leave them in a hopeless minority.
Public attention has been called by you to these conditions, but
the people alone can furnish the remedy; that is, by general
attendance of lawful voters at the primaries, and by the election
of delegates who will be controlled in their votes by the wishes
of their constituents, and not by the dictates of a boss for a
slate ticket prepared and arranged by him, as was done in the last
county conventions. There is no rule so obnoxious, so easy to
break, as boss rule, and there is no rule so enduring, or so wise,
as the unbiased choice and action of a popular assemblage. Since
I have been in public life, I have not sought to influence nominations
and conventions, and do not wish by this letter to do so, except
to join in your appeal to the electors of Hamilton county to assert
their right to make nominations and hold conventions, a right too
sacred to be delegated to anyone, and especially to one who would
sell nominations to elective offices. When the innumerable offices,
employments, contracts and labor of a great city, and all the public
improvements, are made to contribute to a great corruption fund
which is used by a single manager, or, as is apt to be the case,
by two managers, one of each party, it tends to destroy the power
of the people, to promote extravagance, to increase taxes, and
finally to produce riots and violence. Whenever such methods appear
in municipal governments, it is the duty of good citizens, without
respect to party, to depose the boss and enthrone the people.

"Very respectfully yours,
"John Sherman."

I have never regretted writing this letter and its broad publication.
Whether a reform has been effected in Hamilton county I do not
know, but my caution against bossism in politics may be useful.

CHAPTER LXII.
SECOND ELECTION OF GROVER CLEVELAND.
Opposition to General Harrison for the Presidential Nomination--My
Belief That He Could Not Be Elected--Preference for McKinley--
Meeting of the National Republican Convention at Minneapolis--
Meeting of Republicans at Washington to Ratify the Ticket--Newspaper
Comment on My Two Days' Speech in the Senate on the Silver Question
--A Claim That I Was Not in Harmony with My Party on the Tariff--
My Reply--Opening Speeches for Harrison and Reid--Publication of
My "History of the Republican Party"--First Encounter with a "Kodak"
--Political Addresses in Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, Chicago
and Milwau