Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-02-24

AN ADDRESS.


and, as we believe. of the highest i'm
portance to the people of the Common
wealth In so far as these views com
mend themselves as wise and patriotic,
we earnestly call upon our fellow-citl-
zens holding our political faith to take
such prompt, energetic and intelligent
action as will make them effective
First-We call attention to the dis
| graceful condition of politics in our
/ State, brought about by the prodigal
! expenditure of money TO corrupt and
! debauch the voter Its baIeful influence
| has been made painfully prominent in
] recent wears in the election and control
of delegates TO our party conventions,
! in the nomination and election of mem
/ bers of the General Assembly and their
| recent election of United States Sena-
! tor.
! The result has been that. instead of
! the party conventions representing the
| free will of the party, they have sue
cessfully defeated it. and public Off
cials, nominated and elected to faith
! fully serve the Commonwealth, have,
| immediately upon taking their oath of
| office, apparently interpreted that oath
! to mean fealty tC an individual leader
and the dispenser of political patron
| age anu nave DtCOIllt IltthlN SubllAlS
! sive to his orders
The dispassionate observer of the po-
| litical situation Is forced to admit with
| humiliation that the Republican party
of our State is now dominated, control
led and used for the political and tinan-
| cial ACKNOWLEDGEMENT of one man and
| those whom he has chosen to partici-
pate in the spoils
Second-A large majority of the
members of the General Assembly of
| 1897 were nominated and elected by
questionable methods, the chief end in
view being the election of a United
| States Senator in accordance with the
! dominating influence in State politics,
| but the corrupt bargain carried with 1t
| the absolute control of legislation for
| all purposes. 1t was not an unusual
| thing during the session of last year for
| the citizens Of the Commonwealth 70
witness the humilating spectacle OF
| their representatives wasting days and
weeks. and neglecting public business,
| because of the delays of their chief, in
| giving them instructions as to what he
wished them to do.
| 1t is not difficult, therefore, TO fix the
the responsibility for the last Legisla-
| ture. both as to what it did and what
it failed to do 1t may be profitable to
| make reference to the record made by
| the last General Assembly.
| In the organization Of both branches
| of the Legislature they permitted no
| member or Senator to have place upon
| any important committee who had the
| courage to differ from the majority in
| mis- views as to the person who should
| be elected United States Senator.
SO numerous were the places that had
| been promised for the support of their
candidate that they padded the payroll
| with so-called officials without the au-
| thority of any law, and appropriations
for payment of such officials only failed
of becoming laws by the lnterposltlon
| of the Executive veto.
In order to protect the State Treasurer
| for such payment. which they recogniz-
ed as illegal, a bond was given to indem-
nifv that officer against personal loss
from such illegal payment. The history
of this transaction is recent and fresh
| in tho minds of the people.
| They sought to take from the public
| treasury thousands of dollars for pre-
| tended expenses, for services upon pre-
| tended investigating committees, of
| which the Lexow Committee is a noto-
| rious example, and for junketing trims OF
| the members. and failed only by reason
| of the interposition of the Executive.
| At a time of the most serious business
| depression and the resultant falling OF
| of the public revenues they approprlat-
| el during the last two sessions more
| than 81, 900, ,000 for purposes either un-
| lawful or useless which appropriations
| fortunately met executive dIsapproval.
| For the purpose of creating new of
fees and to extend the power of patron
age they passed what IL known as the
mercantile tax bill, imposing burdens
upon and crippling almost every bust
ness interest in the Commonwea al
| ready oVeruaXed, ana but for the EXecu-
| tive veto this bill would have become a
law.
| For the purpose of Furnishing the
| Mayor Of Philadelphia. whom they
could not control, they passed what Is
| known as the Becker bill, which, had II
been suffered to become a law, would
have destroyed many Of the most i'm
portant features of the charter govern
ing that city, and as is we'll known, was
universally disapproved by :he people
| to be affected.
To afford great opportunity to make
appropriations for useless and unlawful
| purposes Il SCI IbAS ctbltnlPb wac hAth'N "
cut down the appropriations for our
public schools to the extent of 81 900, 0O0
| which failed of passing only because OF
public sentiment raised against 1t from
every part of the State.
| They failed to obey the mandate OF
the Constitution requiring them to
make legislative and Congressional ap-
portionments.
Under a pretense of reform law was
passed, with the intent of satisfying the
people, requiring the repositories OF
public funds to pay interest, but they
were careful to omit from the provisions
of the bill the million or more of dollars
at all times in the sinking fund.
| Numerous bills were introduced fol
the mere purpose of eXtorting large
sums of money from the corporate and
other interests of the State as the price
of preventing their passage. To satisfy
public demand an investigation of the
Treasury was ordered, but the commit
tee appointed was so constituted that
instead of investigation their plain eff
fort was to conceal, and no questioning
was permitted to be propounded by any
member except such as had been pre-
pared in advance and where it was
known that the answers would do ne
harm
The foregoing reference to the work
of the last Legislature is abundantly
sufficient to indicate the character OF
the members and influence by which
they were controlled.
The redeeming feature of that Legis
lature was the firm and uncomprOmis
ing stand taken by that body of legisla
tors known as the seyenty-s six, who
did all that possibly could be done tc
protect the taxpayers Of the State from
the flood Of proposed corrupt Legislation
and who therefore deserve the recogni
ton and gratitude of all the people OF
the Commonwealth.
So insolent and shameless have those
in power become that they have dared
| in some instances to recommend for ap
pointment to Federal Office members OF
the last Legislature as a vindication OF
their wrong-dOing, in disregard and de
fance Of the moral sentiment of the
people of the State.
Thlrd-In view OF the foregoing state
ment Of facts, we consider it of the ut
most Importance that the next Govern
or of the State shall be man of the
highest character and integrity, rep
resentative of the best type of Republi
carism, and one whom the people OF
the Commonwealth can depend upon tC
protect them, should occasion arise
against vicious legislation, and especi
| ally against the evident purpose of the