The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-01-13
THURSDAY, January IS, 1897
MONEY TALKS IN OHIO.

Few people who had kept up with
the contest in Ohio doubted that Han
mas money would pull him through. He
had plenty of it; he had no scruples
about using it; and he obtained just
enough votes 10 secure his election. He
is no spendthrift Hanna. He bought
just enough votes and no more. If he
had needed one or two more they would
have been Forthcoming. He has gone
into politics as he went into business,
to make it pay. He needed the senator
ship in his business. 1t was necessary
to carry out his plans and crafty his
ambition. He has promised to reimburse
the campaign contributors by special
legislation. 1t was necessary for him
to be in the Senate to fulfill the pledges.
The mere matter of the cost of getting
there did not count. In addition to his
own fortune of twenty million dollars,
he had on hand the two million dollars of
unexpended campaign funds which was
available. The result shows that it was
put-or as much of it as was necessary
where it would do the most good
The elevation of this man Hanna to
the Senate is the most disgraceful spec
tacle seen in the annals of American
politics. His only idea Of craftsmanship
is to band together the aggregate wealth
of the country to buy such legislation as
will further add to their ov9,grown
fortunes. Beyond this, he knows moth
ing and cares less. He is as able and
clear-headed in the manipulation of men
as he is INSCRIPTIONS and vulgar. There
is nothing about him except money and
the capacity to use it for
selfish ends. He is the embodiment
of the type of the selfish multi
millionaire who says 'the people be
id" and who buys such as are in the
market for their own undoing. He buys
men as he buys goods. His injection
into politics has zone more to debauch
and degrade public life than all the
Brices, Stanfords, Wetmores and the
rest of the .,enators who bought their
seats in Congre, :.
There is one encouraging sign. While
it was not strong enough to compass his
defeat, the moral sentiment of the
whole country was aroused in opposition
TO the elevation of man of Hanna's
methods. Even among the Ohio Repub-
hcans, where there is less political vir-
tue and dEsaacter than anywhere else
in America, there was a growing feel
ing against putting Hanna in the place
of Thurman, Allen, Garfield, Giddens.
But for the administration powerful
aid and sue essful use of Doodle, vie
tory for cleanness and decency might
have prevented the disgrace that has
come to Ohio. Though the effort to
defeat -4ann~ failed in accomplishing
his defeat, it succeeded in making him
carry back with him the feeling in the
mind of every honest man that he won
by methods that smifch his reputa-
tion. Just as Blaine was forever 'the
tattooed man." Hanna is -'the Doodle
Senator
Many Democrats believe that his cleo
ton, after the exposure, is the best
thing that could have happened for the
Democratic party. They believe that his
presence in the Senate as the controller
of the administration will be an object
lesson of the degradation of the Repub-
lcan party that win arouse the dormant
conscience Of honest men everywhere.
Those who were present in Raleigh at
the Senatorial election last year saw on
a small scale the same condition that
prevailed in Columbus, Ohio. Pritchard
had the administration, the Southern
Railways political manager, and an a.,
bundance of Doodle at his back. Without
them he could not have won. He had
them and the stigma of corrupt sena-I
torial election disgraces North Carolina
just as it does Ohio. The demoralizing
effect of such methods has been seen and
felt here in North Carolina in the lower
ing of the public morals of men in pub
lie life. The debauchery in Ohio will
have the same result there.
There will some time come sharp
reaction, and the men who have obtained
high position by means of such methods
will be consumed as stubble.