Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1902-10-17
Nature endowed the state Of Illinois

Nature endowed the state Of Illinois
most bountifully and made her great
state. I have said in these letters a
good deal about applied Democracy"
fine example Of which is found in
Missouri. There is no finer test Of a
states real progress than can be found
in the record Of her schools. Missouri
is justly proud of her school system,
built up and fostered by Democrats.
The school attendance is large and con-
stantly gaining, and she has the largest
per capita cash school fund possessed
by any state in the Union. Texas has
what will probably prove larger
fund, but itis now in the form of I'M
sold lands.
The Chicago Record Herald pub
fishes an interview with Mrs. Florence
Kelley. Mr. William g. Curtis secured
the interview. In 1t Mrs. Kelley calls
attention to the fact that in 1890 Hill
nois stood sixth among the states as
to the percentage OF children Of
school age in the schools. The 1900
census showed that Illinois had gone
back to fifteenth place. This is a
frightful increase in the percentage
of flliteracy and cannot help in few
years but show its dire results in in
creased crime and restitution. Such
q condition is bound to breed anarchy
and riot, of which Illinois has surely
had too much already. The lawmak-
ers of Illinois are responsible for this
condition because the laws of Illinois
are so lax as to permit the employ
ment of child labor, than which MOTH
ing can be more pernicious. How
different are the laws of poor old be-
nighted Missouri" where the heaviest
penalties are prescribed for those who
employ children where their mental or
physical health is liable to become i'm
paired in the slightest. Mrs. Kelley
speaks of the shocking incompetency
and Indifference of the officials" Poor
old Republican Illinois, "stony hearted
stepmother" Ito use the words of De
Quincy when he apostrophized old
Oxford street,, "thou drinkest the tears
of the children and nearest the cries
of the fatherless!"
Rosewater and the Geese.
Republican harmony in Nebraska
properly begins with the letter "h,"
but it should contain but four letters
if it is aimed to correctly describe the
present condition of the G. o. P. in
THAT state. Editor Rosewater is at war
with the party organization and is
heading boiling movement that
threatens to defeat some Republican
congressman and the state ticket.
Governor Savage has had himself in-
terviewed. Evidently the first Saw
age was named from trait of charac-
ter that has been handed down to the
governor, for here is what he said:
II Rosewatcr has as much brain power
left as God gives to geese. he surely
| realizes by this time that the people do
not indorse his methods of conducting
political fights. I feel nothing but pity
Tor the man who is now placed between
the devil and the deep sch. For twenty
| years he has Waged a relentless warfare
against the fusion candidate for congress.
For several years he and his friends-not
friends. for he has none-for several years
| he and those who fear him have waged
one Of the most bitter fights Imaginable
against Mercer. Now, what can he do as
| between these candidates.
Free Trader Fose Nominated,
Up in Massachusetts the fight In the
Republican party over tariff revision is
waxing hot. Eugene N. Foss has been
nominated for congress OH platform
that, so far as it's tariff plank is con-
eerned, reads as if it had been
I"Quigged" from a Democratic speech.
+! It declares fatty for tariff revision and
free trade in articles controlled by the
trusts. They want free raw materials,
they want free coal and free beef.
A Bad Outlook.
The Washington Post, Independent,
with Republican leanings, in summing
up the political situation, says:
| Speaking as an impartial but sympa-
| thetic locker on, we are disposed to say
that the lot of the Republican family at
this time is not happy one. On the
contrary, quite the reverse. It seems to
be literally honeycombed with schisms,
disagreements. even feuds. Republicans
are divided among themselves on issues
that are really vital, and they are en-
gagged in bitter quarrels over mere mat
tiers of party leadership and discipline.
Out in Iowa Speaker Henderson has just
declined a denomination because he says
he is not in harmony with his associates
| as regards tariff revision. In New York
\ the Republican convention has been on
the verge of pandemonium over the NOM
ination for lieutenant governor. Two
powerful factions were snarling at each
other. and it is openly declared that the
antagonism to Sheldon included the presi-
| dent himself, as well as Governor Odell
| In great western states like Michigan,
! Nebraska and California there are ugly
contentious ever Cuban reciprocity and
all these conflicts are of character
which insures an aftermath of rancor. no
matter which side may prevail.
al ~