Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1904-06-03

i Is not unusual for man to at
tend his own funeral, but as
- rule he Is dead when he per-
forms that sad function. Gov
ernor A. B. Cummins of Iowa has
been elected to attend his own fu-
neral while still alive-in the flesh. He
is to be one of 1owa's big four
to Chicago, his mates being Sen.
ators Allison and Dolliver and Hon. j.
w. Blythe. They elected Cummins
after splitting upon his platform and
put him on delegation which, accord
ing to press reports, is made up Of
twenty stand patters and only six
liberals" At least that is what the
Globe-Democrat of st. Louis calls them,
and the CD. ought to know. The
CD. neglects to state to which class
Senators Allison and Dolliver belong.
The CD. begins its account Of the
proceedings Of that convention with
this sentence:
Standing before Republican stand pat
convention which swept everything before
1t, Governor Cummins. the leader OF the
revfsionist forces in Iowa. accepted his
defeat In graceful manner. Turning
from his radical speeches OF Canadian
reciprocity and tariff revision, he said he
was willing to stand on any platform the
Republicans Of the state should select.
Willing to stand on any platform, ehi
That is complete backdown for the
valiant Hawkeye reformer and in MI
probability is the end Of him politi.
cally.
This strange tale has gradually leak.
ed out: President Roosevelt and Secre.
tary Shaw, together with Senators AL
lison and Dolliver, got together in the
White House and formulated a plat
form for the Iowa Republicans which
while claiming all the blessings we
now enjoy for the high tariff, provided
for reasonable tariff reduction and
reciprocity, and in the story it is added
that this platform was intended to be
the model for the Chicago platform
But 10 and behold, when that docu.
ment was exhibited at Des Moines-
the Hon. George d. Perkins, ex-con.
gresham and prospective governor
presented 1t in the committee on reso.
lutons-it was jumped on with both
feet by the stand patters. Horrible to
relate, only two members stood with
Brother Perkins for the Roosevelt
Shaw-Allison-D olliver pronunciamento
The platform as adopted makes nc
suggestion whatever as to tariff re.
duction and does not even mention
reciprocity. It Is whole hog stand
pat creation and Is direct slap in the
face at Messrs. Roosevelt, Allison, Dol
liver and Shaw.
The makers Of that stand pat plat
form paid no particular attention t.
stating the truth. For instance, In their
eagerness to represent the high tariff
40 the fount OF every blessing they
make statement which every intelli-
gent man Id America knows is untrue.
They say that the protective duties
"have furnished the revenue with
which to pay the expenses Of foreign
war;" which is not true. They knew
that large part Of that revenue was
raised by internal revenue taxes and
by the sale Of bonds, and they would
have lost nothing would have
gained-in the estimation of the coun
try by telling the truth.
What Messrs. Roosevelt, Shaw, Al.
lison and Dolliver think of the pro.
ceedings is known perhaps to them
selves only. Their candid opinion
would make what Horace Greeley
would denominate mighty interesting
reading"