Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-10-06
A Presidential DiIemma,

A Presidential Dilemma.
The statement of Postmaster Cen
eral Payne that President Roosevelt
was fully aware of the deal that had
been made for the division of the spoils
of Office in Delaware is rather hard on
a civil service reformer, as President
Roosevelt processes. to be. 1t must be
especially disheartening to those Re
publicans who were hopeful that their
party would not be disgraced by COM
plicity with the attempt of Addicks to
purchase the Delaware Senatorship.
That Mr.. Payne should have given the
Addicks faction their share of the po-
litfcal spoils was to be expected, but
that the President acquiesced in sup
porting the notorious Addicks is a
shock to all patriots who demand de-
cent government.
The offense that Miss Todd had COM
mitted and for which her dismissal
was requested, was that she opposed
the Addicks faction, and that, and that
alone, is why Mr. Payne. as official
headsman, chopped off her head. There
was no word against her personal or
official conduct, no petition from pat
rons of the Office for her removal, but
she and her family were opposed to
Addicks. That was crime enough for
Mr.. Payne.
A fellow feeling made him wondrous
kind to Addicks and his ambition to
represent Delaware in the United
States Senate. The respectable fac
ton of the Republican party in Della
ware have been trying to stem the
tide Of corruption and have denounced
Addicks as debaucher of the voters
of the State, but Postmaster General
Payne has evidently determined to aid
him.
! What will President Roosevelt do?
Will he reinstate Miss Todd or stand
by the action of his Postmaster Gen
| eral?
| President Roosevelt can afford to be
| independent of the Addicks faction for,
in any event, they can but send a con-
| testing delegation to the next national
/ convention and their claim for recog-
milton will be settled by that body
where the will of the President, from
the present outlook, will be omnipo-
! tent But the voters of Delaware and
the whole country will hold him re-
sponsible and expect him to carry out
| his own declaration that Words are
good only when backed by deeds"
Trusts Still in the Saddle.
| The anthracite coal trust is ad-
vancing the price Of coal again, though
! it is reported to have mined and stored
some millions of tons more than can
be sold this year, and yet this trust
has such a monopoly that it can put
up prices to almost any extent. Con-
| gress, last winter, when the coal trust
was a live issue, appropriated a spe-
cial fund of $500,OcG Cor the Depart
ment of Justice to us to prosecute
trusts Congress also provided for a
number of extra assistant attorney
generals to prepare cases against the
! trusts. Many months have elapsed
since this money and those attorneys
were placed at the disposal of the
administration, but no action has been
begun. though it is possible some evil
dence may have been gathered. There
is on file with the Attorney General
more than one case against trusts, pre-
pared by private enterprise, and one of
these, at least, that against the tobac-
co trust, has been on file for over two
years, but it has reposed in the pigeon
hole of the department and even the
extra money and the extra help have
been unable to drag it into court.
Congress, on the recommendation Of
the President, passed law for pub
licity of trust transactions and created
new department with ample help to
! investigate trusts. Not one trust has
yet had its doings exposed to the pub
lie gaze, though some months have
elapsed since Secretary Cortelyou re-
ceived his appointment, but hope
springs eternal in the human breast
and we live on, or at least will have
to be satisfied with 1t for a time