St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-22
PHILISTINISM.


world has pilloried the Philistine who
stood in public place and thanked God
he was not as other men are, and direct
ed its scorn and sarcasm and contumely
at him, for the Pioneer Press. Chris
tian organ of morality and virtue, rears
its storied front in the public midst and
spreads its broad phylacterieS and
thanks God that the Republican party
has no bosses i'll it. The Democrats
wallow in the mire of patronage, but.
thank the Lord, our skirts are clear of
that filth.
This is effrontery and hypocrisy in
equal doses. 1t faloifies facts In the
common knowledge of all. 1t deliber-
ately slaps history in the face. 1t robs
its party of credit for one OF its few acts
which entitle it to all excuse for having
existed. We can imagine the outlaws of
the engineers, now retired, of the Re-
publican machine as they read the dis
claimer. We can even imagine the ed
itor of that paper repeating the state
ment TO his fellows and tipping them a
wink, as the ancient augurs did when
they met. or nudging them III the side
with his elbows to emphasize the huge
ness of his joke. We would like to be-
lieve that, like that other Philistine. the
Pioneer Press actually believed that
what it said is true. but we can't We
know better.
Fray, IT there were no bosses in the
Republican party, where did that phrase
senatorial courtesy" get it's especial
and bad significance? What was it
but bossism that caused the rupture
between Garfield and Conkling and in
cited Guiteau to his crazy deed? What
was it but bossism, and his efforts to
dethrone it, that brought Hayes into
antagonism with the bosses Who ruled
the party? What was it but the abso-
lutte control of the party by the same
creatures that choked to death the first
civil service reform act by refusing it
the paltry appropriation that was essen
tial to keep it alive?
What was it but the arrogant bossism
in that party that at last drove the
voters into rebellion which drove the
Republicans from control of the house
in the elections of 1882? What did the
passage of the reform act of that eXpir-
ing congress mean if it was not an ad.
mission that bossiem had so dominated
the party as to bring about defeat
whose effects it was hoped the act
would mitigate? II there was no boss.
ism that act had no excuse for its exist
ence; that it exists is a monument to
the victory of decency and good govern
ment over the bosses.
No machine was ever so accurately
constructed or worked so smoothly as
did the Republican machine for the dis
tributlon Of patronage. 1t was organ
lied FROM top to bottom. 1t divided the
the nation into kingdoms with their
little kings and municipalities with their
little dukes. Under these were the
henchmen, faithful servitors of their
feudal lords, rendering service in eau
cuses and conventions for the liyings
doled out to them. Each representative
III congress was duke of his principality,
The senators were kinglets, dividing
the larger and more succulent loaves
among their lieutenants, some times
quarreling tiercely with each other as to
the division of the spoils. No president.
since Garfield or before him. dared to
contest their prerogatives, and he died
because he denied them.
Will the Pioneer Press turn back To
those philippics it aimed at DunuelI
when that gentleman had the contu-
macy to aspire to WINDOWS seat. and
say the Republican party has no bosses?
q arl do
Davis first term and recount the tales
of the conflict between him and his col
league for the spoils of which the latter
was securing the lions share? Will it
take down its files and reread that let
ter which Heatwole. relying too con-
fidently on his Indiana origin, wrote
President Harrison, and which that
cold-blooded gentleman, inconsiderate
of Joel's sensibillties, permitted Sena.
! tor Washburn to give to the press, aud
then say spoils never troubled its sancti-
monious party. and it has no bosses?
If it was not bossism, what was it when
| Senator Washburn tried to drive State
Senator Guderian from his place i'm the
Anoka bank because he refused TO vote
| for Davis?
And what better Illustration of the
tyrannous bossism in that party than is
the Pioneer Press itself? There is not
| an economic question with a Democratic
base that it has not at some time-be-
tween campaigns-advocated with force
and ability. The impregnation of the
Republican party of this state with this
Democratic principle of the freedom of
free trade is largely due to the discus
sion carried OH by that paper. and yet
! when campaigns approached it bowed