Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1902-04-03
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Especial Washington Letter.l
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Especial Washington Letter.1
- S President Roosevelt renfant ter
rible of the Republicans? It
S seems so. Just as Brother Sere-
@ no Il. Payne and the other white
haired mandarins" of the house,
as "Uncle Joe" Cannon would denomi-
nate them, thought they had settled
the troublesome Cuban question and
were prematurely congratulating them
selves that they had prevented split
in the Republican party, the strenuous
young man i'll the White House throws
them into a cold sweat by summoning
them to his presence and giving them
the astounding information that the
20 per cent cut in the Dingley rates, so
far as Cuba is concerned, is not deep
enough and that they will have to do
it all over again, whereupon Messrs.
Payne & Co. depart the presidential
presence with their lips dragging on
the ground, murmuring, 'On what meat
doth this our Caesar feed that he hath
grown so great?" If Colonel Roose
velt keeps on, the Republicans of the
ways and means committee are liable
to commit suicide in self defense.
Unchanged.
It is as easy for an Ethiopian to
change his skin or the leopard his spots
as it is for the Republicans to shake
off their inveterate habit of Office steal
ing. They are at it again. Posing as
the apostles of purity and sweetness
in politics, they are always willing
and ready to defraud the people by
giving to a Republican who was not
elected some office to which a Demo
whether the office is the presidency or
a constableship. Their latest manifes-
tation of larcenous propensity for Office
was the unseating of Congressman
John S. Rhea of Kentucky, an unusual
ly able man, and the seating of Hon.
was only twenty-siX, but mans title
to an office is as valid with the scant
majority Of twenty-six as it would be
with 10000. They can't plead even the
poor excuse of needing Moss in their
business, for they already have a ma
jority over all of about forty in the
house.
BY bouncing Rhea they did two good
things % they demonstrated that
their ideas of right and wrong are the
same now as they were when they
stole the presidency from Samuel j.
Tilden in 1877, the greatest crime ever
committed against representative gov
ernment; (2> they gave Rhea a chance
to make one OF the finest speeches ever
delivered in the house of representa-
tives, a speech which, it may be safely
predicted, will render him popular
idol in Kentucky. 1t is ten to one
shot that he will be reelected in No
vember by several hundred majority.
Such performances have tendency
to bring representative government in
to contempt. To such an extent does
this feeling prevail that contested cleo
ton cases in the house are jocularly re-
ferred to as elections" 1t is crying
shame that such contests are not decid-
ed on their merits rather than for polit-
ical reasons.
That the unseating of Rhea was an
infamous outrage is shown conclusive
ly by the fact that, although the Re-
publicans have forty odd majority in
the house, they could muster only ten
majority against him and that two Re-
publicans with more conscience than
the rest voted to keep him in.
Miles.
The lines Of Lieutenant General Mel
son A. Miles appear to have fallen in
unpleasant places in these latter days;
or, to put it in another way, he seems
to be playing in hard luck. Evidently
perial court; quite the reverse. He is
a soldier with an approved record, yet
when he wanted to take command in
Cuba his wish was not granted, not
withstanding the fact that he was COM
manding general of the army. When
he in modest way said that he agreed
with Admiral Dewey that Schley was
the hero of Santiago, he was pounced
upon and reprimanded publicly, though
General Fred Funston is not repri-
manded for delivering ferocious ha-
rangues at sundry banquets in which
lie advocates the hanging of divers dis
tinguished statesmen who have grown
gray in the service of the republic.
When Miles, grown weary of the cease
less butchery in the Philippines, sug-
gests plan of pacification, his plan
is contemptuously thrown into the
waste basket by Mr.. Secretary of War
Elihu Root, who knows about as much
about war as hog does about San
skirt When Miles fights Roots bill for
reorganizing the army, it is determined
by the administration that the general
shall be retired. though he is two years
under sixty-four, the age for eompul-
sorry retirement. With Dewey and
Schley in the dumps and Miles on the
retired list through no desire Of his
own the administration is giving the
heroes rather cold deal Suppose we
had war with a great power, would
we not need few such men as Miles,
Dewey and Schley? What sense or
justice is there in relegating such men
to the rear? Will the country stand 1t :?
"Tombigbee" Gambler.
Humorists appear to be indigenous to
the soil of the First Mississippi district
--and humorists Of the first water at
that. Hon. John M. Allen-"Private
Tohn"- is easily one of the five greatest
humorists ever in congress. He filled
the world with his acclaim, and there
| was universal mourning when he quit