The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-11-03
Bright Outlook For Success at the
Polls.
G. O. P. PLANS ALL AWRY
RoosEvELTs GRoTFsoUE CAM
PAIGN IN NEW YORK.
Criminal Blunders of the War De-
partment Emphasized by the So
called Observation-Disclosures Of
the Commission Is to Cover Up
the Facts.
fspecial Correspondencel


Washington, Oct 2.-The final review
of the political field which is now being
taken by the managers on both sides
is proving eminently satisfactory to the
free silver leaders. The Republican
campaigns are going awry in many
states, and especially in New York,
where the outcome is being watched
with special interest by the whole coun-
try, the Republican cause seems to be
on the wane. Colonel Teddy" Roose-
welt, who takes himself very seriously
as national issue, is making cam
paign that for grotesqueness has rarely
been exceeded. Judging from the
speeches he is making from cart-tails
and train platforms. he regards him.
self as entitled to all the credit for the
conquest of the Spanish army and
navy. The fact that he is simply Tom
PlattS tool cannot be concealed. how
ever, and the people of the Empire
state are not likely to be hoodwinked.
Everywhere the public seems to be
rousing to a realizing sense of the al
most criminal blunders of the war de-
partment, which are being emphasized
by the efforts being made by the So
called investigating commission to
cover up the evidences of Ayers gross
fncapacity and the lamentabe inefi-
cheney of his subordinates The work
of the commission has degenerated into
a perfect farce The most unpromising
lines of investigation are entered upon,
with the evident purpose in view Of
discovering nothing. Whenever a wit
ness before the commission betrays the
slightest inclination to disclose any
facts not altogether creditable to the
management of the war, he is prompt
ly side-tracked by a few irrelevant
questions before being dismissed.
ALGER'S PROTECTION
Nothing is more farcical than the an
nouncements so frequently made by
Secretary Alger that the fullest pro-
lection" will be accorded to every man
who desires to tell the truth about the
management of the war, and the secre-
tary has even gone so far as to give
his personal guarantee '-whatever
that may mean-that no officer or man
shall be Disseminated against in the
slightest degree because of any evil
dence he may supply to the commission.
| Experienced army officers smile at all
| these assurances. They are familiar
with bureaucratic methods, and they
! know that the regular army officer who
| furnishes any evidence against his su-
| periors is not likely to soon hear the
guarantee may be good for year
or two. but regular army officers are
/ in the service for life. The man who
! testifies against Alger testifies also
! against Alger's aides, and long after
| the present secretary of war has been
relegated to private life his aides will
| be running things in the war depart
ment. Shrewd observers here know
| that while secretaries of war may come
! and go, the Corbins, the Sternbergs, the
Ludingtons, ct al, like Tennyson's
brook. go on forever. No one here is
surprised that the investigation COM
mission has discovered nothing. Much
surprise would have been felt had it
unearthed anything at all.
COMFORT FOR REPUBLICANS.
| The Republican congressional COM
mittee has prepared a table from which
| it has attempted to extract a few
crumbs of comfort. 1t shows that 81
congressional districts were carried in
! 1896 by majorities ranging from 100
down to 80. In these a desperate fight
is being made by Messrs. Hanna, Bah
| cock and other Republican magnates.
/ The following table shows these dis
! tricts, the vote of each party, and the
\ r1I11ra 1itv Or majority secured nv the