Omaha daily bee., 1899-10-26
THURSDAY, OCTOBER se,

In my own county, which Is a stronghold OF
poputsm and the banner. populst county OF
the state, the rank and file Of the popuiists
severely condemn Ex-Governor HolCombs :
connection with the fraudulent recount At
the time of the recount the popu!st county
clerk of this county, who is an honest man
though a strong partisan, openly stated that
there was no mistake and no fraud In the
count upon the proposition in sherman
county and IL there was any mistake OF any
fraud II was at Lincoln, Populsts in this
county think that a man who aspires to be
pearanCe OF fraud and not to countenanCe
any kind of political trckery whatever,
House Rent n Miiis,onc.
Our home popultsts also condemn the gov.
ernor on the house rent business. They
contrast his conduct with that of the re-
publican governor, Crounse. an able jurlst
and a clean and honorable executive, who
scorned to take from the public treasury
the money which belonged to the people
and which they had not given him under
the. provisions of the constitution, although
invited to do so by a Nebraska legislature,
In many respects the general agent Of the
people. These plain people argue that just
as a minister of the gospel, who is moral
reformer, cannot become intoxicated and
then point to the man of the world and
say, 81 was not as drunk as my neighbor on
the opposite side of the street." so a reform
governor cannot successfully plead as a de-
fense that republican governors took more
money from the public treasury without au-
thor!ty of law and that he only took just a
little himself.
That he is emnently qualified for the
high office for which he has been named
a candidate. the Nebraska reports contain
ing the opinions of our supreme court while
he was a member of that body are Il stand
ing monument and an irrefragabe argu-
ment. None more cheerfully acknowledge
the good natural abilities of Mr.. Holcomb
and his clear and logical grasp of legal
principles when he presided as judge of
the district court of my own county, but
1t would be wholly unreasonable to expect
so SOS small a portion of a lifetime W 70 the study
of law, whose attention while he was prac-
tis!ng law was divided between his profess
sion and the business of lending money to
farmers on chattel security business
which all bankers know demands constant
attention to detail and lawyer who has
access to law Libraries and all the facilities
for acquiring a legal education; l say 1t
could be in any manner the equal of Judge
Reese in point of special knowledge and
professional attainment.
Holcomb's Record IL Mnrred.
Mr.. Holcomb has done some political work
which commends him to the people of Ne
braska by helping to bring about honesty
and business integrity in the administration
Of state institutions. fear there are some
blemishes upon his public record. Let us be
grateful to him for what he has done that
is good and look upon his faults with char
ity.
| 1t would not do for the people of this
| state to reject so clean and honorable a
| man as Judge Reese and so able a jurist for
the high position of supreme judge and to
| give the office to an obscure young lawyer
| who has been elevated by the accidents of
politics to the governors chair.
| much regret that the question of who
| shall be our next supreme judge is being
| settled by a consideration of an altogether
| different question, namely, the question
whether the national administration is right
upon the Philippine question. 1t makes no
difference what the opinion of Judge Reese
! or Mr.. Holcomb is on this question far
| as their fitness for judge is concerned.
am personally of the opinion that the, re-
| publican party Is not committed to policy
| of foreign conquest or foreign aggression or
| to a colonial system The Philippine islands
| have come to us as the result of a war
| which We all sanctioned in the interests OF
| humanity and they are now a part of the
| United States territory. 1t is the manifest
recton and maintain law and order within
| United States territory and 1t Is equally the
manifest duty of every good citizen to dc
| nothing which will hinder him in the dis
charge Of that duty.
Bryan Blinded by Ambition.
| regret that Mr.. Bryan is about to make 6
| tour of the state to assist in the election OF
| Mr.. Holcomb to the supreme bench. Thai
the English statesman, Gladstone, generally
tries, L think, to square his political con.
| duct according to the rule of what is right
AS a lawyer he knows that Judge Reese
| ought to receive the votes of the people
| Perhaps his personal ambition has blinded
! his eyes as it has blinded the eyes of many
| another good man. He will certainly drive
away many populists and not few demo
Gratis from his banners in 1900. Many who
| democratic party as the fearless advoCa t.
| of the peoDleS rights will withhold theil