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About The Plattsmouth journal. (Plattsmouth, Nebraska) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (July 30, 1903)
DISHONESTY IN ALL. NO NATIONAL DEPARTMENT OR BUREAU IS CLEAN. Merely Partial Investigaticns Have Revealed Astounding Conditions of Affairs Drastic Action Needed Be fore Reform Is Possible. What little of the postoffice scan dals that has been allowed to come to light and the charges made of official shortcomings In other departs meat, makes it evident that the en tire official machinery of the nation lit clogged with dishonesty. Every department and bureau that has been even partially investigated teems with loot and dishonesty that parallels, if It docs not exceed, the era of robbery that culminated in the election of Tlldon. The Star Route frauds, the Mulligan letters, the Credit Mobiller ami the Pacific Mail subsidy were crimes for which the people held the Republican party responsible. The voters are now confronted with the postal scandals, the Cuban loot ing, tho agricultural department rot tenness, the land department frauds, th? Porto Rican smuggling case and the war department and Philippine infamies, besides charges against the other departments that have not yet been investigated and which will doubtless swell the unsavory record. The old cry that aroused the coun try, "Turn the rascals out." will again b the slogan of the coming presi dential campaign. The extortion of the trusts and the robbery of tho people by the protection granted to the combines, under the tariff, bad as it Is, does not compare with the delinquencies of the officials who have been placed in power to pre serve the rights and pockets of the people. Without an honest adminis tration the government becomes but pillage and piracy; back of alt econ omic issues must be ordinary hon esty In public service. To pass laws to reform the tariff or control the trusts will be worthless unless the rascals, who seem to infest every de partment, are turned out and honest public servants installed to adminis ter the reforms. The first and great est reform is to -turn the rascals cut." especially those who are in the highest command and who. either by collusion or incompetent mane ment, have allowed the looting with out an efTort to Etay it. Even now they are trying to hamper the inves tigations and, by refusing to give the facts to the pnblic, are trying to di vert the people's minds into other channels. The interest of those in charge of the fortunes of the Repub can party is to cover up delinquen cies for the good of the party and to scrutinize as little as possible the wrong doings of their subordinates. It is therefore the leaders that must be turned out and the punishment of the lesser culprits will duly follow. It is impossible for an administra tion to reform itself. Every politi cian, great and small, even the honest snes, dislike to see disclosures made that reflect on the party, and only ust enough is allowed to come to ngni to appear mac puniicauou ia in tended. The evidence has been fur nished that months before the post office scandals were revealed. Pres ident Roosevelt was Informed that gross frauds were being perpetrated, yet no investigation was ordered until the newspapers took up the "Get-rich-quick" frauds and these led to the other exposures. For over two years it was known and published that At torney General Tyner and his asso ciates were bleeding the publications for permission to mail at the one-cent a pound rate, but neither President Roosevelt nor his postmaster general ordered any investigation of the charges, though appealed to for that purpose. A new deal is therefore necessary and the rascals must be turned out before reform is possible. THAT OPEN DOOR. The Russians Have Slammed It in Cur Faces and Have the Key mn the Inside. The growl of the Russian bear has bluffed Mr. Hay Into believing that the brute may bite if too many liber ties are taken with him. Mr. Hay, as the diplomatic adviser of President Roosevelt, has persuaded that impul sive gentleman that he must be more considerate of the feelings of the Rus sians or the work of years and the expenditure of thousands of lives and millions of treasure in the Philip pines will be -worthless. The people of the United States were induced to believe that the re tention of the Philippines as a colony would give the United States a key :o the door of China and that after spening it untold wealth would be theirs. But somehow In the shuf fling of the cards the little joker has always fallen Into the hand dealt to Russia and that gave her the com mand of the game. It Is, therefore, cot surprising to be officially informed that the key to the open door has been mislaid and that further diplo matic arrangements about free ports in Manchuria have been postponed to a more convenient season. In the language of diplomacy, the incident has been clos?d for the pres ent, but. in plain English, the door ha3 been slammed in our faces and Russia has the key on the inside. Is our "matchless diplomacy" at fault or has President Roosevelt been too rash and hasty in his efforts to conciliate a certain element in our politics who could aid him in his am bition to succeed himself? Which ever horn of the dilemma the admin istration asks us to take, it shows that those who, by fate, are managing our affairs are not equal to the occa sion. It requires a gTeater man than Roosevelt or John Hay to come out even in the game of diplomacy .with the Russian bear. Compromising with Trusts. The efforts of the administration to control the trusts seems to have sub sided with the suit against the rail road merger and the beef combine. Perhaps President Roosevelt and his Attorney General have become dis couraged by the" small results ob UlP'. or have become converts to the Harna plan cf "letting well enough alone." It is quite probable that the bad trusts, which Includes nearly all of them. Lave found a way to propitiate the trust-busting procliv ities of the administration, as the pro tectlonists found a way to emasculate the Iowa Idea and render it harmless. Reform has never been a strong card with Republicans. At times they have pretended their great desire to up root political evils, but these virtuous moments have always preceded elec tions and have ever subsided and ebbed when the crisis had passed and they could point to the inorsement that bad been given by the voters of their conduct of affairs. The Repub lican leaders have perpetually been hankering for tho flesh pots that the trusts and corporations hold out as a bait to obtain immunity for their ex tortion. The donations of the trusts and corporations to Republican cam paign funds have been reciprocated by tariff protection that enabled the trusts .to amply recuperate their de pleted bank accounts from exorbitant profits from the people. Judging the future by the past, his tory is repeating itself and the pres ent Immunity that the trusts are en joying is an arrangement naturally satisfactory to them and to the Re publican leaders. Attorney-General Knox Is said not to favor any more legal proceedings against the trusts, and, as he was a trust attorney berore ho bacame a member of the cabinet, his reported lack of sympathy with any further trust-busting is doubtless a correct solution for his reason for not acting. The President and his Attorney-General are in a quandary about further action against the trusts. If they do not go on curbing them the voters will rebel, and if they do really try to curb the trusts the campaign fund will suffer. A Big Job for President Roosevelt in the Postoffice. The President and the Trusts. That is a deep-laid scheme of the trusts to appear to be cool and distant to President Roosevelt and at the same time allow him to be renomi nated. The proof that the trusts are satisfied with the present administra tion is that Quay and Piatt have all the time been its warmest supporters. The further proof is that the Secre tary of the Treasury has been running the finances of the country in the in terest of Wall street and a financial bill is now being concocted to aid the bankers and trust magnates by the Republican leaders, who are active friends of the President, and he ap proves it and will recommend con gress o pass it. Wall street and the trust magnates know their cake would soon be dough when the Democrats are in power, for one thing they most dread is tariff revision. The tariff protects them and allows them to charge high prices which fill their pockets at the expense of the people. Since President Roosevelt began to talk like Hanna of "letting well enough alone," the trust magnates are for him to a man. In all his speeches on his western trip the President said nothing against the trusts. The President and the Negroes. The negro T. T. Fortune, whom President Roosevelt sent on a special mission to Hawaii and the Philip pines to Investigate the condition of labor there, has returned and is en thusiastic over the Philippines as the country for the negro to colonize. Fortune is opposed to the Booker T. Washington gospel of work, and preaches what he calls the gospel of dissention. His attitude shows him to have been an admirable individual to have kept at home, for he was no sooner landed at Manila than he got into trouble with the police. The president certainly did not use good discretion in selecting his envoy, but at the time he was selected the dar key vote was being struggled for and Fortune is supposed to be a leader of consequence. Having secured the adherence of the Booker Washington element by entertaining him at the white house, the Fortune faction was mollified by this mission to our colon ies at the expense of the taxpayers. Steel Trust's 40 Per Cent Profit The quarterly report of the United States Steel Corporation again re minds us of what a heavy load we are carrying in our protection baby carriage. This great big, blubbering, bulldozing beggar brat reports net earnings for the quarter ending June 30, of $36,499,528. Just think of it This protected infant i3 earning over $400,000 a day, or over $130,000,000 a year, and this, too, on total sales of about $450,000,000. This means that goods that cost $320,000,000 to pro duce are sold for $450,000,000, or at a profit of over 40 pper cent. This trust can make this very high rate of profit because Dingley tariff duties prevent our people from going outside of this country to buy steel goods. Still Another Scandal. Another Republican scandal has come to light unexpectedly, by the discovery that the fund of the Dis trict of Columbia for special assess mwt has been looted of $75,000. The officers In charge of the district do. not seem to have even taken the pre caution to count the cash from time to time, for the looting has been going on for five years under Repub lican management. The Same Both Ways. "G. O. P.. Grand Old Party," "P. a G., Post-Offlce 'Graf L "Life. w Al THE SACRED TARIFF. REPUBLICAN POLITICIANS FALL INTO LINE. C ngressman Hemenway the Latest to Join Hanna in His Support of Monopoly All the Faithful Ready to Stand by the Trusts. How llko parrots some of the Re publican politicians are. Here we have Congressman Hemenway in an inter view saying. "There is no sentlmeit In Indiana for a change in the tariff laws." Hanna having made a similar declaration, all the smaller fry join In the chorus, not merrily and from the heart, but with the parrot-like utterances of the automaton. The or dinary Republican politician of the Hemenway stripe never Invents any thing, no law to reform abuses ever emanates from him; no speech Is ever heard denouncing crying evils frcm such as he. And yet Congressman Hemenway is no worse nor better for that matter than the boss whose lead he fellows. If the boss puts his thumb down, the Hemenway tribe all declare with one voice the same decree, and vice versa. Congressman Hemenway has been selected as the chairman of the committee on appro priations in the coming house of rep resentatives, not because of his abil ity, but because he is a faithful part of the machine that obeys orders without questioning and echoes the edicts that resound from the High-Muck-a-Muck. "There is no change needed in the tariff law. Let well enough alone." Prices of trust production may soar and the trusts grow fat at the ex pense of the people, but the sacred tariff must not be meddled with. All the money necessary must be appro priated to absorb the surplus, each coterie must get its shade, every de partment of the government puts in its bid for its greater or lesser steals and subsidies and gets them. The representatives who attempt to stem the tide of extravagance are sneered and jeered at as small, mean and parsimonious. Reform is bowled down from every Republican throat, and every Republican vote Is given for the most lavish expenditures and most prodigal appropriations. In that way the sacred tariff is preserv ed in all its iniquity and its bold rob bery. Listen to the Hemenway echo of the Delphic oracle who tells of the evils to come if protection to the trusts is disturbed. "They have evidently come to the logical conclusion that to touch one item in a tariff bill means that others and perhaps the whole fabric is to be disturbed and distorted. Nothing could be more serious to the business interests, for the time being, at least. "The whole industrial system of the country would in that event be turned topsy-turvy. Chaos instead of the wonderful calm and equilibrium now existing would reign, and the result would be disastrous. Of course, it is not possible to have a perfect tariff, but we think that well enough should be allowed to stand. We are doing beautifully." Possibly the people feel that way, but if they do they are more easily gulled and fooled than they used to be and are more anxious to pay out their hard earned money to the trusts than it is possible to believe they are. Opium Monopoly in Philippines. Democrats and Republicans alike have always denounced the English policy of the opium monopoly in India and the opening of the Chinese em pire to the opium trade, but our ad ministration appears now to approve it, for even a worse opium system is to be forced on the Philippines. The exclusive right to run opium joints in these islands is to be sold by auc tion, a law for that purpose having been prepared, and is now before the Philippines commission. This bill is coated so that the American people will be able to swallow it. "In order to prepare the American public for the proposal the war department late ly, has been jriving out vague informa tion to the correspondents about new opium laws designed to 'restrict the use of opium and that the money- de rived therefrom was to be used for 'educating young Filipinos in Amer ican schools, as prospective teachers for the islands.' " A strong protest has been made to President Roosevelt to stop the iniqui tous traffic or at least not to make this government a party to it by par ticipating in the proceeds. The ne farious plan seems to be a pet meas ure of the Secretary of War, and it is feared that the influence he exerts over the President will more than off set the protests that have been made. Silenced. When Mr. Roosevelt was in the far west a postal scandal of some sort was ventilated almost daily. Everybody connected with the de partment was talKing freely. A good deal that was said was of no account, but here and there was fou.:d a man who knew something and v. hose dis closures Were of value. The president's return to Washing ton was followed by an crder for silence. Men who talked vvre given to understand that they we.:'d scca bo separated from their employment in the service. This is the method employed by Messrs. Root and Long to Lush up the scandals in the war and navy de partments a year or tv.'o ago. This is the method which Mr. Roosevelt himself resorted to when he under took to intimidate Gen. Miles. In the case of the postoffice depart ment the policy has been eminently successful. There are no more dis closures. The pursuit of the rogues seems to have ended. There is si 'nee everywhere. Things are pretty nearly quiet enough to enable the president to make a few more speeches instruct ing his fellow citizens as to their du ties to themselves, their families, the state and the nation! Wall Street and the Country. "It is up to President Roosevelt to say whether the country is to continue prosperous or not. declares a Wall street authority who wants Mr. Roose velt to call an extra sessjoc cf con gress to pass a currency Inflation bill. This notion that a clique of stock gamblers constitutes "the country" Is by no means new. It remains to be seen whether the president will ac cept it after his vigorous and reiter ated , expressions of independence of Wall street influences. Legislation in the Next Congress. There has betn some discussion in. authoritative circles about having no. river and harbor bill at the session of congress this winter. No final de cision has been reached, but the views of some prominent Republicans are adverse to legislation that will take many millions more from the treas ury at an early day for improvement of water ways. On all sides there appears a sensitive attitude about running up big expenditures by the fifty-eighth congress. Many think the time for retrenchment in government expenses, which have been of the most lavish character in the last six years, is at hand. "Uncle Joe" Can non, wielder of the gavel in the house, is an economist and will undoubtedly throw his influence that way. Then a presidential election is near and the country may develop decided views for retrenchment. Rogues Are Triumphant. About one month has elapsed since the President of the United State3 returned to Washington and issued his order tiosinj; the mouth-: of eveiy body connected with the postal ser vice on the subject of the thieving which as is now known, was going on in the department. Up to that t ire there wore Ievtlop meats almost daily. Up to that time some dishonest officer was exposed and forced into retirement every week. Up fo that time there appeared to be a prospect that the honest men in the postal service would get the upper hand of the rogues. Up to that time it seemed likely that there would be a thorough exploration of all the recesses of skulduggery and cor ruption. Now all is silence; tne Postmaster General is off on a government vessel for a cruise and the President, who recently lectured the people of twenty-two states and territories on the importance of i.dsing largo families aid being Lcod citizens, i3 leadiDg tho strenuous life at Oyster Boy. Where Quay Is Useful. The movement of the Republican leaders to make Senator Quay the party manager in the coming cam paign would be quite appropriate. President Roosevelt and the senator are warm friends and he has always been the leader of the presidential clique in the United States senate in opposition to the Hanna crowd. Senator Quay is the most accomplish ed master of the art of "frying the fat" out of the trusts and corpora tions and large contributions from that, source will be necessary to con tinue the Republican party in power. Wood May Strike a Snag. There is some reason to believe that the process of boosting Leonard Wood up the military ladder will suf fer a check when his nomination to be a major general comes up for confir mation by the senate. Unfortunately for the presidential chum, senatorial investigations are not subject to the veto of the secretary of war, and if the history of the Havana satrapy is ventilated the hero of the episode will not wear the stars of a major general. Extending Our Blessings. At last our Filipino fellow citizens are about to enjoy one of those bless ings jind privileges of enlightened American civilization so glowingly de scribed by Gen. Miles. The colonial government at Manila is making prep arations to load them up with a nice, big bond issue just like the happy peo ple of the mother country. Prospect of "Graft" Binds All. Intelligence that Uncle Hanna and the venerable Ship Subsidy Griscom, on the latter's yacht, are to pay a domiciliary visit to Oyster Bay indi cates how much truth there is in the stories of fierce executive antagon ism to the steal which is the particu lar pet of the two individuals men tioned. Trade a Little Shy. Complaint comes from the Philip pines that trade is not following the flag into our colonial possessions as rapidly as was hoped. It may be sug gested that trade is, perhaps, a little shy about starting on a tour of that kind without its valued traveling com panion, the constitution. Gov. Cummins' Reward. Considering the raeek and lowly manner in which Gov. Cummins sub mitted to having his tariff plank splin tered over his head the Republican managers may indulge in justifiable hopes of sawing off the vice-presidential nomination onto him. He will evi dently stand anything. Cummins Completely Subdued. As we ventured to predict, the Hon orable Virus-of-Free-Trade Cummins, having submitted to amputation of his tariff idea, has now meekly agreed to take the vice presidential nomination. The Honorable Cummins evidently is ro broken in spirit that he will not re sent ary indignity. Rccsevelt and the Newspapers. Our liege lord Theodore declares that there are only two newspapers in the country with which he has any quarrel a statement which indicates either that his excellency is of a most gracious and forgiving disposition or that he does not read many news papers. Poor Payne 1 Mr. Moody of the navy department is going about making speechees on the wickedness of treating a public office as a private snap. Mr. Payne of the postoffice department says nothing, but wears a grieved expres sion. . Drawing a Natural Inference. Senator Hanna told the Salvation Army that he longed for the power to touch men's hearts, from which we infer that the campaign subscription list will soon be in evidence. An elephant's jaw bxs been Tinr earthed in Halleck Canyon. Wyoming. Jr ,feH you may cLJl!'- 11 ' PHILIPPINE COMMISSION "Never mind the nign: Used by LIKE TWO PEAS IN A POD. Insisting that the democratic party must "throw both Bryan and Bryan ism overboard," the Brooklyn Eagle undertakes to state just what will be the position of the democratic party as well as of the republican parry in the event the reorganizers have their way. The Eagle says the republicnn platform will be about as follows: "No tariff revision is necessary; none should occur until necessary; none, when necessary, should be made except by us; none, when made by us alone, should affect articles produced by trusts, whether those trusts are monopolies or not. On the "expansion question the republican platform v.ill be in favor of taking expansion for granted and of regarding the Phi'ip pines, Hawaii and Porto Rico as col onies always and states of the union never. On the currency question the republican party will seek to legislate, on the basis of gold as the standard, in the direction of making the supply of currency through the banks auto matically respond to the needs of lo calities or of exigencies. The rest of that party's platform will doubtless comprise republican claims to have produced all the good things which have occurred and which have taken the name of prosperity among politi cians, promotors and the like, and of inflation among philosophical econo mists. Of course, the platform will arraign democracy." The democratic party, according to the Eagle, while not admitting in so many words that it has been entirely wrong, will,. in the event the reorgan izers gain control, admit that the party has been wrong without directly saying fo. The Eagle describes the democratic platform in this way: "The party will assume gol-1 to be the standard. It will assume expan sion to be permanent and unalterable. It will omit all allusion to an incom3 tax, and it will not flatter mobs, in the name of labor, or attack the se curities of order by slurs at the ju diciary. "The party will have a good deal of trouble, even if It should get these dangerous questions out of the way, in dealing with the tariff matter. The country has become used to protection. It is opposed to free trade, or to what can be truthfully or falsely called free trade. It would, however, have a ra tional and not a radical revision of duties, and it does not believe that the republican party can or will give it." According to the Eagle's plan, then, the democratic party, like the repub lican party, will be in favor of the single gold standard; it will assume expansion to be permanent and unal terable; it will be opposed to the in come tax, and will ignore the very general complaint against government by injunction. According to the Eagle's plan, the democratic platform will differ from the republican plat form In tree particulars. The Eagle's platform will not assert nor admit the republican claims to have produced all the good things which have occurred; the Eagle's platform will not arraign democracy; the Eagle's platform, while leaning somewhat in the direc tion of protection, will provide for "a rational and not a radical revision of duties." In other words, after "throwing Bryan and Bryanism overboard," the Eagle and its associate reorganizers would make the democratic party so similar to the republican party that the two organizations would differ in Is it possible that President Roose velt's slowness to act in the postoffice corruption cases ia due to his fear of the pillar pulling ability cf the men who occupy the g. o. p. temple? Governor Durbin of Indiana is rusti cating in Yellowstone park. In the meantime ex-Governor Taylor is stick ing pretty close to Indiana sod. Doubtless Perry Heath will recover his hearth simultaneously with the successful smothering of the charges of corruption in the postal department. Governor Durbin of Indiana has his hands full these days protecting Tay lor and Finley from justice and Evans ville criminals from mob law. The organs that pretend not to know Judge Walter Clark' are not belittling Judge Clark they are merely exposing their own fatuous ignorance. Postmaster General Payne's explana tory department is running "hot in its journals." Of course the Iowa idea about revis ing; the tariff is to revise it up. j LIBERTY! name only, and would make the plat form as nearly like the republican platform as It would be possible to do, lecving at the same time sufficient mar gin in the hope of hoodwinking the voters and making them believe that, after all, the democratic party had not been completely swallowed up. Perhaps it has not occurred to the Eagle, although it will doubtless occur to a great many people, that there will be considerable difficulty even after the democratic party shall have adopted the republican platform, in educating democrats up to a point where they may grow enthusiastic in following re publican methods and in advocating the policies dear to the hearts of the trust magnates. BUT HE DID NOT. The St. IxMiis Post-Dispatch, com menting on the formal and insig nificant message sent by President Roosevelt on the opening of the Phil ippine cable, says: "Suppose, instead of the common place greeting. President Roosevelt sent to Governor Taft he had writ to the people of the Philippines a message like this: "'I pledge all my energy, ability and power as president of the United States to the task of enabling the peo ple of the Philippines to enjoy the blessings of liberty and to secure a government based upon the principles of liberty and equality embodied in the Declaration of Independence and the constitution of the United States.' "That would have been a memora ble message and it would have made the Fourth of July as blessed and memorable to the Filipinos as it is to Americans. It would have enhanced the blessings of the day to Americans because it would have been a notable step toward the proclamation of lib erty throughout all the possessions of the United States. , "A message like that would have done more than merely go around the world; it would have thrilled the world with the spectacle of a great man at the head of a great nation placing the cause of human liberty above all other considerations; it would have cheered the lovers of liber ty in all lands and struck a deadly blow at imperialism. Air. uor.seveii cculd well have given up all that the presidency offers for the privilege of sending such a message to a people in bondage. "It would have assured him the right kind of immortality." The president might have said some thing worthy of tLe occasion but h? did not. Why? Because he has been paralyzed by imperiaUcm. MEN ARE NEEDED. Under this title the Columbus (O.) Press has an editorial calling attention to the importance of nominating strong, clean men for the legislature in Ohio. The Press is right. Only men of integrity and good standing should be selected as democratic can didates for the legislature. This is especially necessary in Ohio with Mr. Hanna as a candidate. Those who recollect the bribery resorted to at his former election will understand how necessary" it is to have Incorruptible democrats in the legislature thi3 ywir. But why should this caution be nec essary? It ought to be apparent to every member of the jOTy that the reputation of the party and its useful ness depend upon the selection of good men all the time. It is a great mis take to suppose that it is ever wise Every time the Chicago Chronicle prints an editorial telling what it con ceives to be "true democracy," the edi torial is printed with approval by the leading republican organs. There should be enough difference between democratic and republican platforms to render unnecessary plans and specifications for the proper desig nation of each. Temporary defeat in a fight for the right Is preferable to a hollow victory on a meaningless platform. Concerted attacks upon Mr. Brlstow will not draw public attention from the administration's failure to act promptly upon Mr. Tulloch's charges. The Berlin professor who declares that alcohol is the source of life should throw his reverse lever. Young Mr. Rockefeller says he prays for light and gets- it. But he charges us 20 cents a gallon. Governor Cummins has used the "Iowa idea" as a groun-S wire for his vice presidential boom. TWRTEtNTH AM EN Of tNT JO THE CONltrVTtON OF THE UNITCD STATU "j 3C NrilHLK ilWIKf N0K INVOLUNTWi U.RWVUI, tMttT A' A ivni'smmint roKLKiw,wnrnror rut PARTY SHALL hVWC bELN IHUt C0NVIITLD, SHALL CtlbT WITHIN Vtf UNtTtD 'jTATL OK ANY PLACE SUBJECT TO THIR this if r-bat counts." courtesy of the Commoner. to nominate men who are illwr In competent or dishonest. The parly suffers every time one of Its officials betrays a trust. If tlif democrats everywhera would take an Interevt In politics, nominate their best men and present the highest party Ideals to the public the party would soon lie Ir resistibly strong. Eternal vigilance Is not only the price of liberty, but it Is the price of party success. It is reported from the fast Hint woodpeckers are deceived by the hum ming wires and are attacking the tele phone poles. Tliey mistake the buz zing of the wires for the buz.lng of insects. Those woodpeckers remind one of those republicans who Ik Ileve iir tariff revision and cling to the notion that the men who control the repuh lican ixiity will allow lh tariff to ho revised. If Secretary Moody is so awfully In sistent upon Investigations, be might Investigate that little matter of tho tons of smokeless powder dumped Into the ocean from an American warship. If this will not. keep him busy, In might put in the rest of his time In vestigating the army transport pur chases during the late scrimmage with Spain. A prominent army physician dec lares that the American officers who re main on duty in the Philippines for a year are subject to mental and phys ical deterioration. And this republic suffers from moral deterioration while it keeps them over there. "Suppose we allow the national con vention to nominate a vice president, " suggests the urhane Mr. Piatt of New York. To be; sure, but In the mean time the proper g. o. p. authorities will see to It that the proper selection N made for the convention. The San Francisco Star has just cel ebrated its twentieth anniversary. The Star lives' because it has a mission to perform, and it is performing it val iantly. As a champion of democracy the Star stands well up at the htad of the list. The rumor that Mr. Hanna was ti retire from business in order to de vote his entire time to politics Is un founded. Mr. Hanna finds it difficult business to handle his politics since Tom Johnson camped on his trail. Editor Charles Emory Smith has succeeded In giving ex-Postmaster General Smith a clean I.I11 of health. This may be satisfactory to the edited and ex-postmaster general, but th; people want something more. If there is not a working democratic: club in your precinct, go to work and organize one. A little work on th part of each loyal democrat will re sult in frustrating the plans the re organizers have for 1904. Andrew D. White wants the collegia to train young men for officehoidir:g. This would be all right if the college could devise some method of krepir-g the office-seekers out of the way of their trained young men. Does anybody expect prosecution cf the postoffice rascals at the hand.s of an administration that owes its exist ence to the scheming ability of the men responsible for those rascals? There is a big "guessing contest" on in Washington. Those engaged are guessing whether they will be jaibd or permitted to go after making a few feints at the pillars of the republican temple. President Roosevelt's cablegram to Manila was sent In four minutes, but the time was ample for all he had to say concerning the Philippine problem. Attorney General Knox might end the postal scandal by getting out an injunction against the "grafters." Those Sulu slaves who have the blessed privilege of purchasing their freedom at "the usual market price," might try forwarding a protesL The genuine "Iowa Idea" seems to be to keep in close connection with the gentleman wJio distributes the fat se cured by the frylngpan. Mr. Heath evidently believes that his health will be benefited by "absent treatment." Evansvllle and KIshineff seem to have trotted "a dead heaL"