Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1883-01-10

. anu tue pOSSeSSlOQ OI present assets,
life insurance is based upon nothing
actual or tangible, but becomes mere
venture or experiment What is known
as cooperative insurance, more COM
monty as graveyard insurance, is not,
in fact, worthy of the name. In many
society and when honestly conducted
worthilv answer present and pressing
emergencies; but as a system of in
surance is without substance or stable
foundation, and may degenerate into
mere speculation or fall TO pieces at any
moment. Without cohesive power
other than the voluntary action OF
members, companies conducting busi-
j ness upon this plan may dissolve with
out much warning and entail loss and
( disappointment upon hundreds confd-
ing in them for the future maintenance
of themselves and their families
"These cooperative insurance CON-
panies claim warrant for corporate
Xistence under section 81, act of Nav
l, 1876, being supplement to the act
of 1878, "to establish an insurance de-
partment" Justice to the good name
of the State and protection to the peo-
! pie demand that the recommendations
of the Insurance Commissioner in this
behalf should be acted upon. The firm
ness and intelligence which have mark
ed Mr. Forster's administration of that
responsible office are worthy of all
praise"
Relative to the work of the Board of
Pardons, the Governor says: "The
whole number Of pardons issued in the
last four years was 16S, arising out of
I49 cases. The number of convicts in
Cur jails and penitentiaries is about five
thousand-which number represents
the constant population in penal insti-
| tutons, under conviction. 1t is a
testimony to what | conceive to be the
fidelity of the Board of Pardons, that
the applications before them have stead
lily decreased, year by year, being l65
in 1879, 1871 in 1880, l25 in 1881 and
100 in 1882"
The Governor concludes his message
with the following review Of the recent
course of political affairs in the Nation
and State.
CONCLUSION.
Having thus reviewed the various
interests of the State sufficiently, at
least, to indicate their Importance, and
to vindicate their management, | shall
say no more of the past. The entire
conduct of nv administration awaits
your scrutiny.
But the political situation which
exists to-day is so different from that
of four years ago, that | cannot forbear
some words of comment National
questions then alone absorbed mems
minds. The war was not yet over at
least, the acquiescence in the results,
on the part of many, seemed grudging
and reluctant. At the same time,
business was everywhere in a state of
stagnation, so prevailing and sorrowful,
as to be difficult of recall even in
memory. Financial theories, promis-
ing relief, but thwarting hope and tend
ing to certain confusion and ruin, were
boldly projected upon the people. [
had occasion to say then: "Hence-
forth we are to produce and exchange
actual things, ard not gamble in merely
fictitious values" We had then as we
have now, no reliance except "the
virtues of labor and economy" With
in a year from my Inauguration (chro-
nologically, but in no relation of cause
and etfect,) the fires of industry were
lighted among our mountains and
along our rivers; the whole State be-
gan to resound with the stir of a busy
people, and, in the midst of renewed
activity, the schemes of financial necro-
mancers dissolved away. With the
election of 1880 the issues of the war
were permanently settled-acquiescence
in the new state of things became COM
plete. We were again one people,
having one flag, as we have one speech,
conscious at last of the unity of our
national life and destiny. In the
natural order of things, one would
think the organized ideas, in loyalty to
which the country was safely conduct
ed through two such crises as we have
encountered since 1880, could look for
an almost interrupted dominance in
the public mind. Had the voters of
Pennsylvania been called upon to pass
Judgment upon the old questions of
principle, or even upon the opposing
parties in their entirety, there is not
the least reason to doubt that they
would have re-asserted their old con-
v:ctions with even greater emphasis
than before But party leaders, like
other men, must adapt themselves to
existing conditions, or be annihilated
by them Principles never perish, but
administrations and legislatures must
never forget that "a breath can make
them, as breath has made"
In Pennsylvania the people have de-
termined upon a change. What does
this decision mean? To this question
three answers are proposed: one cynical
and desperate, another pessimistic and
hopeless, and a third patriotic and re-
assuring:
The first expresses the feelings and
wishes of the professional politician.
To him the change is only turn in
the fortunes of game, whereby he has
lost or won the stakes for which he
has played-the spoils of place and
power. Accustomed to watch his
place and "hedge" as often as he can
and dare, he is perplexed by one or
two problems only: how to retrieve
his losses, or how to spend his win
nings The prevalence of his view is
not at all surprising. This class of
statesmen despise the people whom
they would cajole and rely for their
success even more upon the apathy of
the pure and the intelligent than upon
the activity of the unselfsh and un
scrupulous.
The second view regards the recent
overturn as a mere caprice of mobile