The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1886-09-04


vent 10 them or their heads would swell
ami burst, Hence they must talk, They
talk to themselves talk 10 each other; talk
10 the lamp-posts; talk TO everything and
especially to anyone who will listen. II Is
the delight of the small statesman TO cor,
ner up some innocent citizen and tell him
how badly he Is downtrodden, robbed,
murdered, hanged, drawn and quartered by
the scheming politicians Of the "other
sIde.' The only preventive of the victim 8
being talked blind, deaf, dumb and into In.
sanity is the appearance on the scene of an
orator of the same kidney, but of opposite
politics. Then Is illustrated the old philo.
sopical problem of IAN irresistible body
meeting an immovable body" with the
answer that the third body, the limo.
cent citizen, II still alive and not too far
gone into imbecility, may escape. The
| favorlte horror Of these small statesmen, TO
din into the ears Of their Victims Is the
court house ring" The speaker catches
his nearer by the coat button, points toward
the stone editce In which sundry demo
Gratis hold public offices, shrugs his should
ers, makes grimmace like that of the last
gasp Of man dying of hydrophobia or
lockjsw, and hoarsely whispers the fearful
words: court house ring!" He thus leaves
his listener to imagine some awful calamity
like rye house" meal tub" or gun
powder plot"
Seriously, this story of a court house
ring" among the democratic otflceholders
of this county is extensively circulated by
republican office seekers and their support
ers, and is believed by few unthnking
persons. Nothing could be more absurd
or further from the truth, and for several
good and sufficient reasons: What could
be gained by combination of the differ.
ent officials seeking denomination land
that is what we suppose Is meant by the
term ring to organize as body to sup
port each other? Nothing, for they would
be obliged to take the field as body and
fight all outside candidates in their party.
This ring" then, would be as one man,
and every outside candidate for any office,
and his friends and his friends friends
would be in duty bound to oppose every
man in the supposed "ring!" There are
candidates In every corner of the county
for some Office or other, and they would all
combine and make the little imaginary
court house ring pray for some hiding
place, even though as small as gimlet
hole! The truth is the same with candi
dates before the nomination, as with the
old proverb, Every tub must stand on its
own bottom" Every candidate must look
out exclusively for number one. But there
is another difficulty against the way of the
supposed ring" there are certainly two,
and possibly three, candidates In the court
house for the sherivalty. How can they
be united in ring? They are all in the
most deadly earnest as TO their candidacy,
and are as far apart as the poles. The dis
that which separates them from their re-
publican opponents. 10 say that they are
q palt of any ring is preposterous non
sense. The truth is, as is we'll known al
The county seat, that instead of that warmth |
If friendship between some of these otfic-
ars, which would be necessary to their
union In any ring" the reverse has been
he case, and at times this feeling has |
lropped far below zero and concealed int ,
, mere icy civility They couldn't have
Deen formed into ring with club or
shotgun, nor by the most eloquent pursu-
.sion. And there is still another reason |
hat there Is 30 ring" the candidates are |
lot fools nor madmen; they know such a
.cheme, even if they were on the very
sweetest of social terms, would he suicidal.
Let the public be assured that there has
)een no ring, there is none, nor will there
le. }. q. ARMSTRONG.