The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1896-03-25

A week or two ago we published an
editorial notice of the New York Or
gan of Cush. Davis, 1.-THE Mercury"
and mildly suggested that it was we'll
named, for Mercury was the thief
among the gods. And now the 'Mer-
curry" comes back at us in an article
strangely mixed of praise and blame.
First it pats us on the back and then
1T kicks us. 1t puts COB of honey in
our mouth and then tablespoonful
of concentrated lye. Here it is:
Ignatius Donnelly. of Minnesota, is
a bright particular star in the literary
armament Of America.
He is genius.
He has written great many books,
and written them we'll. He is a
prodigy of industry.
He never wearieS and never rests.
If in the field of politics he has ac-
com plished nothing for himself, he
has made it very uncomfortable for
others. A great many people admire
him for the enemies he has made.
He is the hero of many forensic
battle. On the rostrum he has no
equal.
In all such contests he has never
failed to skin and tan the hide of his
antagonist, metaphorically speaking.
He is an intelligent buZZ-Saw that no
one can afford to monkey with.
Just now he is publishing THE REP
RESENTATIvE, POpulist paper at ST..
Paul, and its columns bristle with
keen sarcasm, brilliant rhetoric and
Populistic logic.
Socially he is kindly man. He is
| a most exemplary husband and father,
His domestic life has been sweet
and beautiful poem. But on the sea
| of politics he has always been a
stormy petrol. The louder and tiercer
the winds blow and the higher the
| waves roll the better is Donnelly
pleased. When he skins an enemy he
| pours vitriol on to add to his suffer
| ings. In private life he is DR.. Jekyll.
In politics he is Mr.. Hyde.
| The Mercury is glad to know that
he is making financial success Of his
paper. He always could fool part of
the people all the time"
Jacob, in blessing his eldest son,
Reuben, said: Guns table as water,
thou shalt not excel" In politics
| Donnelly has been a Reuben-"un.
stable as water"-and he has not ex.
celled. That is, he has not achieved
personal success. He commenced his
| career with every prospect OF bril-
liant future. But his penchant for
raising Hades on every conceivable oc-
casion relegated him to private life.
Getting outside of any healthy politi-
cal organization, he got several tons Of
birthstone and set up little hell on
| his own account, and he is still doing
! business.
The Populists and free silver me q
ought to make him their candidate fol
President. He is by far the ablest eX'
ponent OF their doctrines, and he mas
birthstone enough to carry him
through the campaign and light VI
the political sky with lurid glare.
Why not start Donnelly boom?
While thanking the writer of the
kind words contained in the foregoing
we protest that we have not been
'uns ia BILE as water" We could take
for instance, our editorials from ''The
Anti-M of twenty years age
and reprint them in 1.-THE REPRE-
SENTATIVE" and it would not be
necessary to change word or senti
ment.
We have been as stable" as the
everlasting hills, while the old politi
cal parties have been in state of flu
all around us. Gladstone commenced
his career by defending the African
slave trade and ended by being thu
greatest radical in England. Blu
from our earliest youth we have beer
an earnest, continuous and persisten
advocate of freedom and justice ant
fair play for all men; and no person
can put his finger on an utterance o
ours, at any period of our career, tina
was otherwise. We should not have
the vanity to allude to these thing
but we do not want to appear as
brilliant fool and bundle of inconsist
encies. We do not desire to have GU
intellect complimented at the ex
pense of our character. We hole
back bone to be a more precious gift
and a rarer one, than even brains
The world is full Of ''Smarties"-big
headed fellows with little chins;-but
as Hamlet says to Horatio:
"Give me thatman
Who is not as pipe for Fortunes finger,
In my hearts core-yea in my heart o
hearts"