The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1903-07-10

ished uader the Repsblicsa
Plan 81 Adminastratl0n.

Its the hit dog that hollers" II Z
homely proverb. and. judging from
the noise coming from the post once
department. public opinion Is laying
the lash on we'll. The bowling. how
ever. is unseemly. judged by the es-
tablished methods OF the republican
party In dealing with q full treasury
In the past. In fact. IL cannot be said
that Machen and Tyner and Heath
and Payne have departed In any man.
ner from tie regular plan Of proceed
ing In q republican administration
whenever the vaults Of the treasury
began to overflow.
The famous declaration OF Corporal
Tanner. God help the surplus" when
he entered upon his occupancy of the
post OF pension commissioner. may be
taken as the keynote of the republican
policy in such matters. Corp" Tan
ner went farther than any other Of the
party leaders: he was franker and
more outspoken. but he in nowise va
ried from the policy which Messrs. Ty-
ner. Machen. Heath and others have
been practicing SO successfully at this
later day. The corporal's plan was to
shovel out the treasury assets to the
army OF pension beggars. but he made
so much noise and ranting over II that
President Harrison was forced TO dis
place him with Gen. Green b. Raum.
II can be said for Gen. Raum. how
ever, that he made no substantial
amendment in the prodigality with
which Tanner administered the pen
sion Office. What Tanner did was
done openly and by main strength and
awkwardness; Raum reduced TO a
science an equally prodigal method Of
scattering the public revenues. Under
the plea of helping the veterans and
expediting the work Of his bureau. APP
plications were rushed through the
hands Of The examiners with such ra-
pidity as never before known. He
put a holder and more plausible face
upon the matter. but he. no less than
Tanner. helped the whole party lay
the broad foundations for the deficit
with which the succeeding democratic
administration had TO deal.
1T Is easier to deal with a surplus
than a deficit" was another oracular
republican utterance. and was as cas-
lily justified as Tanners. The democrat
ization which followed Gen. Raum in
the pension Office was not corrected by
Gen. Blacks severe honesty nor even
by the lawyer-like respect for the tech
nicalities and the statutes shown by
Commissioner Evans. Mr.. Evans was
finally driven from ONCE by the hun
cry pack Of pension agents and
solicitors. and now his methods have
been transferred to the department
that furnished the next best opportu-
mites for looting The great revenues
of the post Office and the plea Of en-
larging the service afforded the means
70 a new outbreak Of criminal extrav-
agance Abuses OF every kind have
multiplied and fiourished until every
step that is taken In the investigation
reveals new and more extensive means
OF plundering.
Do not blame the hooters unthink-
inrly. Aside from the fact that they
are all republicans and following re-
publican precedents. they are perhaps
only aiming to distribute the vast ac-
cumulatious Of the treasury. They
have needed the cry of Wall street
that money has been taken out OF
business and locked up in the vaults
Of the government where it can do the
people no good. II is the sympathy
with Wall street and with the cry for
a more liberal currency system that
has set these officials to blowing open
the vast receptacles OF the revenues
and parceling them out where they
will relieve those who believe them
selves the needy. Their methods have
been effective. and they have been
working along old and respected lines
Of republican policies What Is the
moral difference between taking
money from the consumer for the
benefit Of the robber tariff barons and
stealing II from the treasury by ille-
gal contracts and gratuities, Ger
tainly the distinction has to be finely
drawn to make the one plan appear
worse than the other-Louisville
Courier Journal.