Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1898-02-17
ANADDREss.

party, assembled from all parts Of the
State, we deem it proper to make pub
lie expression of our views on certain
matters of present political interest,
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-citi-
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 baleful influence
has been made painfully prominent IN
recent wears in the election and control
of delegates to our party conventions
i'm the nomination and election of mem
hers 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 nave sue
cessfully defeated il. and publc ON
cials. nominated and elected to talln-
fully serve the Commonwealth, nave,
Immediately upon taking their oatn 1l
Office, apparently interpreted tnaI oatu
to mean fealty tc an indiyldual leauel
and the dispenser of po1ucal patroli'
aaa ond have become meekly submis-
| siye to his orders.
The disnassionate observer of the po-
litical aitnation is forced to admit with
humiliation that the Republican party
| of our State is now dominated, control
led and used for the political and ilnan,
cial aggrandiZement Of one man ana
| those whom he has CHOSEN W pai 'i'
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 United
States Senator in accordance with the
dominating influence in State polltlcs,
| but the corrupt bargain carried WIN IL
the absolute control of legislation for
| ali nurposes. 1t was not an unusual
| thing during the session of last year Tor
the citizens of the Commonwealth to
witness the humilating spectacle OF
their representatives wasting DAYS anu
weeks. and neglecting public business,
because of the delays of their chief, IN
| giving them instructions as to what ne
wished them to do.
| n is not difficult, therefore, to fix the
the responsibility for the last Leg1sla-
| ture both as to what it did and what
| il failed to do. 1t may be profitable TO
/ make reference to the record mace Dy
| the last General Assembly.
| Tn the organization of both branches
| of the Legislature they permitted no
| member or Senator to have place upon
any important committee VINO aad lne
| courage to differ from the majority IN
his views as to the person who should
| he elected United States Senator
SO numerous were the places that nad
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 apprppriationss
| for payment of such officials only faiisu
of becoming laws by the lnterpositlon
of the Executive veto:
In order to protect the State treasurer
| for such payment, which they fecogniz-
ed as illegal. bond was given TO o1nds1n
nifty that officer against personal loss
| from such illegal payment. The history
of this transaction is recent and fresh
| in thu minds of the people.
They sought to take from the pubic
| treasury thousands of dollars for pre-
tended expenses, for services upon pre-,
tended Investigating committees, OF
which the Lezow Committee Is noto.
| rious example, and for 3nDketang trlps ol
4 the members, and failed only by reason
| ~ tbe interposition of the Executive.
| At a time of the most serious business
denression and the resultant falling oil
| of the public revenues they appropriat-
ed during the last two sessions more
than Al, 900, 600 for purposes either un-
lawful or useless, which appropriations
fortunately met executive dlsapproval.
| For the purpose of creating new Of
fees and to extend the power OF patron
age they passed what is known as the
/ mercantile tax bill" imposing burdens
upon and crippling almost every 9Rsi-
ness interest in the Commonwealth, al
ready oyertaxed, and but for the Execu-
tive veto this bill would have become a
law.
For the purpose of furnishing the
Mavor of Philadelphia, whom they
could not control, they passed what 10
| known as the Becker bill, which, had IT
been suffered to become law, would
have destroyed many of the most I'M
portant features of the charter govern
ing that city, and as is well known, was
universally disapproved by the people
to be affected.
| To afford great opportunity to make
appropriations for useless and unlawful
purposes a serious attempt was made to
cut down the appropriations for our
public schools TO the extent OF $l,ooo,ooO
which failed of passing only because OF
public sentiment raised against 1t from
every part of ths State.
They failed to obey the mandate OF
the Constitution requiring them ~
make legislative and Congressional ap-
portionments.
Under pretense of Teftrm law was
passed, with the intent OF satisfying Ing
people, requiring the depositories 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 Tor
the meIe purpose OF extortlng 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 cQmpilt-
tee appointed was so constituted that
instead of investigation their plain et-
fort was 10 conceal, and no questioning
was permitted 10 be propounded by any
member except snch as had been pre-
pared in advance and where u was
known that the answers would do no
harm.
The foregoing reference to the work
of the last Legislature is abundantiy
sufficient t1 indicate the character OF
the members and influence by whlch
they were controlled.
The redeeming feature Of that Legs
iature was the firm and uncompromls
ing stand taken by that body OF legisla-
tors known az the seventy six, who
did all that possibly could be done TO
protect the taxpayers Of the State from
the flood of proposed corrupt Legislation
and who therefore deserve the recogni-
tiop and gratitude of all the people OF
the Commonwealth
So insolent and shameless have those
in power become THAI taey have dared
in some instances to recOElmeba iAf ap-
pointment to Federal Office members OF
the last Legislature as vindlcation OF
their wropg-d9ing, in Disregard and de
fiance Of the moral sentiment or the
people Of the State.
ThIrd-In ylew Of tha foregoing state
ment of facts, we consider II OF tha NJ
most Importance that the next Govern
or of the State shall be man of the
highest character and integrity, rep
resentatiye Of the best type of Republi
: canism, and one whom the people ol
the Commonwealth can depend upon tc
) protect them, sAoaid occasion arise
against vicious legislation, and aspeci