Morris tribune., 1901-06-29
st. pauR 2ottcp.

ing the party lines to the disadvan-
tage of worthy candidates for Office
and to insist that a man may be a
good official even through elected on
a bad platform and by party whose
| principles are at variance with the
teachings of experience and common
: ense. And whenever a Democrat
is running for Office the Democrats
take up the cry of the nonpartisan
press and use it as an argument fcI
the election of their man-as they did
in the case of Lind in 1898. The
place where the party lines are most
closely drawn, probably, is in the
election of congressman, and it would
be we'll for the people of Minnesota
to figure on this question little and
consider what comes of the theory
of non-partisan elections. The pres
ent delegation in congress is SO idly
Republican, and the aggregate of the
maiorities received by the members
at the last election comes close up to
that given the general ticket, show
ing that in the election of congress-
men the people followed strictly along
party lines. All OF the present mem
bers are at least thlrd termers, show
ing that their elections were no result
of accident or freakishness, soft is a
clear case of practical craftsmanship
applied to certain class of officials.
The question to be considered is
whether or not the result has been
good-whether by electing a set Of
non-partisan congressman the public
would have received a better service.
The last congressional victory
achived by the Democrats in this
state was in 1890. when W. FL. Har--
ries, o. M. Hall, J, N. Castle and
Kittel Halvorsen were elected over
their Republican opponents, John
Lind, then a Republican, being the
only one to escape in the landslid
Can any citizen of Minnesota recall
one single Legislative act coming from
this group Of Democratic congress-
men that resulted in practical good
to the state, Or one that compared
with the homestead legislation Sc
cured by Eddy, the commercial meas.
ures promoted by Tawney, the local
bills pushed through by Stevens and
Fletcher or the vast amount Of mis-
cellaneous work done by HeatWole
and Morris. Did one of them ever
make the mark: that .McClearys has
has made, or become an authority ash
be has an any subject Of national in
terest? It is not so mucn, perhaps,
that the mon themselves were per-
5onally inferior, for with the excep7
ton of Hslvorsen they were we'll up
to the standard of intelligence-for
Democrats. The trouble was that !
they became, as matter of necessity
3 part of the Democratic administra-
lion, and Democratic administra-
lion means that one man is the whole
thing. They were powerless because
Grover Cleveland was the Democratic
party then, just as Bryan was in his
two campaigns for the presidency
There was no organized party, ana
no organ .zation or authority to whom
these congressman were accountable.
They went to Washington each with
his own ideas and each with certain
number of candidates for a certain
number of Offices, and when the
patronage was all distributed there
was nothing for them to do but sit
with folded hands and vote as they
had promised to vote in consideration
of the favors they had received Not
one of them dared introduce or sup
port measure without consulting
the presidents private secretary and
receiving instructions from him. LIZ
it any wonder that the people resort
ed to partisan methods to rid them
selves of such incompetents?
The trouble with the non-partisan
idea-and with the democratic party
as we'll, is that there is no such thing |
as fixing the responsibility for any
misdeed or incompetency on the part
of the man. When man goes into
Office under the boast that he is ''inr
depended and nnder no pledges to
anybody" he will bear watching.
The people want pledges, and they
want them redeemed. That 1890
batch of congressman went in under
No y1lodoos" and q fine mess they