Evening journal., 1908-03-31
Tuesday, March 81, 1908.
DELAWARE AT DENVER.

rr looks as if there will be lively contest
il o,.o~ tbe election of candidates to represent
The Delaware Democrats at the Denver CONVEX
ZION. In this county there is no disposlu0n u
prevent the instruction OF delegates LOT JuIsS
krav In Kent county there are evidences OF
6ebt The friends OF the Hon. William SaulsDuIy
desire that he shall be of the delegates 70 tne
convention and the Democrats are lining up lot
q STRAIGHT ont fight for control OF the Kent county
delegation to the convention. Inc opponents oi
the Gray men in that county are opposing JUG,
Crav They do not want the Delaware delegates
pledged for the jurist, and they make no eoHSsai-
ment of their views
The Sussex county struggle, If there is to be
struggle has not developed so lar as the hgnt III
Kent has The supposed candidates OF the cray
men are former Congressman Houston anu
Causev and General William II. Stevens. The
SUSSEX naners are saving little of the personnel Of
the delegates to the convention, but it would be
a remarkable situation indeed in Sussex II slate
headed bv anv two of the three mentioned should
20 through without serious opposition. lhe
Younger Democrats of the party would have to
stand aside for the old war horses who have led
the party to disaster and defeat in that county.
In this county the situation has been mixed by
the sudden forming of the Handy-Ford combine,
which has audaciously challenged all other Demo
Gratis to battle for supremacy. The tord-Handy
combine according to current reports is pre-
pared to meet all comers, whether the opposition
IS loQ Dy Josiah NdlNSi, JuuSS NAoANNA' S'
the Hon. Willard Salisbury. We under
stand that the Hon. w. Salisbury either
fed in dismay at the approach of the Ford-Handy
iuggernaut or else he announced surrender be-
fore this new political engine of destruction start.
ed at pace that threatens to land It in control OF
the party in the State. OF coursesome of the fell
lows who stand on the side and throw turnips a;
the new combine say that the Ford Handy COM
bine is "bluffing" and will not put up the stren-
uous fight that their friends declare they will. We
are loath to believe that statement. We have
never heard that the Hon. Peter James Ford or
the Hon Levin Irving Handy "bluffed" in poll
tics and if the Gray men think that the combina-
ton is "bluffing," we fear they will wake up 20
their mistake The combine, according to our
Information, means business They already have
slate selected for many of the offices to be filled
in Delaware and they still busy pushing the
pencil
1t has been frequently charged that the
old Gray-Wolcott forces were working up
the Gray boom in order to strengthen their
hold on the party organization. 1t may have
been intimation of this that caused the new
combine to move with the swiftness of buzzing
humble bee.
The Democratic machine was managed for
some years by the Saulsbury-Kenney combine
1t went to disaster and destruction amid the fash
ing knives of the railroad Democrats in the lower
counties.
Defeated and dismayed the old leaders gave up
and the Hon. Thomas Francis Bayard charged a.
the head of the columns, but he likewise tumbled
into the ditch. Mr. Bayard is still on the charger
but whether he shall remain there is question
Hence in view of these conditions the time may
be ripe for the Handy-Ford combine.