The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1907-09-20
FRIDAY AFTERNOON, SEPTEMBER 2O.1eo7
REPUBLICANS WORRIED.
Sydney And Me" The Milestone
Around the Party's Neck.
Politicians Try to Stem Tide by Get
ting "UneIe Biil' to Deny
Famous Remark.

The bossism question, which has con-
demned the Republican State ticket in the
estimation of Independent voters, is caus-
ing the managers of that party greater
concern as the campaign progresses.
The one thing above all others that they
did not wish to make prominent In the
campaign was that the ticket had been
nominated and the party dominated by
those two ''practical' politicians, Congress
man Sydney +. Mudd and Congressman
William H. jackson. Few men who know
political conditions within the Republican
party or who were at the convention which
nominated Mr. George R. Gather tor Gov
ernor can sincerely deny that it was
Mudd- jackson convention and that these
two men placed Mr.. Gather on the ticket,
as well as parceled out the rest OF the
Offices.
The truth of this being generally add
mitted, it is conceded that the condition
constitutes the chief weakness of the Re-
publican ticket. That Messrs. Mudd and
Jackson nominated Mr.. Gather can no
more be denied than it can be denied that
Mr.. Mudd drafted almost all the Republi-
can platform, carried the document around
in his pocket, had it typewriter by his
own private secretary and played the mas
ter hand of the whole situation.
1t is these things that many Of the
friends of Mr. Gather deplore. They
point out that Mr. Mudd and Mr. Jack
son have tied their hands The party and
the ticket have been put on the defensive.
Republicans of the more conservative
kind in Baltimore recognize that it will be
exceedingly difficult for their party to win
under such leadership. The political rec
ord of Mr.. Mudd and Mr.. jackson is such
that the Independent voters of the State
cannot support their ticket, no matter who
is its frontispiece. The consequences of a
Mudd Jackson controlled Legislature are
such that voters with the interests of their
State at heart care to think about them.
In the city especially it is realized that
Mr.. Mudd and Mr.. Jackson are great
handicap.
If Mr.. Mudd and Mr.. jackson wish to
help the Republican ticket in the coming
campaign, the general belief among local
politicians is that the thing for them to do
is to eliminate themselves as far as posi-
bic. The trouble is that MIR. Jackson has
made it practically impossible for them to
do this On the day of the Republican
State Convention, and before Mr., Gather
was nominated, Mr.. jackson sat in the
lobby of the Hotel Renuert and made this
statement Sydney and me had the
votes to nominate anybody we wanted. .
Anyone who knows Mr.. Jackson will
recognize this as characteristic of the man.
He gloried in the fact that he and Mr..
Mudd controlled the convention. He felt
that it was something to be proud of that
he and his friend Sydney had been able
to swing things the way they wanted them.
Mr.. Jackson told several persons that he
could have nominated Goldsborough had
he wished to do so.
With the allies and influences back of
Mr. Gather in the city doing their ut
most to sidetrack Mr.. Mudd and Mr.. Jack
son, SO far as possible, and believing that
unless they do they cannot win, this de-
claration by the autocrat of the Republican
party on the Eastern Shore came as
body-blow. 1t nails Mr.. Gather squarely
to the Mudd-Jackson banner, and it does
so in such way that no amount of argu-
ment can divert attention from the real
issues of the campaign.
Mr.. Gather friends and the city lead
ers of the Republicans squirmed under
this for two weeks. Every effort was made
to divert attention from the Mudd jackson
combination, but it has been unsuccessful.
The only way to meet the statement of
Mr.. Jackson that "Sydney and me had
the votes was to deny it absolutely. A
letter has been secured from him in which
he says he did not say it. The famous
"Sydney and me- remark was made to a
reporter of The Sun and Mr.. jackson said
a lot Of other things at the same time
which were not published, but which were
of the same purport. He was proud of
the fact that he and Mr.. Mudd had con-
trolled the situation and was glad to have
been given credit by The Sun for hav-
ing done SO.
Afterward, when it was realized that
he had, for the second time this year,
made a big political blunder, the effort
was made to get letter from him coun-
teracting the effect of his statement. This
denial was not made, however, more than
a week after the publication of the inter
view with him, in which he said
Sydney and me had the votes to nom
mate anybody we wanted"