The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-06-27

tunes. HI was a man Of long experience
In politics and great brilliancy OF Intel
lect. He possessed a pronounced socia'
disposition a. we'll as that indefnable psy-
Geological attribute which for want OF 4
better name we call personal magnetism;
gifted with the graces OF %oratory, he d.
rected them to playing upon the senti-
ments and passions OF men. In his long
career in Congress he never constructed
an idea into legislation. nor even proposed
n solution OF n problem.
sherman did things: Blaine talked about
them. Blaine held to his friends with
hooks OF steel: sherman had to be intro
duced to them duadrennialiy. sherman
was scrupulously jealous of his public and
private Integrity. Blaine, to put 1t mildly.
was so anxious to help his friends that
his biographers have been busy ever since
explaining the acts OF friendship. sherman
was totally devoid Of literary ability. and
his RecollectIons IL the only work OF his
life that disappointed his friends. while
on the contrary. Blaine's Twenty Years
of Congress" and his funeral Grafton on
CARRIED. which belongs to the sublime
and beautiful In literature. are monu.
ments that viii preserve his name long
after his political career IL forgottea.
sherman was popular with the business
man. the banker and the thinker. Blaine
was the Idol Of the rank and file. OF the
men In the trenches.
Slight as MI. Ryan's booklet is,
both in topic and in treatment. 1t Is
yet a part of that treasury of political
tradition that is especially priced by
those who remember the pitched
battles of earlier and rougher days; to
whom it will be a surprise tinged with
some melancholy Of the ~fugacity Of
| ,,.ar, a., raA,,t that III, .uYp,nfDp ~
81. so fresh in memory. is separated
from that If 1912 by just as many
auadrennia as lay between it and the
entrance of the present Republican
party into the lists in '56. Mr.. Ryan
gives no new data. but does revive
pungently the personalities and fights
of Blaine. Garfield. sherman. Mckin-
ley. Foraker, Mark Hanna and other
heroes of politics. all gone but not
forgotten" And In the record OF "a
We come upon those sturdier, more
aggressive and commanding qualities
that und ray the latterly more
familiar quiet strength and dignity
Of William Mckinley. What il there
in all the records of the worlds poll
tics so completely unmatched as the
forld speeches presenting to our party
conventions the names OF "favorite
sons as candidates, the nuclei OF
that likewise unparalleled hysteria OF
the mob out OF which the American
peop.e selects it's contestants for the
greatest office in the world? In Judge
Vests speech nominating Blaine and
Foraker's presenting Sherman Mr..
Ryan epitomlzes the American party
convention. Judge. West: "Nomi-
nate him. and the shouts of September
victory in Maine will be echoed back
by the thunders Of the October VIC
tory In Ohio. Nominate him. and the
campfires and bsacon lights will illu-
inmate the continent from the Golden
Gate to Cleopatra's Needle. Nomi-
nate him, and the millions who are now
waiting will rally to swell the column
Of victory that Is sweeping on. In the
name of a majority of the delegates
from the Republican States and their
glorious constituencies who must fight
this battle, I nominate James G.
Blaine Of Maine" Pandemonium.
Parade Of the Helmet of Navarro.
Cheers for the Plumed Knight. But
Foraker takes the platform. With
out rhetoric. he compels the mob. 1t
Is there to be 'swayed." by one means
or another.
OF the third element in convention
business Mr.. Ryan is silent: the work
behind the scenes. in caucus and COM
mittee. without that no picture in
party function is complete.