The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1929-11-21
THE PASSING SHOW
By the Man In The Street

badly mussed up as a result of Gov
ernor Ritchie's desperate attempt to
hold on to his official and party power
indefinitely, and as in the fourteen
continuous years he has been in high
office he has built up a more or less
blind following the feeling is begin
ming to run high.
Many are becoming bitter over Rit-
chie's rule or ruin policy-a selfish at
tempt to grab everything for himself.
Each day of the Richie insistence
finds the party becoming weaker for
the general election of next year and
therefore the interest in the probable
nominee of the Republican party is
growing.
At this time it seems that the Gov
ernor is still blind to the situation.
Those who would advise him that his
insistence on a fourth term will bring
disaster to the party are not given
much attention. His Excellency has a
queer complex, imagining himself the
strongest man" in his party and in
vincible The big plurality of three
years ago went to his head and he
cant get over it.
He is represented by some as re-
peatedly pointing to himself as :he
Strongest man" and the only one
deserving of consideration. Some
call his trouble swellheaditis while
others designate it as plain egotism
and selfishness.
The Governors official position
gives him a strong hold on the party
machinery and this he is working to
the utmost, pressing into service as
many as possible Of those he feels are
obligated to him.
The city followers (sincere and in,
sincere) of the Governor, having run
their course OF club endorsing and
drumming up everything possible, we
may expect to hear from the anti
fourth termers who are supporting
SGlIdlOl 41CllllOSll. IiC lclJCl 10 lCp
resented as anxious to go out and do
something but he has been advised to
keep still While the Governors admir-
ers (real and feigned) are firing tHei1'
heaviest artillery for the purpose of
misleading the county Democrats as 10
the situation III the city.
The fact is that Howard W. Jackson
and VIM. Curran are cooperating in
an effort to bring about harmony in
party ranks. Both are aware of the
hopelessness of the Ritcl;e candida
cy-that if nominated the Governor
will not be elected. There is no chance
of Curran again supporting Richie.
He sees the latter choking himself to
death with his own political greed.
On top of this the opponents of the
fourth term now know pretty well
who among those now busy rounding
up Endorsements for the Governor
are sincere. Some of them give the
Governor assurances of support with
one breath and in the next make prep
arations to go over to the opposition
as soon as the signal is given. And
even among the Governors callers are
those who want no greater pleasure
than the opportunity to act as his po-
litical pallbearers.
Brooke Lee is still sticking to the
Governor and some explain this with
the theory that Brooke has a hope of
getting the nomination in the jam that
will come if Richie is pushed out of
the picture
Brooke Lee Beating
Eastern Shore Bushes
Major Brooke Lee in the role of po-
litical lackey to the Governor, is now
engaged in trying to line up Eastern
Shore support for His Excellencys
primary contest. We find in the Cen
terville Record an account of a meet
ing held at the court house there on
Wednesday, called by the chairman of
the county committee at the instance
of Lee and which was addressed by
him. The account says many of the
county leaders absented themselves as
they were not ready to take sides. In
other words, it appears that Lee did
not have much success in lining up
support for his fourth term candi-
date.
1t is on the Eastern Shore that the
Governors stock is at the lowest and
he is using Lee in an effort to bolster
it up. We presume that Lee began
his Eastern Shore campaign in Queen
Anne's, because there is less opposi-
ton in that county to the Governor
than in some of the other counties
We would like to see Lee call Rit-
chic meeting at Crisfield, for instance,
OF at Cambridge. We imagine the
Democrats down there would give
Boom-a-laddie real chill.
Incense Burners
Doing Their Best
The week to date has been a busy
one for His EXcellency's incense burn
ers. Eugene H. Beer drummed up all
the people he could to attend meet
ing at the Eleventh Ward Democratic
Club on Wednesday evening at the