Page:Upbuilders by Lincoln Steffens.djvu/115



“I’ve been thinking,” he said to the victor, “that maybe I ought to resign. What do you think, Colby ? ”

“I think you might as well, Major,” said Colby, who thought Lentz meant what he said. But Lentz didn’t mean anything of the kind.

“Well, I won’t,” he answered in a huff. “I didn’t mean resign the chairmanship of the county committee; I meant as manager of the campaign.”

Colby said he and his crowd nearly went to pieces on this very point. They held their convention, and they nominated the whole legislative and county ticket. That had all been planned in advance. But what next? What about managing the campaign? Lentz had the county committee, and the county committee usually ran county campaigns. Colby and his group meant to have their fight made by a joint committee, but their plans were indefinite.

“We hadn’t thought it out,” Colby says, “and we made a bad blunder.”

The county committee was to have a meeting, and it was the custom for candidates to go and be presented. Colby left town intending not to recognize the committee, but he was telephoned for by some of his best friends. As a victor he must not show ill-will, etc., etc. So Colby went to the meeting. In the course of the formalities,