River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-06-07
MADISON LETTER.
Weather and olitics.---Neither Very
Warm, but the latter Promises Well.

4 ~ IAN N-AN A~NN@A AOAAASCS CAAs
Awaiting myself of the opportunity
afforded by the temporary absence of
your regular Madison ''hash" dis
penser, propose to fill his allowance
of space for week or two, and in de-
fault of anything more interesting
shall confine myself ipally to poll
| ties, with just enough of weather to
give variety.
Beginning with the weather: 1t is
decidedly cool, and very uncomforta-
! ole. Everything in the line of garden
truck is three TO four weeks behind,
and the outlook for corn, which next
to grass is the staple of this section, is
very dispiriting.
The great amount of rain we have
had here has brought the grass and
leaves forward so that the city and
the hills encircling the lakes have as
sumed their mantles of green, and
MadisOnians may now well insist that
| theirs is one of the most beautiful
cities. for situation, under the sun.
After enduring the eXtortions of the
gas company until fOrbearance has
ceased to be a virtue, some forty or
more business houses have united in
the use of electrity, and last night the
lights were turned On for the first
time. Owing to insufficient power the
trial was somewhat unsatisfactory;
but even with the unsteady and not
fully powerful light, the wretcbed gas
| furnished by the monopoly" was
turned into a sickly yellow which it
would seem inimical to term eight.
The change only illustrates the rule
that corporate greed, as well as pri-
vate selfshness, always over-reaches
itself, and in the end loses its best
gains.
Mr.. Blaine's latest letter is received
by his friends here land they are
many with great satisfaction. The
imputatiOn that his first letter, de-
cling TO be candidate, was anything
more or less than it purported to be--a
plain, straightforward and unequivo-
cal refusal 10 again be the candidate
of his party, was distressing to his
| friends; and the unseemly OfficiOuSnesS
and peTtenacity of certain eastern
| politicians in still pressing his name
added to the embarrassment of those
who desired to meet the soothing and
| unkindly comments of the Democratic
press with the positive assertion that
Mr.. Blaine was too honest and too
high minded to StoOp to the time-wOrn
trick of declining by word and after
ward accepting in fact. This last
utterance puts the question beyond
| debate; it is positive without being
| captious or unkind. He says: Il
speak because | am not willing to re-
main in a doubtful attitude. | am not
| willing to be the cause of misleading
single man among the millions who
| have given me their suffrages and
I their confidence. | am not willing
| that even one of my faithful support.
eTs in the past should think me capa-
| BILE of paltering in double sense with
my words. Assuming that the presi-
Dental nomination could by any posi-
| BILE chance be offered to me, | could
| not accept it without leaving in the
minds of thousands of these men the
| impression that l had not been free
| from indirectiOn, and therefore i could
not accept it at all. The misrepresen-
| tations of malice have no weight, but
the just displeasuTe of friends | could
not patiently endure" Such are the
words of a great statesman and an
honest citizen when brought face to
face with a great political temptation.
| The contrast between Mr.. Blaine and
the occupant of the presidential chair,
in the matter of consistency between
utteTances and action is very marked
in this respect.
State politics are not yet staple.
the earlier meeting of the National
Conventions attracting the attention
of those who make the study of poll
tics either their business or recreation.
There is just enough of local spice to
| flavor the greater national star. The
Hoard boom" is mOnOpoliZing more
| of newspaper space than any other
| local topic. That Mr.. Hoard has the
''bee in his bOnnet" there is no deny
| ing. That he had anything to do with
| starting the ''bOOm" is doubtful. The
business part of the "boOm" APP
pears to have been managed by certain
Dane county politicians who were not
ON the best of terms with Messrs Tay-
Tor, McFetridge or Ginty; and The
| Mil Waukee Sentinel. which with few
exceptions has always been an Off OK
in Republican politics. finds it inter
esting and no doubt profitable to en-
| courage it. That Mr.. HOaTd's candi-
dacy will have any effect upon coming
| legislatures toward Withholding APP
prOpriatiOns from the Farmers Insti-
tutes is all bosh, and the ones who
are harping upon that suggestion are
doing it only 10 fire the hearts of the
farmers in favor of their candidate,
on the principle that sympathy is
akin to love" or that the blood of
the martyr is the seed of the boom.
The matter of appropriations is one
which concerns the legislature alone,
barring the interposition of the gov
ernOr's veto; and as the legislature il
largely composed of farmers and
| friends of farmeTs--members from
the rural districts" who are more
cOnversant with pedigrees than they
are with points of order, it is not
likely that Mr.. Hoard's candidacy for
the governorship. whether successful
or unsuccessful, will weigh hair in
determining the future of the Insti-
tutes. If they are good thing, as
believe they are, and as everybody who
ever attended them believes they are,
the people of the State of Wisconsin
will have them as long as they want
them. Neither the influence nor the
action of any one man has any very
appreciable effect upon the people of
the State of Wisconsin in this day of
grace. The title of BOSS" which
once was the synonym of power, is
now the epithet of derision, and it is
a good thing that it is 50.
1t is a pleasure to read the compli-
men.s which are beloved upon our
Member of Congress, Mr.. Haugen. In
addition to proving himself an alert
business man, watchful of the inter
ests of his constituents, he has demon
strated that in debate he is the peer
of any member on the floor. He does
not claim 70 be an orator, but what he
lacks in eloquence he makes up in
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