The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1896-12-31
Fair PIay For Cameron,

The Republicans of Pennsylvania
ance with their senior senator, Mr..
Cameron. on many points Of party doc
trine and procedure; and some of them
have expressed their opposition to him
in language more forcible than ele-
CANT. These differences are now a mat
ter Of history and soon Mr.. Cameron
himself, largely because of them, will
quit the states service. 1t. therefore,
is not bad time. following so much
censure. to say within the limits OF
truth few words of merited praise.
Perhaps in this connection We cam
not deal more fairly with the subject
than to reprint the language of Senator
C. l.. Magee's Pittsburg Tmes-a jour-
nal owned by man who has repeated
ly crossed swords with Senator Gamer
ON and who certainly cannot be charged
with undue bias in his favor. Refer
ring to the charges which have been
placed in circulation In Washington in
order to minimize the effect of Mr..
Independence of Cuba-namely, that he
did not in person prepare the report
of the committee which he presented
to the senate In support of his resolu-
tion; and that he was one of coterie
of stock spectators who employed the
Cuban cause for personal profit-the
Times says:
No one who knows Senator Cameron
will credit any of these charges. What
ever criticisms may be made upon his
public career. he has always been con-
scientious and has always had the courage
of his convictions. The very fact that he
imperiled his political future by breaking
with his party on the silver question
proves this. He may, as other members
of the senate and congress constantly 90.
have employed expert assistance In the
research necessary to cOllatng the facts
stated in the report, but that he allowed
any interested persons, or paid attorneys
OF one or the parties to the controversy,
to make an argument to the senate and
to the country over his shoulders, Is q
statement that not only has no proof 10
support 1t. but Is a malicious fling that
will neither be credited by his senatorial
colleagues nor by his friends in Pennsyl-
vanla.
AS to the charge that he was actuated
In this matter by n design to reap profits
from the stock market his whole public
life contradicts it. In all the years since
his name has been before the public as a
senator and cabinet officer, and with all
the opportunities which he has enjoyed
to enrich himself by reason of his public
position, no one has been able to point to
single act of his that warranted the be-
lief that he was using his position for per-
sonal profit; and, amidst all of the scam
dals that have involved the names of so
many public men, his skirts have re-
mained clear. He is probably much
poorer man than if he had remained out
Of politics, and his case is quite a con-
trast to that of those men who. without
known occupations or visible means of
support, grow rich In politics out of sal
aries that do not equal One-hah Of their
annual expenditure.
To the extent Of our knowledge of
Senator Cameron we can indorse every
word of the foregoing defense, and can
add the belief that when history comes
to review his public career with impair
tial pen 1t will find in his one con-
spicuous virtue eXtenuation for many
mistakes of judgment. We refer to the
fact, as the Times puts it. that he
has always had the courage of his con-
victions." In politics of the, small kind
convictions may be an embarrassment;
but it is a serious incentive to dema-
gOgism, that bane of free institutions,
when men in public station who have
convictions are set upon, merely for
having them, with Misrepresentation,
ridicule and abuse, and driven either
to take refuge in insincerity or in re-
tirement. Without assuming to sit in
judgment upon Mr.. Cameron's course.
We venture the impersonal remark that
sober second thought will deplore much
of the procedure leading up to his polit-
iCal taking-off.