Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-05-01
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THE PRESS ON WALDEN.


dedicated 10 fhe state Register.
we give below, extracts from por-
ton OF the Press in the old Fourth
Congressional District and of the Press
Of the Sixth District of Iowa. as 10
what they say in regard to the Hon.
NJ. NJ. Walden's distribution of his
back pay. AS the Republican Press of
the country had very generally taken
the position (whcn they favored a
return OF the money at ALL. that it
should so into the Treasury OF the
United States, and had spoken very
severely Of cases where distribution
had been made TO members constitu-
cnts. or given 10 Institutions of learn
ing or charity. in common with others.
feeling the injustice of such distribu-
ton and its being amenable TO the
charge of seeking popularity from the
members constituents, we had criti
cised sharply this manner Of disposing
of the money long before Mr.. Walden
made his distribution. Now since the
State Register says we made such crit
icism of Mr.. Walden ont of spite
toward him, although published before
that gentleman had made his DISPOSE
ton Of his back pay. and since Mr..
Walden in his paper, the Centerville
Citizen, following the lead of the State
Register, joins us and John p. Irish
together. .as the dissatisfied parties
we. deem it not only proper, but our
duty to give what some of our cotem-
poraries say about this matter. There
is considerable batch of papers in
this district, who, according to the
Christian gentleman of the Register,
arc moved to criticise through spite.
Here follows the quotations:
"MR. WALDEN AND HIS BACK PAY.
Auditor Hollingsworth has received
from ex-Congressman Walden letter
enclosing draft for S303.IO. which he
requests shall be divided among the
school districts in the county in pro-
portion to their number of pupils. No
word.of explanation accompanies the
letter. but of course 1t will be under
stood that Mr.. Walden has chosen this
method Of disposing of his share OF
the back pay steal, giving part
thereof to the school districts i'm the
several counties which he formerly
represented.
This is perhaps better than to have
allowed tho money to find resting
place i'll his pocket, nevertheless, this
action on the part of Mr.. Walden, or
any other Congressman, is not WORTHY
Of commentator. The money should
be applied to the benefit of all the peo.
pie at large. The citizens of this Con-
gressional District have no more right
| thereto than the unfortunate constitu.
ents of Ben. Butler. Honesty points
out the path, and Congressman
though fool need not err therein. II
applied to the reduction OF the Nation.
| al debt, the money lilched from the
treasury will have served alegitimate
purpose, and the pockets of tax-pay
will not have been depleted to serve
the individual purposes of Congress.
men, ex., or otherwise. We make these
remarks for the reason that experience
has taught us that axes to grind are
not scarce in the market. Even an
ordinary State Senator, with aspira-
tons confined TO a smaller radius than
the Congress of the United States, il
liable to conclude that 1903. 10 from the
United States Treasury would be a
convenient thing to have when max.
ing Investments for political bun.
combe.-SigoWney fkeokuk County,
Neus.
1t will be recollected that Mr.. Wal.
den closed an honorable career in Con.
gress on the 4th of March, having voted
against the salary steal at the close Of
| the term. We think he has made an
| equitable division Of the extra allow
| ance falling to him, among all the
counties composing the old 18th District
and this Is the share of Jasper county
therein. Legally Mr.. Walden was not
bound to do this. I'm strict equity il
were better to place it in the govern.
ment treasury from whence it was
drawn: but Mr.. Walden has taken Ills
choice as to its disposition after first
deciding that he could not contentious
~ retain ii, and the School Fund OF
the several counties Of the district are
the richer for the Merton
(Jasper Co.. Free Press.
While we do not think this quite the
best use Mr.. w. could have made of
his back pay, we give him full credit
for not accepting and keeping ii. Had
he applied the money TO the cancella-
ton of U. S. bonds, he would have
made a more natural disposition of it
but we doubt not he had reasons for
using it as he did.-Ioleto (Tama Co. }
Chronicle.
Representative NJ. NJ. Walden has
drawn his retroactive salary and dona-
ted it TO the School Fund of the several
counties i,f this district.
This speaks better for Mr.. Walden
than fine had pocketed the amount, but
ii would have been more in accordance
with our opinion of Walden's integri-
ty, il he had refused to handle the
stealings. -Monltoa (Appanoose Co..
Independent.
We cannot see why Mr.. Walden's
donation makes the steal any better
Ii rather looks as though great expec-
tations in the way of future Congress
sional honors has something to do with
his action in this NATTER Bloomfield
Davis Co.. Republican.
Preamble and Resolutions passed by
Columbia Grange.
WHEREAS, The time has fully come,
as we believe, when it is the impera-
4iSrn dIf5: xsE Er;s,aa.l