Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1873-04-03
y 0R M 81:
$50 PER YEAR In ADVANCE.

Il = ~ ~ Il M -
9l.6O PER YEAR IN ADVANCE
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QyrfCE a. ths Corner Market and Sec
Ths ST. Louis Democrat IL one o,
The fsw great papers Of this country
Il 4 entsrprising, spicy and ably edi.
TED n many respects. We are con.
Adent however, that 1t has one ele.
msnt Of weakncss which may be de.
nominated an ovsr-weaning passion
for slopping over. This may be either
The result Of sudden or long nurtured
hate against some individual, fed by
mulish stubborness and q morbid love
= Of revenge, or II may be the offspring
g silly vanity In part arising from
~ being pufsd up because Of Ito i'm.
msnse circulation, and an ill-starred
ambition lead It estray. Still again, 1t
may bs that somebody upon It, is OF
the gashing character, speaking twice
befors thinking once, which sends It
o6 y Z tangent occasionally. How
evsr this may be, we have noticed
that the paper lacks balancc-wheel
ana = not thoroughly reliable. This
isA Weakness which tsIls painfully
upon.the standing and influence Of !
Journal and rightfully 30.
We have been led to make these rs.
marks of the Dsmocrn1 because more
particularly ct this time, In : leading
editorial, IN its issue Of the 9th inst,
It foolishly puts itself squarely on q
one idea platform, and Gin comparison
with scores of political questions In
this country,) very small idea at that
The said one idea platform il, this !.
I've give II In the language OF that
paper). "The Democrat pledges itself
IN advance, to support no man for
Congress, who will not agree to put
his salary back, II elected, to what It
was before"
That we may not be misunderstood
lot us say that the great outrage com.
mitted In the increase salary bill, was
the voting OF back-pay for the A2nd
Congress. It is still further true,
however, that at this time of financial
stringency, we thought the other fea-
lures Of the bill, impolitic, unwise and
uncalled for; yet we do think, that If
did st an opportune time, we should
not object to the increase OF the ssla.
ries Of al the persons named In the
bill. Since, therefore, the increase Is
npW made we cannot in advance.
pledge ourselves to undo It In q year
from now, oFsat any time.
6upposing two msn. Hers running
for Congress in the ST. Louis district,
one Republican and the other 1
democrat and supposing the Repub-
Aean, entirely satisfactory upon all
question to the Democrat, except upon
~ one idca, and his opponent at
Variance upon ell questions with the
1aHsocras, except this same one idea
platform, what dilemma our friends
have placed themselves in.
n the course Of the editorial, the
Dsssoordt argues that the members Of
: Congress werr bsfore; butsez pasa sa.rnr-
for anything they could do at homes
This may Be, and probably il true I'M
nlx1ly instances, but while this is so,I
y = also true, that no man who is
not already wealthy, can afford to-
drop good and thriving business, at
which continuous labor and strict at
tsntion will lead to wealth, and accept
the uncertain tenure of Congress-
mxn. We say no man can do this Il
Ne mean no man, who has sufficient
ability to adorn the position Of o.
member Of Congress. II it be true,
that Congress is full of men Of wealth,
end men Of limited ability, 1t is our
candid opinion that 1t is caused largely
BY the fact that able and good men of
small means do not see it consistent
with their best interest and the interest
Of their families to enter the arena of
politics and compete for place ins
Congress, on account of the want of
proper compensation, to man who
expects not to profit by course of
psculation after he gets to Congress.
---------~ss------
- general railroad law has recently
passed in the State ofNewJersey, which
has been generally understood to have
been owned by the Camden and AM
boy road. The law is quite stringent
In its provisions. An exchange gives
The following analysis of the law:
ut prescribes the conditions under
which men may organize to build d
railroad. At least 81, 900 must bs sub
scribed upon every mile Of . proposed
road, and ten per cent. of the amount
paid in before a company can COM
mence operations. No man can be.
come Q director unless he is q stock.
holder in his own right. The stock OF
the company is deemed personal prop
erty, and the funds of the road can not
b used to buy up its own or other
stock. Passenger rates are not to ex.
ceed three cents per mile for each per-
son, and no charge is required to be In
the aggregate less than ten cents. The
charges for the transportation Of ali
descriptions Of property are fixed at
, not more than six cents ton for each
! milss and no sum shall be charged or
resolved for freight between way sta
dons, terminal and way station
greater than Is charged and received
tor the same between the terminal
stations Of such roads.
= company may lease their road
subject to all the restrictions of the