Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-07-22

tion Of his distinguished party services.
So far as the colonel is concerned, IL
he is as untiringly faithful to the in
terests of his state at Harrisburg as
he has been in Washington, you will
have a governor to be proud of.
have known him in congress ever since
he came here and so far as the party Is
concerned 1 feel confident that when he
goes out of office he will leave the
party more free from faction and
stronger before the people than It has
been for years.
after the convention" he added, II
talked with all of the Republican mem
bers of the Pennsylvania delegation.
and some Democrats. At the request
of a friend who is deeply concerned to
see a wholesale Republican victory
wrote to a number Of business men in
your state with whom 1 had become
Intimate In the course of tariff legisla-
tion. My information, coming from
one and all, is the same although many
of them had been i'm favor of another
candidate for governor, and some Of
them were rather timber heeled in their
Republicanism, except in presidential
years. Here, for instance, is letter
I got from one of them only a few
days ago. After apologlzing for delay
I'm answering owing to absence from
home he says:
"I don't take back anything I have
said, remember but I am going to put
a cross in the circle this year, and vote
for the flag / don't approve Of some
things that were done in our last legis-
lature, but while a Republican ad-
ministration is in the midst of the
prosecution of a foreign war these
things which in ordinary times would
be fair occasions for vigorous rebuke,
seem to me trivial beyond expression
When I was a younger man we used to
have volunteer fire companies in our
city. The rivalry was intense between
them, and fights were frequent. Some
times two of them happened to come
together on their way to a fire and
then there was a battle royal. All the
old grievances were recalled. and the
old grudges satisfied. They had an
elegant and stirring time to them
selves, but my recollection Is that the
house usually burned down while they
were at it. our house is afire this year,
so to speak, and so among Pennsyl-
vania Republicans when election day
comes around you will hear of very
or Wanamaker, Martin or anti
Martin, Magee or anti-Magee Republi-
cans. We will just be one kind of plain
Republicans until this war is over and
its issues are settled. You are at lib
erty to show this letter to the presi-
dent if you think it necessary. As to
Quay, he is getting pretty weA up in
years, and can't live forever. I have
made up my mind to leave him to
Providence until the war is over. Then,
If he is still running the machine, I'll
take another whack at him myself.
Anyhow l don't see anything to be
gained, even if there was no war on
hand, by colleagulng with the Democ-
racy this year. Their state convention,
in addition to kicking itself up and
down stairs on the money question, de-
feated it's most promising candidate,
solely upon suspicion that he had not
voted the straight Democratic ticket
two years ago And yet while they
brandish his scalp before our eyes, in
our ears they whisper that this would
be a good year for Republicans to vote
for Democrats. Nay, nay
"This," continued the congressman, 81
find TO be fair sample of the feeling
of Republicans all over the country.
The unfaithfulness of Andy Johnson
after our last war cost the country be-
yond expressit&. We have a man in
the White House now who is as differ
ent from Johnson as day is from night,
and the election returns next November
will serve notice to the watching courts
and crowns of all creation that the peo-
pie of the United States are as loyal
to their president as its soldiers are to
their flag"
And then we drifted off politics and
began to talk about the war, and the
harvest thereof
GEORGE H. WELSHONS.