Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-03-28
HUGHES PARTY IN SENATE
Rainess Defeat an Incident of
Great Importance.
HenccfOrth the Old Bi-Partisan Ma
chine Run by Rnines, McCnrren,
Grady >nnd Aids, VIII He OPP
posed by Bi-Partisnn
Combination.

! The defeat of John Raines in the Kelsey
trial last week is generally conceded here
to be the most important single incident
of the present session, says the Albany
correspondent of the New York Evening
! Post. who continues: Henceforth, as a
result of this, there are to be two forces
In the Senate. the makeup and purpose
of which will be obvious to the public. and
they are to be the Hughes and anti
| Hughes forces. Hitherto there has been
a deal of talking, much threatening, some
few concessions. but the old order. the Old
machine, has dominated the session. 1t
has smothcred the Hughes programme. It
has suppressed the Hughes senators. 1t
has used its old-tme forces for the old
time purposes and in the old-timc. dla-
tory and dlsreputable fashion.
Governor Hughes announced that he did
not purpose to interfere in the Legisla-
ture last January. This announcement
was taken advantage of by Raines and
! his fellows to organize hostile Senate.
For more than three months the friends
of Mr.. Hughes have been forced to sit
silent while the forces Of reaction tri-
umphed, and nothing was done. But last
week the course of events changed. Three
men, each strong. each able, each with an
an intolerable situation to close. These
three men are Armstrong, Page and Hin
man. Two of them are patiently friends
| of the governor; the third is conspicuous
as the best lawyer and the most indepen-
dent senator in the upper house. With
this combination. the old solidarity of the
Senate machine comes to an end; with
this combination. moreover. the governor
| ko ., Il iG y,e,t
likely to refrain from indicating to the
public where his friends are.
THE HUGHES PARTY IN THE SEN
ATE.
| The Hughes party in the Senate. then,
has come at last. No one has doubted. all
along. that it must come. The anti
Hughes party was an automatic creation.
Every one knew that MCCarren and
Grady. Rainos and Aids, the leaders OF
the old Senate machine, were hostile to
Hughes Every one credited them with
a determination to use their control of
the Senate machinery to block Hughes
The organization Of the Senate by Ranes
was a proof of this. But up to last week,
the bipartisan combination of demoCrat s
and republicans. who shuftlcd party votes
/
each other. divided an rule We're in
control All theory of party government,
based on the fiction of two parties watch
| ing each other and each pronting in turn
by the mistakes of the other, has been
| sacrificed. Every time the republicans
have committed some political crime,
Grady has given them enough votes TO
make 1t impossible for the democrats to
/ m n he m ak
A corporation made up of equally inter-
ested stockholders, rather than n State
| Senate, this is what had come to pass In
the upper house. Faithful to this old ana
long sustained tradition. McCarren and
| Raines stood together last week against
/ Hughes With them stood all the sharers
in the old order But the significant fact
| to he noted is that the new organization
was noMpartsan. too. With such repub-
Leans as Page. Human and Armstrong
were Taylor and Cohalan. two of the best
! democrats in the Senate. Where Page
and Human threw off the yoke of Rajnes,
| Taylor and Cohalan laid aside the ty-
ranny of Grady The decent men of the
Senate for the first time in years success
| fully served notice that their reputed
leaders should not deliver them for an i'm
proper purpose or to an improper cause.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NEW AL
LANCE.
| The significance OF this incident is that
! if Armstrong and Page can remain in con-
troll, the Grady, Raines, McCarren regime
| is ended. Hence forth a majority of the
senate will be committed TO follow the
leadership of honest men. who are identl-
wi Of la
| Hcnceforth the programme Of the COVER
nor will be safe from all the sneaking, the
secret, and insdious attacks of the "Old
Guard" But If Armstrong and his
friends are not able to remain in control,
advantage still accrues from their union.
for henceforth the governor will have in
the Senate a fighting minority, whose char
acter will add strength to his policies. and
whose action will bring out into clear re-
lief the morale. the motives. and the
makeup of the anti-Hughes forces.
In all probability Armstrong and his
associates will not win control this year
When Raines returns. when Grady comes
Back when the skill of McCarren and
Aids, the two subterranean operators is
Joined to theirs. when the whole force of
the Tammany incompetents, and of the
Cassidys, WlcoXes and their kind Is
aligned the defeat of tho Hughes forces
Is practically certain. But the defeat will
not terminate the contest; rather II will
begin it. Henceforth the opponents of the
governor will be working always under
the searchlight, their methods will he ex-
posed by the searching criticism of Page.
Armstrong and Human. The democratic
allies of McCarren will be offset by such
men as Fuller OF Brooklyn, one Of the
ablest and best democrats who has sat
in the Senate In a generation. The color