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THE REVIEW OF REVIEWS.

VOL. XIV.

for Gold.

NEW YORK, OCTOBER, 1896.

THE PROGRESS OF THE WORLD.

The sectional bearings of the pending politThe East ical campaign have been made constantly more evident as the situation has developed and the lines of battle have been formed. The state elections in Vermont and Maine resulted in enormous Republican successes. In both states the contests had been waged upon strictly national issues, and the voting was undoubtedly in each case a clear expression of opinion on the money question. The Republican ticket in Vermont received 53,396 votes, while the Democratic vote was only 14,905. Thus the Republican plurality was nearly 38,500, while in the corresponding election four years ago it was less than 18,000. The free silver men had conceded Vermont to the Republicans by a large majority; but the country was not prepared to find that the silver voters would number only about twenty per cent. of all the men who appeared at the polls. Vermont Democrats have always been in a hopeless minority. But for that very reason they have been the more faithful and devoted. Their defection this year can, therefore, only be explained as showing how strongly they are opposed to the new Democratic programme represented by Mr. Bryan and the leaders of the Democratic-Populist movement. The most eminent Vermont Democrat has been the Hon. Edward J. Phelps, formerly minister to England. Mr. Phelps early in the course of the present campaign came out emphatically for McKinley and the Republican ticket, and denounced the Chicago platform of his own party. The election which chose Mr. Grout as Governor of Vermont was held on September 1.

of Maine.

A much wider national interest was The Verdict focussed upon the campaign in Maine preceding the state election of September 14. Early in the season the situation in Maine was considered altogether problematical. A number of years ago the state was actually carried for the paper-money doctrine by a coalition of the Democrats with the third-party men then known as "Greenbackers" who were the prototypes of the present Populists. It was believed, therefore, that if a lively free silver propaganda were waged in that state this year, some sensational results might follow. This was the opinion of Mr. Arthur Sewall, the nominee for the vice presidency; and accordingly when Mr. Sewall and Mr. Bryan were

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order to participate in an aggressive campaign which should stampede the "Pine Tree State" for the cause of free-silver coinage. In the midst of the enthusiasm of July at Chicago, all things seemed possible. There were at that time several free silver leaders of reputation for political sagacity who stood committed to the view that Vermont itself might be won over to the support of Bryan if a determined canvass were made. As for Maine, these leaders, early in the season, were not merely hopeful but were well-nigh confident. To Senator Gorman of Maryland is attributed the prudent advice which caused Mr. Bryan to change his plans and to give up his intended trip to Maine. Mr. Gorman did not believe that anything could prevent a Republican victory there, and he argued that Mr. Bryan's participation in the preliminary

HON. LLEWELLYN POWERS, Governor-Elect of Maine.

campaign would result in a harmful sacrifice of prestige. The free silver men, however, did not neglect their work in Maine, and from six hundred to seven hundred speeches were made by their orators throughout the state. The election was held on Monday, September 14. The Republican candidate for governor, Mr. Powers, received 87,249 votes. while his Democratic opponent, Mr. Frank, received only 34,288. The Republican plurality considerably exceeded 48,000. This very greatly exceeded any Republican majority ever won in previous years. Every single county office in the entire state was gained by the Republicans. As for the legislature, Republicans have secured absolutely every seat in the Senate, and all but a half score more or less in the House of Representatives.

Maine's

Maine, like Vermont, has for a long time Influence at given the country an object lesson in the Washington best way to exercise a great influence over national affairs. She has simply adopted the plan of sending good men to Washington, and of keeping them there long enough to gain commanding places in Congress. Thus, in the present Congress, Senator Frye of Maine holds the place of president pro tem. of the Senate; Mr. Reed of Maine is Speaker of the House; Mr. Dingley of Maine is Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee; and the other two representatives in the House, namely, Messrs. Boutelle and Milligan, occupy very important chairmanships. Maine's population entitles her to only four seats in the House, yet her moral influence in Congress is greater by far than that

possessed by the state of New York, which has thirty-four seats in the same body. Maine's four members of the House, Messrs. Reed, Dingley, Boutelle, and Milliken, are all re-elected this year to the seats which they have occupied with credit for numerous terms. Each of the four received a majority in his district of over ten thousand votes. Their campaign work was all notable, while Mr. Reed's speeches, which were widely reported throughout the whole country, were especially brilliant and incisive. If the Republicans should control the next House, as now seems altogether probable, no one will question Mr. Reed's title to another term in the Speaker's chair. The Speaker wields an immense power and has a heavy burden of responsibility to bear. No man is ever elected Speaker who has not proved his worth by a long term of service in the House. In our opinion there ought to be some special compensation provided for the Speaker, beyond the $5,000 salary of a member of Congress. A good argument might be made to show that there ought to be attached to the Speakership of the House emoluments as great as those of the Vice-President, whose function is to act as presiding officer of the Senate. It was reported several months ago that Mr. Reed had decided that he could not afford to devote any more time to public affairs at Washington, and that he would retire in order to

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practice law and gain a larger income. It is always unfortunate for the country when a man of great ability and high character, of whatever party, who has served through a long apprenticeship in public affairs, retires to private life in the prime of his strength and usefulness. Mr. Reed's acceptance of another term in the House is therefore a matter for public congratulation.

HON. FRANK S. BLACK OF TROY, Republican Nominee for Governor of New York.

The

Elsewhere in the East the Republican New York prospect seems to be growing brighter Republicans. from day to day. Nobody has the slightest doubt as to the outcome in the six New England states, and those few persons who have continued to say that New York could be carried for the Bryan ticket have come to be looked upon as eccentric rather than as persons well informed or of good judgment. And yet, after all, the situation is so extraordinary that all old-fashioned methods of forecasting must be condemned as worthless. The Republican party in New York is in excellent form, and it seems easy to make up great mass-meetings composed in large part of men prominent enough to be recognized as persons of consequence when their names are printed in the newspapers. Not only are the Republicans highly satisfied with their prospects and proud of the exceptionally harmonious

and well ordered condition of the party, but most of the men who have been conspicuous heretofore as Democratic leaders are either openly supporting the Republican ticket or else are nominal adherents of the Palmer and Buckner ticket with the intention on election day of voting straight for McKinley. Republican harmony in New York has been promoted by the nomination for governor of Mr. Black, a young lawyer of Troy, who had won local fame and secured a seat in Congress through his prosecution of the corrupt gang which had committed ballot box crimes and had murdered Robert Ross at the polls in Troy several years ago. Mr. Black's selection came unexpectedly, and was in large part due to the fact that the avowed and longstanding aspirants for the nomination were so numerous and so determined to defeat one another that none of them could possibly secure the prize. Finally it appeared that Mr. Platt had intended to take the nomination for himself. Inasmuch as the convention was under his control, he could have had the honor; but candid friends, it is said, made it plain to him that the people of New York would under no circumstances elect him. Whereupon he made a virtue of necessity and declared that after all he "would rather be a plain, simple boss than be governor." Mr. Black, meanwhile, had made an eloquent speech in the convention, and circumstances favored his choice. Mr. Platt, also, having consented, the thing was done. Mr. Black will receive the united support of both wings of the Republican party, and it seems likely that the mugwump element will support him to a man, while the reform Democrats will also to some extent give him their ballots.

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agitated the Democracy from one end of the country to the other. Every effort was made by Senator Jones and the Bryan organization to secure Mr. Hill's indorsement of the Chicago ticket. The newspapers had a different story to tell every day as to Mr. Hill's intentions. Meanwhile the Senator kept himself in mysterious retirement most of the time at his home near Albany, the famous political retreat known as "Wolfert's Roost." At length, when the convention assembled, Mr. Hill concluded not to attend. Through his henchmen he exercised some measure of control over the doings of the convention, but left it still a matter of uncertainty whether or not he would support Bryan. The Buffalo convention was certainly a curious political occasion. It was conspicuous chiefly for the absence of every man of eminence in the entire party. The dominant personality in it was that of Mr. John C. Sheehan, who has succeeded Richard Croker as leader of Tammany Hall. Mr. Sheehan came to New York City from Buffalo three or four years ago. He had held a political office in Buffalo. He left that city under charges of defalcation. It is not for us to decide whether the irregularities in the management of his Buffalo office were due to carelessness or incompetency, or to something worse. His rapid rise to power and authority in the councils of

Tammany Hall must indicate the possession of unusual political skill and capacity for leadership. His various speeches and addresses as reported in the newspapers make it clear, however, that he is a man of very inferior education and attainments. In those respects he compares badly with Gilroy, or even with Croker. It would seem strange that the Democratic party of the great state of New York should submit itself to the rule of such a man as John C. Sheehan. The logical candidate for the gubernatorial nomination was a young Tammany brave named William Sulzer, who is the local leader of the free silver Democrats, and who went to Buffalo very earnestly urging his title to "bear the standard." But Mr. Sheehan and the Tammany leaders frowned upon Mr. Sulzer's ambition and gave the nomination to the Hon. John Boyd Thacher, Mayor of Albany. Mr. Thacher is a public man of literary tastes and pursuits, whose ambition to be governor of the state has been well known for a number of years. He had not, however, been regarded as a supporter of the principal doctrines of the Chicago platform; and his nomination at Buffalo seemed a rather anomalous proceeding in view of the fact that the convention had just adopted a platform of its own which began with the following complete indorsement of the Chicago convention:

The Democratic party of the state of New York in convention assembled unreservedly indorses the platform adopted by the Democratic party at the National Con

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JOHN C. SHEEHAN, LEADER OF TAMMANY. vention held in Chicago on July 7, 1896; cordially approves the nominations there made; pledges to William J. Bryan and Arthur Sewall its hearty and active support, and declares as its deliberate judgment that never in the history of the Democratic party has a platform been written which embodied more completely the interests of the people, as distinguished from those who seek legislation for private benefit, than that given to the country by the National Democratic Convention of 1896.

The fact was that Tammany Hall, and the city delegates in general, while not enthusiastic for free silver, were determined at all hazards to maintain their vantage ground of Democratic regularity. They were obliged, therefore, to accept the results of the Chicago convention. The country delegates at Buffalo, on the other hand, were full of conviction and zeal on the silver question. Mr. Sheehan and his Tammany crowd, therefore, who held the balance of power, made a compromise by giving the country delegates everything they wanted in the platform, while refusing to put a free silver man at the head of the ticket as candidate for Governor. Mr. Thacher was nominated as the only "sound

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