or
Gallahad in noble quest of the Holy
Grail; of Leonidas at the pass of Ther.
mopylae; of Oedipus solving the riddle
and staying the Sphynx and of all the
noble deeds of derring do so attractive
to youthful minds and so tenacious OF
lingering mature mind, but no one
believed that the great feats of old
could be reproduced or the ancient vir-
tues paradigmatised in these degener-
ate days. So accustomed were we all
to conceding the irresistible paramount
cy and unquestioned empire of the ma
chine. No one believed that even were
he armed with the spear of Ithuriel and
protected by the aegis of Dallas that he
could dislodge so powerful an organiza.
tion or separate forces SO cohesive.
We all left several important elemen-
tai factors out of our calculations. The
lugubrious cry of "no chance" that has
defeated 80 many aspirants had no in
fuence on Gen. Patterson. He was not
afraid to take a chance. His courage
would be called desperate to foolhardi-
ness were it not based on an abiding
faith in the desire of the people to do
right. He believed that any one who
would assail existing wrongs within
the party would receive the support OF
the rank and file of the democrats OF
Tennessee. He believed that no ma
chine is as big as the people, excepting
during periods of languor and lethargy
or when the masses are cowed into sub
mission. He saw the awful consequen-
ces that would follow we're the republi-
cans, by any chance, to get control Of
the legalized election machinery of the
state. He saw where he could be of
service to his people in pointing out il
not correcting the evil ways into which
the state had fallen. He did not count
the cost or measure the danger. He
believed with James Russell Lowell
that
"Not failure, but low aim is crime.
He resolved to aim high and at vital
spot and he sent his lances hurting full
iuto the faces of organized evil and in
trenched wrong. This was eminently
characteristic of him. Every fight be
has engaged in he has started out lead
ing forlorn hope; but, with the cour.
age of q Coriolanus and with better
fortune, he fought it through to sue
cess. The "dope sheets, as the sport
ing editors would say, we're in his favor.
Always an anti-machine man, he enter.
ed the race for attorney. general in
Shelby county against the strongest
opposition that could be brought out
The wise ones said he merely wanted
the advertisement. He got it, because
he was elected, to the surprise of many
When he announced for congress som,
years ago that party organization wal
against HIM. A hurry.up convention
was called for quite another purpose il
Upton county, and when the business
in hand was through the county was in
structed forJ. A. Manson without fur
ther ado. Under these circumstance
SO out of 100 men would have quit tn
race. Gen. Patterson had Shelb
county, then as now, for anything a
any time; but he needed more votes
and these could be had only in Fayette
The powers that be were against hir
there, but he appealed to the people d
rect, as he always does, aud they re
sponded. He followed the same rule
in the late gubernatorial campaign
Again have the people vindicated th
wisdom of his course w Connoll