Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1903-06-16

Politics In Maryland II
Mr.. Morsan's Household Effects
+ - Il = r - f.
past. but that one OF his followers should
admit that the gray old boss Is now but
name means much. Most Of all, 1t means
that Thomas C. Platt. who has used SO
many men for his own purposes, is now
clay In the hands Of sturdy and vigorous
juniors. who, while pretending to be his
followers, are really his leaders. They
conjure with his prestige They demand
regularity in the name Of the boss that
used to deal SO mercilessly with his enc
mics, but he himself can only sit and nod
and wonder what 1t is all about
The monks in the great lamasery. at
Lassa used to pretend that the grand
lama was alive for years and years after
he was dead when 1t suited their pur-
poses thus to deceive the people. The
Plat machinists evidently have been
playing similar game THE old man
has passed away, The scepter long since
fell from palsied hand, but the super
stition Of the "easy boss has been kept
alive in the minds OF his followers. and 1t
Is only when an indiscreet disciple blurts
out the truth that the public gains an
linking OF the real condition Of affairs.
Politically. the "old man. is dead, but the
monks still strive to work their miracles
In his name.
consummate Skill.
That the high protective tariff both
ers others besides cranky Democratic.
tariff reformers and free traders Is
demonstrated by the fact that that
great Republican light, ]. Pierpont
Morgan, has been lying awake Of
nights inducing insomnia by Fostering
his head to devise plan to get his art
treasures into this country duty free.
Mr.. Morgan has succeeded, II the press
dispatch quoted below Is true. Evil
IDENTIFY this great and illustrious cap
tain Of industry appreciated the wis
dom contained in the vulgar saw,
There are ways Of killing pup other
than choking him to death with hot
butter" Usually the only way to
evade tariff duties on imports has been
to smuggle, which is criminal Of
Tense, but by 'beating the devil about
the bush" to borrow another ancient
saw, Mr.. Morgan gets his art treasures
In free, thereby saving the comfortable
fortune Of $500, 600, without resorting
to the dire necessity Of ranging him
self with the criminal classes. He has
simply ''circumwented" the law, as the
elder Weller would say II he were
speaking Of the Inorganic caper. A
great head has Mr.. Morgan! Having
got his art treasures In free, he will
most probably bitterly oppose the re-
duction of duties on steel products.
Here Is the dispatch:
Under the designation Household ef-
fects" ]. p Morgan viii be able to bring
Into this country most of his art treas
tires that are now scattered through the
museums OF Europe or are in his London
| house.
Mr.. Morgan has ordered his agents to
gather together all his paintings, bric-a-
brac and antiques and 1t Is believed
Americans will have an opportunity Of
seeing one OF the finest private collections
In the world.
These objects Of art are appraised at
not less than 81, 0oo, 900, and had Mr.. Nor.
1 gan imported them year ago he would
have been obliged 70 pay almost ssoo,ooo
i rs duty.
Many Of the paintings and smaller an
tques have been in Mr.. Morgan's Park
lane house for more than year and
therefore come under the head OF "house-
hold effects, /" which are not dutiable.
/ It is said Mr.. Morgan.s lease Of q nns
home In Park lane was made more with
) view to obtaining a legal residence for
his art treasures than to have q dwelling
house In London's famous avenue.
unamlabIe.
The Washington Post independent,
with q penchant for upholding Repub-
lican administrations and Republican
policies) makes the following fippant
and cruel remarks touching the post
Office scandals and the civil service
commission:
We could understand these post ONCE
scandals at least little more clearly
were it not that they have occurred In q
department which has always been re-
garded as the very flower OF civil service
i yefornl, Under the old spoilsmen's sys-
tenn, when Office was tho reward Of party
4 service and unscrupulous politicians CON
trolled the public patronage. corruption
ran riot and turpitude was unconfined
or SO we have heard It said. Then the
heads Of departments and In turn the
chiefs OF bureaus and divisions were free
to appoint their own favorites and select
i their own subordinates Then, also, the
public service was hotbed of inefhciency
Y 0u0 VlCSs -AtOu&A VIC 10 IOL NOW IGCAll
the narrowing instances and their alb
horrent details. But the idea Of dishon-
esty, extravagance. Generalization In the
post Office or any other department now,
after years Of the purifying and uplifting
Il aispensation Of the civil service commits.
Iion-that Is an idea from which We
Ihrink with incredulity and horror.
It appears, however. that there IL 9
good deal doing In this line at the present
4 moment. Despite the jealous and en-.
heightened vigilance Of the three wise
men, Notwithstanding their profound and
ingenious precautions anc their almost
buperhuman insight into human charac.
Ier, incompetent, II not unworthy, persons
beem to have crept into important ofiicel
i and to have found ready to their hand
llccomplices and coadjutors In any needed
number. The trregularittes-to give them
no harsher name-are Of long standing
They are not the noxious growth OF q
single night nor could they have attained
their present luxuriance without compile.
i Ny or at least complaisance on the part
Df great many products OF the system
It IL difacult--a year or 30 ago It would
have seemed 1mpossible-to believe that
i officials who had passed under the in.
Bpired eyes Of such men as John r. Proc.
tor and William Dudley Foulke can have
tonnived at the abuses charged against
The department It seems incredible that
4 persons who have borne without fiinchine
the fierce light Of the civil service exam
j nation can even have looked on at an
i imperfection without screaming aloud 1
horror and resentment. And yet we hav
i the spectacle before US. such as 1t Is. &
! Can 1t be, by any possibility, that civ
service reform ID a humbug?
Mark Twain 40 Statesman.
The Saturday Evening Post Of Phil.
delphia says: