The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1875-02-26


only suc . yeti, in this Or any other /
w no constituted you either my
Of my Judges, that you thus i'm.
pudently presume to issue instructions to /
mo and impose penalties for non.compli-
ancetw with your; nsolent demands ! n Make
hast y answer, pray you.s for almost be-
fore this letter can reach you, you will |
have. disappeared into that position of |
.snothingnesss'' from which you were only |
lifted By one Of those political accidents
OF annual occurrence in our State. And
tho only reply I have to make !: to the
impudent demands Of your joint resolu-
ton is, that in this, as in Ill other mat.
tiers, my action will be governed by my
own sense Of duty, Of right and Of pro.
prlety..# s. et'..'::*" II .>:t.',..;~: p.
- Under what arrangement did receive
large sum Of money about the time of
the passage Of the: Pacific Mail subsidy
bill, is = matter which / do not propose
to disclose to the world except in my own
good time, nor until evidence which I am
unable to reach now can be secured, to
the end that the exact facte in the case
can be presented to the public, which will.
bring, to me the fullest and most COM:
plete vindication against the falsehoods
which you have spread upon your re-
spective journals. Until that time, which
l trust is not far distant, I have only to
say that not one dollar Of the money re-
ceived by me, of which so much has been
talked and written, was ever intended for
or applied to the influencing: Of vote
upon tho Pacific Mail, subsidy, and no
word or line Of all the evidence that has
been taken during this long and most
searching investig CATION even ''points' to
any such conclusion. And SO, conscious
Of my own rectitude in this matter, and
pausing here to tender to that one Rep
resentative who was just enough towards
me to refuse his assent to your lying
declarations, my grateful thanks, l pass
on to some other points which propose
to present to your and the pubiic's con-
In perusipg the proceedings of your
very distinguished body land the farther
away from home its name goes the more
distinguished" it becomes) upon this
matter, I notice that, in the presentation,
discussion and adoption Of these ''joint
resolutions" very many Of you spoke
and voted IS my friends" Even the
gentlemen who introduced the resolutions
into the House and demanded such hasty
and immediate action upon them, though
= political opponent professcd to speak
and act Sin no partisan spirit" but ''as u
personal FRIEND" Let me not be SO un-
grateful rs to intimate that this statement
was any more false or ''Crook.ed" than
are the resolutions themselves. For the
sake of the argument, I will concede that
it was not. And so of others; they
spoke ''as friends" and they voted for
the resolutions 'as friends" May God
make me sufficiently grateful to my
Friends"
I observe, gentlemen of the Legisla-
ture, that in presenting and adopting
these joint resolutions, you express the
fear that my ''future usefulness will be
greatly impaired and dishonor cast upon
the escutcheon of Minnesota" unless I
shall at once comply with the demands
you make upon me. That seems to be
the fear that Expresses you; the night
mare which disturbs your slumbers; the
sense of danger which haants your wax
+, ing and sleeping hours, and plunges your
virtuous souls into the very depths Of
despair. Well, gentlemen, from what
know of your political lives and charac.
tiers, I should have expected nothing else.
Taking your Representative men,
and your leaders as fair sam.
pies of the present virtuous
''Legislature of Minnesota" and T can
readily imagine the anguish Of heart
which would pervade your whole body
! upon the disclosures of my assumed wick.
edness. There is my old time ''friend,'
Morton s. Wilkinson, for instance, who
adorns by his life and virtues one branch
of your body. What teacher and ex.
emplar of official honesty and purity is he
How he weeps and walls over the danger
to the .*escutcheon" from unworthy Rep
resentatives. And how carefully he
guarded the ''escutcheon' when Senator
and Representative in Congress. How
nobly he stood for public virtue and hon
esty when he so stoutly insisted on ''fair
divide' in those Indian transactions, 50
we'll known and understood by SO many
in eur State. How earnestly he insisted
that "something handsome should be
made" out Of the confirmation Of certain
treaties with foreign powers where his
vote was needed. And with what touch.
ing devotion did he champion the cause
of public virtue and benevolence by SO
strenuously insisting upon the broad and
generous doctrine Of "give and take" he
always playing the humble and virtuous
part of stake" How bravely he advoca-
ted the cause of ''Cuban independence
in the House, when Cuban bonds were
not worth one per cent on the dollar, and
with what independence and vigor he de-
nounced Gen. Grants first administration
for not adopting his suggestion as mem
Der Of the Committee on Foreign Affairs,
and going in for policy which would
have made those same bonds worth sew.
enty-five cents on the dollar, simply by
our going to the triaing expense of war
with Spain. But, gentlemen, t'Wilk''
didn't care anything about the ''bonds. -
Bless your and his >irtuous souls, no
What did the insignificant amount of fif.
ty thousand dollars of Cuban gold bonds
matter to such q high toned and hawk
eyed sentinel Of the ''escutcheon' as
''Wilk." Gentlemen Legislators, you
only do yourselves and your own charac-
tiers simple justice in following "Wilk' as
| = proper leader in this crusade against of.
fetal corruption.
And he-shall name chimp Need
I name 'thim!'' Does not every Legisla"