The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1896-11-27
OPPOSING PAYNE FOR THE CAR
MET.


Henry B. Payne, we infer from our
Wisconsin contemporaries, is willing to
accept some place in the Mckinley cab
met should it be rendered him. AS
modest waiting for recognition of dis
tinguished merit is not trait either Of
Mr.. Payne or of any Of his fellow prom
inents, it is inferable that he has in
timated to Mr.. Hanna, or Mckinley
through Hanna, that he would be will
ing to give the country the benefit Of
his demonstrated abilities in running
things. Mr.. Payne has been some
thing Of a director of the machine in
that state, sometimes director-in-c chief.
although, if we are not mistaken, a
person named Elliott chucked a. block
into it that disarranged Mr.. Payne's
plans to go to the st. Louis convention
in some capacity or other But sub
sequently, and in spite Of the protests
Of sundry lodges of organized labor.
who could not appreciate his masterful
handling Of the Milwaukee street car
strike, he was made a sort Of first or
second lieutenant around the Chicago
end Of the Republican campaign.
But his path into the cabinet is not
bestrewn with roses, Of if they bedeck
the way, there are thorns among them.
The Sentinel, which amply maintains
the character for uprightness and indie
pendence that Horace Rublee gave if
emits growl that will not fall pIeas-
antly on Mr.. Payne's sensitive ear.
Asked why it supports MIR. Spooner
for the senate and opposes Mr.. Payne
for the cabinet, it says that the former.
as senator never worked for corpora
lions, never lobbied legislatures for
them, but was simply a senator On
guard to protect public interests. It in
vites the advocates of Mr.. Payne to
say whether, as national committee
man Of his party, he never used his in
Huence with legislatures for legislation
advantageous to corporations. So far
as We have noticed the replies to this
invitation they cannot be termed reIe-
want, anG most Of them are decidedly
impairment. both in the legal and the
conventional sense Of that word. This
is due, probably, to the novelty of the
attack Of the Sentinel. When before
In Wisconsin politics was any such an
objection raised? When was 1t ever
regarded as derogatory for a commit
tecman, or even a senator or other Of
ficer, to lobby for corpo1 atoms in the
Legislature or congress or elsewhere2
Years and yeers ago, to be sure. sun
dry gentlemen retired from public ac-
tivity because of their connection with
some so-called steal connected with the
Improvement of the Fox river, but that
was when the state was young and it's
conscience tender.
AS for Mr.. Spooncr we aprrehend
that the sweeping Endorsement given
him by the Sentinel will not be under
written by its contemporaries We
seem to recall that when Mr.. Spooner
ran amuck with Gov. Peck, a couple of
years ago, there were some embar-
RAISING court records produced, show
ing his undue zeal for some corpora
ton, that detract from the character
given him by the Sentinel Then there
is an unpleasant memory Of the man.
ner in which the land grants Of some
Wisconsin railway were sheltered by a
harmless looking amendment to the
forfeiture act Of 1887, whose point be-
came perceptible after the act went
into effect and homeseekers sought to
file on the forfeited land. Then it ap-
peared that the protected innocent
purchasers" were not the poor settlers
who had bought the lands in good
faith, but were quite a different and