Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1896-12-24
THE SENATORIAL QUESTION

Mr.. EDIToR-Your remarks in last
weeks issue of your paper on the Sen
atorship are timely. What the people OF
| this state are interested in, and want, IS
| good men to represent them i'll the U. >,
Senate. 1t looks as though the contest
was going to settle down between Hon.
rose of Philadelphia, it being claimed,
| that city has not had senator for over
forty years, and they should now have
the honor of naming a man for the place.
| Well be it so and concede their claim,
| the question arises, who shall the lucky
man be? The only persons mentioned
| by the city are the two gentleman above
named. The representatives of the peo-
| pie in the legislature from the rest of
| the state will have a vote on choosing
( between the candidates presented, and
as the Supreme Court has decided, THAT
| the character and fitness of the candi-
| dates for Office are proper subjects for in
quiry by the people who make choice OF
| their Representatives" +" let us for mo-
| ment look at the two men presenting
| themselves for the position of u. S. SEN
ator Your remarks as to Hon. JoE Il
Wanamaker and his well known charac-
| ter for uprightness. honesty and success
! in business, his record as Post Master
General, his whole life from a poor coun
| try boy to the successful merchant and
man of affairs that he is. make ii unneces-
| sary to say anything as to WaDamaker.
How about his antagonist, Hon Boise
Penrose? He is man of good ability
| as a lawyer, we are told, and has repre-
sented one of the senatorial districts of
| Philadelphia i'll the STATE Senate for up
| ward of twelve years. This would look
as though he was held in esteem by his
constituents, and if good sober honest,
upright man, after the length of service,
it would seem he would be a general fa-
vorite with, not only the people of his
district, but the whole city as we'll, We
see by the Philadelphia and other papers
that at the choosing of mayor of that
city the last time, that Boise Penrose was
leading candidate, in fact the only can
didate, for the place, and had the sup
port of the recognized party leaders Of
| Philadelphia. II seemed he was to be
the candidate but a veritable storm arose
against him, raised by the good women
and others of Philadelphia, protesting
against his nomination, and when the
day for making the nomination came the
storm had grown to such proportions that
the party leaders became appalled,, Mr..
Penrose was retired and the present
mayor, Warwick, chosen by the people
Now the question arises, why this
storm raised by the good people of Mr..
Penroses own city, A man is generally
best known i'll the community in which
he lives. and if the people of his own
home will rise up against him as to drive
him off the track for the Office of Mayor,
1t would seem there must have been
good reasons therefor. What those rea-
sons were we are not fully informed, but
reasons to the full satisfaction Of the
people of Philadelphia there must have
been or the good, fair minded people
that they are, would not have said to Mr.
Penrose, eve don't want you for Mayor
of our city, you are not the man for the
place, stand aside and we Will take
another" Now when the people of a
mans own home will 80 treat an aspi-
rant for the highest office in the munich
pality, is it not proper for the people of
the state to inquire into his fitness when
this same man aspires to the high office
of U. S. Senator?
We in the back woods of Western
Pennsy lvania are SO far from Philadel-
| phia that we are not familiar with their
| local affairs, and the reason why they so
| acted towards Mr.. Penrose, but we would
| suggest to the representatives from all
| the western counties OF our state, when
they 20 to Harrisburg to attend the ses-
sion Of the Legislature at which the Sen
ator is to be elected, that they inform
| themselves well on the subject, then
they can act for the best interests of the
people. The tact as we have seen in the
papers the last few days, that Penrose
has been causing the arrest OF a preacher
! or two. alleging, defamation of charac-
| ter, +" is rather suggestive to the thought
| full mind. In all our observation of a
| good many years, we have never known
person who has always lived an honest
sober, upright life, to, have to resort to
"arresting preachers" and others, and
appealing to the courts 10 have his
character vindicated II is ain old adage
where there is so much smoke the FIRE
is not far of. " aud we think it would be
well if our Philadelphia friends would
let the people of the rest OF the state
know if they can, the reason for so
I iGGch Smoke if there is no reason
| then i'll 3us-ile 70 the people o. the rest
Of the state, and Nj. Peurose too, the
smoke, should be cleared away. Let
rs have light is the desire of
The PEoPLE.