Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1886-07-24
SMITHS CONTRIBUTION
Dakota statesmen-Dan Marratta
Interviewed.

DAOoNAASo SOuH
Gently assembled in encampment at
lakewood Lake. The address is one of
the literary gems of its kind, and the
mar who delivered it must be one of
the brainy men ofthe territory. have
never met with HIM, and l judge of his
mental calibre entirely by the address
have just read. The man ought to be
heard of in the arena of politics. He is
able, and has the characteristics of ora
tory. Bring him out.
A friend from Bookings county tells
me that the town of Brookings only
needs a water supply to make its splen-
did city. If that is the case let the
water be found. Now if it were whisky
that they need. the price might be an
objection. But water; turn on the hose.
1 have seen Captain Maratta out driv.
ing with the secretary ofthe interior. l
have seen him riding on a street car
with the attorney general. have seen
him talking with the president. You
may guess how easy it will be for any Of
the Dakota statesmen to down that
sort of q man. They might as we'll try
to suppress John Smith.
Major Burke has been appointed re-
ceiver of the Aberdeen land Office. This
gives me an opportunity to say, ~ told
you So"
Charlie Frost will be appointed special
agent of the land Office for the Fargo
district. He would have been appoint
ed long ago if he had gone at it right.
But he trusted to one in whom there
should be placed no confidence; hence,
he was deceived. His eyes are now
opened to political daylight.
Do you know that there is nothing
that does Dakota so much harm Us her
numerous statesmen. They come down
here like q flock of grasshoppers, and
they stay until they kill each other Oft.
That is what they did all last winter,
and it was but q repetition Of what they
have been dong for years. If they
would come down here occasionally,
either singly or in pairs, they might do
some good. But when they come and
live here at the expense of the dear peo-
pie and spend oil their time in tearing
others down, they are like %barnacles,
and should be scraped off. l am led to
make these remarks by reason of the
fact that I have just been informed that
there is soon to be another host of the
statesmen here. Well, there's no law
against it, and l suppose they can come
if they want to. But before any of you
spend your money for them, just be Ger.
tain that you don't want that money
yourself. 1fyou do, keep it. The states
men can do you no good. If Major
Burke, Frost, Maratta, and others had
trusted to the alleged statesmen, they
would never have seen political day
light. The way to do is to ONE on here
yourself, and look after the Office you
want, and after you have seen the way
the thing is done, go home and patient
ly wait upon the Lord. Above all, trust
to the word of zone of the professional
ofice-getters. They are all rascals and
liars, and there isn't enough truth in all
of them to cover q grain of mustard seed.
That's getting them down pretty fine,
but it's fact. And in the entire class Of
ofic e.brokers the Dakota bombast is the
greatest and the worst. These are the
words of wisdom.
1t is not unlikely that Mr.. Brown, of
Huron, the disappointed applicant tor
the Aberdeen land Office, will be ap
pointed to office at Grand Forks. He
is so booked, and unless he makes some
blunder he will succeed. If he had
taken q different course he might have
gotten the Aberdeen office. But he re.
lied upon a man who could not get HIM
there.
Jules Guthridge, the correspondent
who took the place of Gil. Pierce as the
Washington correspondent of the Chi.
} cago News, made an effort to interview
Maratta this evening at the National
hotel. He failed to get Captain Dan to
+ say anything, but Maratta interviewed
i him, and got him to talk quite freely
. Among other things he said:
of mine, and l look out for his interests
as much as l n lie has offered to re
| sign q number of times, and the presi
!, dent would be glad to appoint a Demo
cratic successor, if he could; but he can
l not. He likes Pierce, and believes him
l to be a good governor, and he is moi
: going to make any change there until
he finds the right man. The trouble is
entirely with the Democratic party
Mr.. Ziebach's friends filed a lot Of silly
: charges against Governor Pierce, and
: tried to kill him off in that manner
thinking thereby to force Zleback upor
the administration. But the preaden,
knew that Ziebach was not the man
Moreover, he was disguised with the
: man who filed the charges against
= Pierce. He would not do anything fol
: him, because he did not believe him tt
be sincere and honest. Pierce will
T; never be removed, because he will resign
whenever he is informed that the pres
. ident wants his resignation. / believe
Q that the president has selected q mar
| for the position and that Pierce viii
| soon resign.
II "Did you know that he is talked o
for delegate to congress? ?" asked Ma
rata.
eyes, l have heard that talk, but il
don't amount to much. Pierce is friend
: ly to Clifford, the present delegate, and
!: will work for his denomination. HI
, does not want the office himself. HI
, believes that Clifford has done his part,
and territory good service, and he is ii
f favor of sending him back for another
term"
"Do you have any idea who the Dem
ocrats will nominate this year in Dako
, ia ?" asked Maratta.
= "Certainly I do" said Guthridge
"They will nominate q mar from Bis
marck, named Maratta, and he is abou
your size and make, too"
SIS that Of" said Maratta. swell, i
they do. I can tell you I'm going to EN-
Iigrate, for | don't want any office of tina