Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-11-22
Il II II Il Il II II
C/0rk,s - ;:
Saggestions For the Bettermemt Of III.
the Public SfrVice Presidents
Should Be Ineligible to Re-eiee- 1T
tios Vots Buying :':'::::::::.' ~


century our greatest development WIZ
be in the south. Politics has caused
the lopsided development of the eoun-
try for the last seventy-fve years, I
but in the end men with money to In
vest will go where the opportunities
for profit are best, though they may
not like the political environment.
What is meant by politics in the fore
going sentence is the slavery question
and the resulting issues. While slav-
cry lasted factories were not desired
in the south to any considerable ex-
tent, and free white labor was loath to
compete with slave labor, but that con-
dition passed with slavery, and now
the south enters the field as a manu- |
featuring section.
A Sad Situation.
During the campaign the Baltimore
Sun contained the following editorial,
which furnishes much food for reaec-
ton:
If an end is not put to the practice OF
corrupting voters the United States will
soon have the evil distinction of possess
ing the most venal electorate IN the world.
There is scarcely doubtful state in
which there are not large numbers of
electors whose ballots are for sale to the
highest bidder. 1t Is this class to which
the practical politician" addresses him
self Their votes count for as much as
the votes of the wisest and best men In
the community. The price paid them Ter
their venalty has been steadily rising IN
successive campaigns. They constitute
| now permanently venal class, and their
votes have to be reckoned with In every
election. The vote Of the clergyman, the
professional or business man, the student
the mechanic, the clerk, the farmer-in-
deed of any honest man with conYie-
| tons on political issues-may be offset py
| the ballot of man who hawks his vote
around and sells it to the purchaser who
can afford to pay most Tor 1t.
That there is some buying Of votes
there can be no question, but let us
hope that it Is not done on such whole
sale manner as the foregoing Sun edi-
torial would indicate. At one time the
selling Of votes was the principal fea-
1 ture Of English elections. 1t is said
that one man spent as much as f1OO
to buy seat In the house of commons,
| but in these later days the bad habit
| has almost fallen into disuse. Let US
hope that an improvement will be
made in this country in this regard.
Anyway, it Is not so bad as the Sun
makes out.
Rank Inconsistency.
"Practice what you preach" "Con-
sistency is rare Jewel" "The pot
should not call the kettle black" "Take
your own medicine and such like an
cient and time honored sayings rise to
the mind when one reads the fling made
toward the tail Of the campaign at
Tammany by Hon. Philander G. Knox
Of Pennsylvania, recently attorney gen.
eral Of the United States, now sen
} ator in congress. It may be safely
taken for granted that Tammany is
not immaculate-none Of the tnstitu-
tons Of men is-but for citizen Of
Pennsylvania to make mouths at Tam.
; many or any other human society fol-
practcing forbidden methods in poll
; tics would be the hugest joke Of the
, season were It not SO serious and dis
gusting. Under Republican auspices
, Pennsylvania, founded by the immor
tai Quaker and for so LONG dominated
: by the Camerons and by Quay, hal
the most unenviable political reputa
ton Of any state in the Union. Com
J pared with Philadelphia, Greater New
, York Is so clean In politics that sh'
} appears somewhat Of the complexion
! Of snow. For example, by the census
! Of 1900 Philadelphia had population
: Of 1928, 697, and in 1904 she registered
> 89o,94s voters. In 1900 that portion o.
t Greater New York included in the Dor
! oughs Of Manhattan and the Bronx hal
a population Of 2,050,507 and in 100.
: showed registered vote Of only 391,
] OBI. That means one vote out Of thre
q and third inhabitants in Philadelphia
: and only one for every five and quar-
? ter people in New York-that is, in tn
portion referred to above. Does an,
a bane man believe for one moment tina
5 IN Philadelphia there is any such pro
. portion Of voters to population? O
l course not. Men with reasonable
quantity Of Information know that th
Philadelphia registration lists wer
padded to an extent never before heart
Of or dreamed Of in any communit.
calling itself civilized. On the con
trary, the proportion Of voters to popu
, lation, as set forth above, for New
York Il about the normal proportion
!. 6cr It Ia a we'll known fact that o.
{ the average there 10 about one vote
: to FIVE people in the country at large
In the great cities the proportion o
+ voters is somewhat greater. 30 tina
> It would appear that ordinary self re
J spect would restrain Senator Kno.
i from making invidious remarks abou
$ Tammany's political methods or abou
e those Of anybody else, for it is writ
r ten, "He who lives In glass hous
b should not throw Stones" which CON
: mend to the learned statesman fror
? Pittsburg. He must have known tina
t by making his fling he was invitin
Q comparisons which would be unpleaf
8 ant.
r In this connection it may be interest
e Ing to state that the Philadelphia Blu
e letin, an independent Republican paper
d recalls the astounding fact that Will
e In 1895, when the interest in the elet
), ton was 80 intense as to be painful
= Mckinley carried Pennsylvania b
n 295,072 plurality, in MOO, when ther
a was not nearly so much excitement
: McKinley's plurality was 2S8,423. N
i. human being believes that there eve
Q were any such Republican pluralltie
o In PENNSYLVANIA, especially in the la