New-York tribune., 1908-05-22
THE RESULT IN PENNSYLVANIA.


dav demonstrated the weakness OF the anu
Rrvan movement in the South. The result III
tho PENNSYLVANIA state convention Oh Nedles-
dav shows that the East cannot be united 10
defeat Mr. Bryan's nomination at Denver Ing
Eastern States will, in fact, go TO the halioi"i
convention divided and powerless. They can
furnish no nucleus around which the opposlllon
10 Bryan may successfully concentrate.
The defeat of Bryan resolutions OF instruction
at Harrisburg has been hailed by the anu an
managers as Hattering victory 1t was VIC
tory for. Colonel James NJ. Guffey, who for the
last fen wears has financed the Democratic party
in PENNSYLVANIA and who has been hghtlnS 10
retain his leadership and his membership on the
Democratic National Committee. Colonel Gul-
few controlled the convention because, having
mt most of the Democratic workers under man
fold personal obligations, he insisted on their
redemption when the Bryan leaders had MIN
driven into corner. He had himself ana three
of his Ioval followers elected as deIegates-at-
large and prevented the passage OF Bryan IN
struction resolutions. But he did not venture
IN hind the PENNSYLVANIA delegation to act as a
unit at Denver and thereby surrendered control
of the states IS votes.
IT appears that at least SO Of the 6S delegates
were either elected at primaries on Bryan
ticket or have publicly pledged themselves 10
s1,rnort Rrvan Five were elected as supporters
of Judge George Gray and the other y are IN
coron,itted Rut 10 of the u delegates from
Philadelphia elected as Bryan men seem dls-
pose1 to consider their campaign committals as
a Joke on their constituencies, and If the unit
rule had been imposed they might have been In
duced 10 ioin the uncommitted and throw the
states vote as whole to any candidate named
nv Colonel Guffey. In the absence of unit rule
Mr. BRYAN will probably have from 70 to 80
votes out of the IS.
Had the delegates-at- large been chosen at state
primary election the Bryan forces would almost
certainly have In 1906 the Lincoln Repuo-
licans nominated Lewis Emery, jr, for Governor,
and pubfic opinion compelled the Democratic Or
ganization to indorse him. 1t was bitter PHI
for Colonel Guffey, who has no use for reform
ers and who held Mr.. Emery TO be an excep-
+ionaIly obnoxious reformer. But the music had
to be faced To handicap Emery Colonel Huhey
and his lieutenantS forced through the Demo
cratic State Convention a fulSome Endorsement
of BRYAN as the Democratic partys Presidential
candidate for 1908. They wanted TO drive he-
publican support away from Emery But the
Democratic voters did not take this COMEDY at
its surface value. and when the primary law
gave them fair chance this year to express
their sentiments they rolled up a formidable
vote in the districts for Bryan candidates. On
Wednesday Colonel Guffey and his ieutenants
voted down the identical Bryan resolution when
they incorporated into the platform of 1905, ana
after eulogzing State Treasurer Berry, the only
Democrat who has accomplished anything OF
value in the state in the last ten years, they de
featnd him for delegate-at-large because ne per-
sisted in taking the proceedings of 1905 too serl-
ously To take politics seriously is a fatai
hlunder in the eyes OF Colonel Guffey and his
band Of political buresquers.
With Pennsylvania's vote at Denver divided,
what is left Of the antfBrynn forlorn nope: !:
II counts on the IS votes of New YORK,
though these will be cast with reference solely
to the personal and political interests OF Charles
F Murphy. New England may furnish 40 anti
Bryan votes. New Jersey "a, Delaware 9 and
Maryland 16 Allowing 3S anti-Bryan votes
from Pennsylvania, have total or ~
! Where are the other 135 necessary to constitute
onethird of the membership of the convention
to come from: Minnesota has given % votes 10
| Johnson. But Of the states, territories and de-
tendencies still to elect delegates the antiBryan
| managers can hardly claim fighting chance IN
any except Virginia West Virginia, North Caro-
lima and Porto Rico and from those C0nstlt-
uences only 6S delegates to be chosen. The
anti-Bryan campaign is collapsing East, West
and South and Mr. Rryans nomination at Den
yer now seems almost a certainty.