The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1899-07-14
POOR ARGUMENT.
SICKLY REASONING OF RE-
PUBLICAN PAPERS,
Harp on Purchase of a Governors Man
sion Instead of Telling the People
What They Think About Trusts, Ex-

J tstt de- tl1ouSh 10 Nc" biSlI opinion |
that the mansion was bought especially
for the popocratic governor and that a
Horrible crime had been pcrpctratcd
npoa the people in purchasing one.
They have lost sight entirely of the
fact that a republican Legislature pro-
vidcd for this purchase OF it. and that
It was purchased for the chief cxccu-
live Of Nebraska, whoever he may be.
and not for Governor Toyntcr exclusive
ly. The republican press last week.
under the head of the Mansion Deal
asked some questions. called peril
nent questions" aud had a whole LOT
Of funny things to say in regard TO the
deal as they cali it.
Question No. ] asked why the bids
were opened in secret. Outside Of the
correspondent who wrote the questions.
who knows that they were opened in
secret? The charge has not been made
by any paper of reputable standing on
its WI Investigation. Suppose they
were opened in secret. And suppose
the board refused TO give the names Of
property owners who offered their
homes for sale. as question No. 2 asks?
Isn't it Il fact that bids were calico for
and didn't everybody who wanted to
hid, do so? Certainly: what kick, then
has anybody in regard thereto. Then
again, why was it not proper that the
board needed the request of the bidders
not to state certain things. notably
their names and the prices asked?
There were some bidders, probably.
who did not care to have it known that
they desired to sell their property. and
they also, perhaps. did not care to have
the price at which they offered to sell
10 the state shouted from the house
sometime later getting at a private
sale a better price. Their request was
4 reasonable one. and the board did no
one an injustice in needing it.
Question 3 asks: us it not very
queer hat the public did not know
Mr.. Thompson had submitted Il bid I'M
til the board went out to inspect
property and No. 4 asks: is it not
significant That the first property visit
cd was the Thompson mansion?
The ~propounder OF these questions
might have had the idea in his noggin
that he can fool the people out in the
country by such foolish inuendoes as
are contained in these interrogations,
but he is clearly mistaken if he thinks
he can fool the people Of Lincoln for it
was known that Mr.. Thompson's house
was as likely to be submitted as any
other. as il was a desirable residence
tr,. tl-. ~-, : ..s 4. -1 A.
for the significance of the board visit
ing it ft.St. nonc attaches at all. as the
property is just across the street from
the capitol building, and it was natural
that II hoard should look at it first.
Had h board gone no further. but
purchased the Thompson residence
then and there. perhaps there might
have been some grounds for complaint,
but tho board critically examined every
property offered. and did no.: decide on
the Thompson place until after Il
thorough canvass of the situation and
tho requirements of an executive home
and the qualifications of each house
offered To come up TO the requirements.
So much :or the hint at fnvoritism.
Further along the ]prccocions pro-
p%cnndcr Of pertinent questions.
asks, is it not possible that Mr..
Thompson was allowed to raise his bid
instead Of lowering it. and wants to
know why, if the mansion was such n
wonderful bargain. the owner had not
sold it to some private party?
rs to the question whether or not
Nix. Thompson was allowed to raise his
bid. VIC dismiss the foolish and insult
ing msinuation as unworthy Of the
author, as VIC are not yet ready to be-
lievc that all men are ~rascals simply
because Bartley and several other re-
nUhlicans have proven to he snch. AS
TO the owner lot selling his property
TO a private party. the public mus.
bear mind that even under the great
load of prosperity the republican party
has piled upon us, the people who have
10000 to blow in for residences are
few and far between. These are the
times when the ordinary individuals
could not even buy a gang plank if
steamboats, were selling at 30 cents a
dozen. They are spending their money
in paying the higher price for food,
etc, that the benefcent trusts nre
compelling them to pay, or else they
are saving it up to pay the coal barons
81 for coal next winter to where they
paid 81 last winter. Very few people
in the world can plank down of-hand
two million cents for a residence, and
we are absolutely certain no individual
in Lincoln could do so.
But it is in question No. II hat the
%precocious ~propoundcr of pertinent
questions gets the funniest Of all. He
asks: when you remember the class
OF lobbyists who were urging the pass
age OF h mansion billr last winter,
and then consider the name in which
the purchase was made, what do YOU
think?'
Well we think, first, that the lcgis-
lature was a republican Legislature,
and if it allowed itself to be lobbied
into a piece of damfoolishness, as the
republican press seems to think the
mansion business was, it simply
shows that a republican legislature is
harmful, incompetent, and unworthy
OF the peoples support. We think,
second, chat the lobby was a republi-
can lobby, as nearly, if not every, resi-
dence offered was owned by a republi-
can, and we think, third, hat this
being SO, the republican lobby and the
legislature did the best thing possible
when it allowed a demo-pop board to
make the purchase, for by so doing a
bargain was secured, and not all the
augmentation WAC ,sa1 aifhor. WA
think, fourth. that the legislature and