Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 August 1889 — HARRISON’S BAD BREAK. [ARTICLE]

HARRISON’S BAD BREAK.

HE MAKES A SERIOUS BLUNDER IN LOUISIANA. The Appointment of Ex-Gov. Warmoth Collector of the Fort at New Orleans Likely to Cost the Republicans a.Congressman. [Washington special.] The President has made a pretty mess of affairs in Louisiana in the appointment of Editor Warmoth to be Collector of the Port at New Orleans, and of John Patty (colored) to be Naval Officer. Harrison’s usual timidity and his penchant for refusing to decide between rivals have led him into a great political blunder. There were two strong candidates for Collector— Chairman Herwig, of the State Committee, and Major Hero, who was supported by Coleman, the Republican Congressman from Louisiana. Herwig is the Louisiana lottery man who has been keeping the Republican party of his State alive during the last ten or twelve years by his contributions to the campaign funds. When he left Washington a few weeks ago it was with the promise that nothing should be done about the New Orleans offices prior to the campaign for Congressman in the Third Louisiana District. Herwig announced his willingness to spend $‘20,000 to secure the election of his friend, ex-Congressman Duvall. Now comes the announcement of Warmoth’s appointment to the collectorship, just as Herwig is paying out the last dollar for delegates in tomorrow’s convention. His friends here say he lias been shamefully played upon, and that he will be more than human if he does not suffer the election in that district to go by The President has set his heart on having another Republican Congressman from Louisiana, but in thus abandoning Herwig on the very eve of the canvass he is showing how little he knows about the game of politics. It is understood the President has a string tied to Warmoth’s appointment, for which the papers have not yet been made out. Warmoth has pledged himself to carry the Third District vacancy, and if he succeeds in fulfilling his promise he will get the collectorship. Herwig thought he had made the same bargain, but the President repudiated it at the last moment, probably because Herwig is connected with the Louisiana Lottery. Warmoth’s candidate for Congress is H. C. Utmar, who has taken the lead in the White Man’s Republican Party movement. As the district has 4,000 negro majority it is not easy to see how his nomination could brighten the Republican prospects. The two negro leaders of the State, Pinchback and Lewis, are already up in arms over the appointment of Patty. Of course, the Republicans can carry the Third District if they can raise enough money. At the same time Congressman Coleman is bitterly disappointed, and the indepent movement of Southern Republicans for the purpose of controlling the organization of the House is likely to receive an accession from Louisiana. Coleman, though elected as a Republican, is and always has been a Democrat, turning Republican simply to help preserve the tariff on sugar. Now that the President has concluded to snub Coleman in the appointment of a Federal officer at his own home, the Congressman, in retaliation, may veer a little toward Democracy before snow flies. Warmoth, who, as Collector of the Port, will resume his old place as dictator of the paAy in Louisiana, is an Illinois man, who found himself in New Orleans after the war as Provost Marshal under military rule. He owns probably the finest plantation in America on a bayou of the Mississippi about 100 miles from New Orleans, and 7,000 acres of rich lands are under cultivation, and a dozen or more sugar-houses turn out an immense product every year. The house in which Warmoth lives is described as an American palace. This property was inherited by his wife, whose family are all Democrats, and Mrs. Warmoth’s five young sons she declares she is rearing to be good Democrats like their grandfather.