Jasper County Democrat, Volume 6, Number 8, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 May 1903 — POLITICS OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POLITICS OF THE DAY

Republican Admissions. The postoflice scandals have warmed up so In the rear of that Republican patriot and statesman, secretary of the Republican National Committee and erstwhile Assistant Postmaster General, Perry S. Heath, that he has fallen to explaining about his share in them. He freely admits that there were Irregularities during the war with Spain, hut claims that even the Postmaster General and the. Cabinet sanctioned what was done. lie confesses that large amounts of money were used for purposes for which they were not appropriated, but says that the idea that funds were used for private list* is “utterly filly.” The war with Spain living in progress the soldiers had to be supplied with mail and to put it in the language of the patriot Heath, “There was no time to dally. It was up to us to get busy and get busy quirk.” Prom the charges and rumors of the doings of the department during the busy reign of Perry and the other patriots who hovered around him and names high up on the Republican scroll of fame are mentioned there is no doubt that little time was wasted in getting down to business. Tiie redoubtable Perry does not mention the irregularities in the appointments anil promotions, but he does say that Mr. Till loch, who has made some of the charges, “was relieved by Postmaster General Smith,' which he had a perfect right to do,” and makes further uncomplimentary remarks about, that gentleman which indicates that he was an “obstacle” to Perry anil tin; Department. It was not long after this that Perry was fitting out the expedition to Culm which looted the PostofHce Department in that country, in which llamm’s friend Kathbone. and Perry’s friend Neely met their Waterloo at the hands of tin* ungrateful Cubans and wore convicted of embezzlement and reposed In a Cuban bast lie until pardoned. Many Republican patriots were indeed very busy in those days, making hay while the sun shone, and laid the ground work for most of the scandal and disorder that is now partially coming to light. If some of tin* other departments had the X-rays turned on them, not in the subdued way in which the post office Investigation is being examined, but in the full glare of the public scrutiny anil all had their Just deserts, there might he hardly enough Republican leaders left unsmirched to hold the national convention. Tariff Prairie Fires in lowa. Wlmt the "lowa Idea" is and how the ■ Republicans are going to shelve It, is explained in this way by the Johnstown Democrat: The “lowa Idea" lias set the lowa ■prairie grass afire. The “lowa Idea” Is that the tariff is not only a tax but that it is a robber tax for the benefit of monopoly, and so the Republicans of that State want to get a swipe at the Dingley bill, and get a taste of low tariff. But the •“lowa Idea” Is not to be allowed to get a chance to be beard except on the street comers, in the grocery store and the little shoe shop, or out on the fence where the farmer sits and chews his wad ami complains to his neighbor driving by that “gol durn es tilings hev uot got ter change.” The “lowa Idea” is going to be taken care of by ydur Uncle Senator Allison, who knows why the tariff is a good tiling—for Allison. He is going ’*> the lowa Republican State convention, where it is feared the “lowa Idea” may break loose anil spill all over the country and do something “to hurt the adniiuisir.ition.” It lias been arranged that Alllsou slin 11 prevent that—if he can. The whole power of the national government and tiie beneficiaries of the “mother of trusts” is to be used to crush tin* "lowa idea” in the convention by inducing that body to adopt the “Allison idea,” which, of course. Is that just now any agitation concerning the tariff might, “unsettle” business conditions—and so, indeed, it would for tiie grafters—and Senator Allison will write tiie tariff plank for the convention to consider. |t will probably splutter enough to suit a majority and carry the day. But that will not settle the “lowa Idea.” The "lowa idea" can't lie settled until Dingleylsm is wiped out. Persistent Office Seeking. Dr. Woodrow Wilson, president of I*rl»*eton University, hi an addressuat Chicago on “Patriotism,” said that “President ltoosevelt owes his high position to the fact that he was a politician who diil not care to hold office.” * President Wilson should look up the facts before lie attempts to teach people. Mr. Roosevelt haa lieen one of the most persistent office seekers, and is now engaged In a stumping tour for the nomination for the highest office. The first office he held; In the Legislature of New York, he diligently sought, v directly be had concluded his education at Harvard University.. He then was appointed on the United States Civil Service Commission. Then he was New York Police Commissioner, after that Assistant Secretary of the Navy, resigned that office and asked for the appointment as Colonel of the Rough Biderm. At the conclusion of the war A j

with Spain was elected Governor of New York, and sought the office most strenuously. It is true he protested for some days against being nominated for Vice President, but, while saying nay, consented, nnd thus by accident lieeame President of the United States. If there is a more persistent office seeker and office holder -than Theodore Roosevelt, tiie record has been most successfully concealed. Smothering Reform. The attempt to buy off Governor Cummins, of lowa, from forcing his idea of reforming tiie tariff and thus prevent it from giving shelter to the trusts, by offering him that barren office tiie vice presidentship, can hardly be true, though some of tiie Republican newspapers are publishing the story. The only man who could have made such a deal with the Governor would bo President Roosevelt, and it is placing too low an estimate on what he would desceud to for tiie sake of insuring his own nomination and election. The voters of lowa who are wideawake on tiie tariff and trust issues would retaliate upon any politician who would thus attempt to deceive them and are quite likely to punish the party that will not carry out their desires. It lias only been by catering to those Republican voters who demand reform that the party lias licen kept in .such good flight. Governor Cummins was elected as the loader of the reform element and as a protest against tiie old ring that was owned by the railroads and trusts, and lie dare not go hack on this record. There are other States in the Northwest, such as Wisconsin and Minnesota. where similar conditions exist, which will also have to lie reckoned with, and any successful attempt to smother reforms by dubious methods will result disastrously to tiie politicians or party that attempts it. The President’s Oversight. The President seems to have forg.it himself when speaking in Col. Hepburn's lowa district last week. He thanked the representatives ami senators for helping him anil the country to secure, at the last session of Congress, a “wise supervision and regulation" of the trusts. As a matter of fact the legislation of the last Congress provided no supervision or regulation of trusts whatever, wise or unwise. Nothing was done, except to strengthen the interstate commerce law and authorise a bureau of the executive department to gather information regarding tiie combinations. The President seems to think he car ried through his trust-regulation plans as outlined in messages and speeches. Nothing of tiie sort. They met disaster at tiie hands of tiie Aldrich senatorial group of national legislative dictators.—New Age. “Oar Infant Industries.

“Tin* how much farther does that kid expect to be pulled?”

lowa Idea in New Englnnd. Of 375 boot and shoe manufacturers in New England responding to an inquiry sent out last February by the Boston Commercial Bulletin’. 311 declared in favor of giving up the tariff on shoes if hides were put upon the free list. The same sentiment was found among tiie New England tanners. 21) being willing to relinquish the duty on leather if hides were made free, while only 11 opposed such action. So that even in rock-ribltoil New England the “lowa Idea”' is rife.— Johnstown Democrat. A Glaring Inconsistency. What is the use of declaring against tariff revision as these Republicans in lowa did. and then further declaring that “we favor any modification” which shall prevent the tariff’s “affording any shelter to monopoly?” Especially when every man. North. South. East and West. Republican or Democrat, knows that upward of 2(57 of the big industrial trusts are directly fed and fostered by tlje tariff—the trusts which supply our dally necessaries.— St. Louis Republic. Chickens Come Home to Rooet. Some Republican papers in the east are worried because the Pennsylvania legislature has passed a law that gags the press. Haven’t they endorsed the acts of Congress that gag the Philippine press and, the people of the Philippines? And didn’t Senator Hoar and Democrats warn N the.m that tyranny in the Philippines lfr'kat the forerunner of tyranny at home?—Helena Press.