The Forrest City times., 1900-01-19
TANNER TURNED DOWN.
ne Illinois Leader Gets the Gan from His Former
 Henchmen-

In repudiating John Riley Tanner or that is what has happened-the re- publican party has repuoiated its prin- iples and traditions as well as perpe- rated grave injustice upon the gov .rnor. No one viii believe-no one is asked to believe-that his excellency s turned down" because of his sins )f omission or commission. The things with which he is charged are the very :hings which form the equipment of an deal republican statesman. Gov. Tan aer is an ideal republican statesman. He is repudiated not because he has transformed the civil service of the state ,f Illinois into political machine reek- ng of corruption-not because his ad- ninistration has been one series of scandals-but because it was feared that he couldn't be reelected. The statesmen who guide the destinies of he republican party in Illinois are practical politicians. Much as they may admire Gov. Tanner, they will take no chances of losing the state by re- dominating him.
 Gov. Tanner is DO worse than his party. If anything he is little better. For he possesses one quality, at least, which raises him above the Hertzes and Peases and Jamisons and Maddens who have taken his political scalp. He is courageous. He fights where they sulk. He is an organizer of victory, while they are the camp followers who come up af+ar rha har+la n chora sr -ha lnn4 Some of them-Hertz, for instance hate him, but they all fear him and re- spect him, if responsibility can be pred icated oi such character. They would all follow at his heels in hope of further swag, but they fear that his prestige is gone. Hence they turn and rend him. As for the governor himself, he does not add to his reputation for fortitude by the manner in which he takes his de- thronement. He complains that he has been abused and vilified from the mo- ment he assumed office. If he will take the trouble to reflect he will remember that his immediate predecessor was likewise vilifed and abused and that John k. Tanner was foremost in the attacks. What was sauce for Altgeld ought to be sauce for Tanner. His ex- cellency is the last man in Illinois to
 reprehend and complain of abuse. It is his main stock in trade.
 Indeed, he may charge his downfall to this very predilection for antagoniz- ing and abusing people-his carrying hatred into his official acts and using his position as club wherewith to beat those whom he deemed his enemies. I, may safely be asserted that his con- sistently malignant hostility to the in
 terests of Chicago rendered his over
 throw certain, because the camp fol lowers realized that he could not carry 1 Cook county, and without Cook county he stood to lose the state. Hence he was set down as unavailable. And to add | to the bitternesso his defeat he can now
 realize that the republican nominee fol governor will probably come from tho
 very section which caused his down l fall. It is retributive justice.
 Still, the passing of Tanner reflect:
 no credit upon the republican party
 He was worthy of the party and th' party was worthy of him. He was tn. l typical republican officeholder and he il
 ungratfully abandoned merely becaus'
 he practiced in every official act tn, | fundamental republican maxim: 1
 public office is a private snap.-Chicag' | Chronicle