Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-04-25
CREEPING Up THE OHIO.
SENATOR PAYNE'S METHODS.

~ " L -,
From the Cincinnati CommerciaLGazette
Is Senator Payne a candidate for re,
election to the T. s. Senate? He saws he
is not. He said precisely the same thing
in 1885. We recollect what very prom
inent Democrat said to the writer at that
time. He visited Mr.. Payne at his home
in Cleveland and asked him if he was a
candidate. The gentleman we refer to
was a friend Of PendletOn. Mr.. Payne
answered him positively that he was not
and would not be candidate Pendle-
tons friends went on with their work
The Democrats carried the Legislature,
and majority of those Democrats We're
pledged IN lCrjtjRg to PendletOn. and
some of the rest Of them were verbally
pledged or otherwise under personal OBJ
! legations. The public knows the rest
They know of the stacks of greenhacks
that were disbursed at Columbus. They
know how Payne came to be elected
| There is not an intelligent politician in
the State of Ohio who does not firmly be-
! lieve that Payne'S seat in the L. S. Senate
was bought and paid for. The written
| pledges to PendletOn by those who were
| bought away from him are in existence.
and some time they will come out. They
are carefully put away and properly
| labeled. They ought to be printed
| There is one man. at least. of those trait
OrS holding an important government of
| flee in Northern Ohio. who was purchased
away from Pendleton, first with money.
and in addition with the promise of a lu-
crative Office promised by Payne and
subsequently secured. This is now held.
1t has no tenure, and we are amazed that
he has not been removed. The incum-
bent, no doubt, is smart, but he is not hon
est. He is not to be trusted. NOman is
to be trusted who will accept money OF
other considerations for his vote. No
man is to be trusted who will betray a
friend. He may not be thief in the or
binary acceptat1On of that term, but he is
rascal i'll the full acceptatiOn of that
term. There are times in the heat of DO
lltlcal excitement when treason is accept
ed and paid for, but no honorable man
ever lived and passed through that kind
of manipulation who did not deSpise the
traitor; and if the names could be printed
of the men who betrayed PendletOn and
sold out to Payne for cold cash they would
stink in the noStrils of all honorable men.
Furthermore, they could not be elected to
any office. We doubt whether they could
be nominated. Payne probably did not
do the buying. We believe he did not.
but if he did not know it was done at the
time, he knew it subsequently. He knew
it when the Ohio Legislature demanded
an investigation, and he did not dare to
ask that investigation. He rather had the
courage OF bad man to oppose it. and he !
was assisted by Republican members of |
that body whose seats had been bought |
r1n 70 ho = l,,o
ed.
These are matters that have passed into |
history. 1t is so recorded. Whatever en- |
ltaph may be engraved on Payne's tomb !
stone, he will be known in history as the |
fraudulent Senator from Ohio. This re-
cord is indorsed, too, by Democrats of the |
highest standing. 1t is not mere parti-
san arraignment. 1t will stand as the |
Judgment of honest men, irrespective of |
politics, and it will stand even if Payne
should give all his property, which is large,
to feed the poor.
But, coming back to our mutton: Is
Payne candidate for reelection to the
L. 5. Senate? We say he is. 1t matters
not what he says. He is not a truthful
man, speaking from a political stand
point. We have in this article shown
that be so. The friends. however. who
bought his election in order to round off
his recedlng life are now ready to use the
same methods to reflect him, by way of
He would not be an open
candidate before the people. He is too
cunning for that; but we predict that if
the Democrats should carry the Ohio Leg
lslature in November Payne would be re
elected to the u. S. Senate The stakes
are all be driven to this end. That is. ;
stakes are being driven in the way of Sc I
letting candidates in the interest Of Mr..
Payne. 1t is we'll in the interest of polit-
cal morals, that it is so. The best way
20 smash corruption is to attack it at the
-ront. There need be no flank movement
II this case. There should be none. The
people should not be deceived in 1899 as ,
hey were in 1885. Payne is candidate. /
That is what the next election will mean. I
t will mean, too, the expenditure of large +
mounts of money, not in the elections. i
Dut In the Legislature. Money could not T
lave defeated PendletOn before the Dem =
'cratS at the polls, but il crushed him in =
he Legislature 1t was found easier to ,
purchase legislators than to elect them. .
he same tactics will be used OH this Oc- t
aston. Take no stock, therefore, in the Ii
eports that Payne does not intend to be
candidate for reelection. If it was i'm
0rtant to round off his life by an ecc- Il
ION to the Senate, it Is vastly more i'm h
Ortant TO round off what is left of il by Il
ylndicatiOn. He needs this badly Il
nrOugh corruption he obtained his seat ID