Year: 1874

sonal activity in securing delegates. Nobody,
either in the democratic party or ont Of it,
believes that body of delegates elected in
the various Assembly districts without outside
wirepulling would make choice of Mr.. Tilden
as their candidate for the Governorship. Why


during the thirty years he has been prominent
In politics. has he never been thought OF
for that Office before2 1t has never
occurred to the democratic party that this
respectable gentleman had stock of avail
able popularity which might be turned to
account in strengthening State ticket and
carrying an election. This steady neglect is
not owing to any shrinking coyness on the
part of Mr. Tilden, who has never allowed the
party to forget his existence. he has been an
intimate associate of the democratic leaders
who have controlled conventions and ma de
nominations but with all their opportunities
they never discovered in him any trace
Of the popular strength and good running
qualities which made it desirable to assign
him place on any democratic ticket in
contested election. Nor have they made any
sudden new discovery now which impels them
to do tardy justice to q man whose popular
strength they have SO long failed to appre-
ciate. The democratic masses and leaders
think of Mr.. Tilden as they always did, as an
estimable, prosperous gentleman, willing to
purchase political prominence by liberal con-
tributions to election expenses but possessing
none Of the popular qualities which make
winning candidate for votes


| That this opinion of MIR. Tilden remains
unchanged is q fact easily proved. The
Buffalo Courier, edited by prominent mem
Der of the Democratic State Committee, whose
name is signed to the recent call as Secretary,
with that of Mr.. Tilden as Chairman, makes
| this significant statement: 1.-THE members of
| the State Committee from the country districts
were emphatic and unanimous in the express
sion of their opinion that the candidate for
| Governor should be taken from outside of the
| city of New York" This is, of course
| directed against Mr.. Tilden, no other candi-
date from the city having been thought Of
The opposition of the rura! democrats is as
much to the man as to the locality, though the
latter is a consideration Of some weight and
is courteously used to veil their sense Of Mr..
Tilden's personal weakness. That New York
city is likely to be for some time An unde-
high Office seems to be the impression of ex-
Governor Hoffman, who is about to return from
his long sojourn in Europe to fix his home in
Albany The city democracy has never been
in good repute with the party in the rural dis
tricts, and since the explosion of the old Tam
many Ring it is less trusted than ever. Time
out of mind it has been an element of dis
turbance, bringing its disgraceful broils to
| the State conventions and enacting scenes
which the rural delegates regarded as the
scandal and opprobrium of the party.
With the ascendancy of the old Tam
many Ring it tried to put on
garb of respectability. 1t made the same
use of the decorous Mr. Hoffman which Tam
many Hail now proposes to make of Mr..
Tilden, and for a while this stratagem prom.
ised success. But when the Ring was shat.
tered into fragments the rural democrats
thought worse than ever Of their city brethren,
and restored confidence will be a plant OF
very slow growth. 1t is too early for them to
be willing to accept MI. Tilden as q cloak for
Tammany, although Tammany processes to
be reformed. Nor do they relish the idea of
city dictation, though sensible that the party
has no chances without large city majority.
But if such are the sentiments of the rural
democrats, why, it may be asked, do they
not take the remedy into their own hands
and control the State Convention?


The answer to this question lies on the
no In xyDta how kr,
nothing to do with the choice of delegates to
the State Convention. In the city this is
notorious. A small olgarchy in Tammany
Hall, of which John Kelly is the controlling
spirit, actually selects all the city delegates,
as a similar oligarchy selected them under
Tweed The city delegates will this year be
unanimous for Tilden, not because the demo-
Gratis of the city prefer him, but because such
is the bargain between Kelly and Tilden,
Tamnany esteeming Tilden useful decoy
duck for enticing ''reformers'' to support their
city ticket. Rural delegates will be secured
for Tilden by means quite as anti-demo-
cratc-namely, by his facilities as chairman
of the Democratic State Committee. He wants
the nomination and has been working for il
for months. The position which he has held
in the party for so many years has brought
him acquainted with the leading local politi-
clans in every part of the State, and by fatter.
ing attentions and correspondence he has
created body of instruments whom he is now
using to serve his ambition. By the aid Of
this machinery he will easily succeed in con.
trolling many Of the Assembly district con-
ventions, and has probably satisfied him
self that he has already o majority OF
the delegates as good as secured No rival
candidate possesses any such advantages,
and Mr.. Tilden will very likely receive the
democratic nomination against the judgment


~ AAJ oc