The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1904-09-30

confession of weakness that Is ,well nigh
fatal on the very face of it. If Mr.. Wick
is elected he will undoubtedly fill the OF.
i flee with credit and the pockets of his
particular political sponsors - Messrs.
Hager and Lampman-with 6ucats, by
giving them all the printing patronage OF
his office. This was the platform of the
two gentlemen named. The only thing
they had to urge against Judge Wallace
was that he had not given them as much
printing as they thought they were entit-
led 10, aud ttat he gave too much to this
paper, making the publishers of this pa
per correspondents in the crime, with
Judge Wallace. So far as this paper IS
concerned it will accept the decision of
the gentlemen and their political friends
who for the time were on horseback in
the convention. That is, that the county
ljudgeship is merely position created
for the dispensing of printing patronage
and that for the present the business
rivals OF this paper seem to ''hold four
kings against the jackpot" Therefore,
there is nothing OF political consequence
in the selection of the judge. just ques-
ton OF who shall get the printing. Just
a business matter and SO the Pioneer Ex-
press proposes to treat it, without refer.
ence to politics or political ties. The
gentlemen referred to have made the is
sue, 'hrown the gage at us, won the first
battle and we shall act accordingly.
The Pioneer Express has never made
patronage or pelf of any kind question
of support Of nominees. 1t never wrote
letters to such nominees, filled with such
elegant and businesslike expressions as
''you must get down in your jeans, this
paper can't live on wlnd." 1t has very
rarely solicited county work from repub-
lican Office holders, and there have been
many republican county officers whom
we have supported for denomination,
whose existence at the court house would
have been practically unknown to us, il
we had no other means of information
than that Of their orders for stationery.
No county officer ever heard the publish
ers of this paper make a roar because
printing was sent elsewhere. There are
present incumbents in Office whose ord
ers during the last two years have beer
practically insignificant and such as were
needed in so short time or were so
small that they could not well be sent to
outside offices. We are not even now
kicking at this, only stating fact. These
things are known to be true or false by
many officials. past and present, and we
shall be glad to hear their testimony.
On the other hand, if the politics of
this paper were only a matter of patron
age, we should by all means have run a
democratic sheet ever since the present
proprietors have had charge of the pa
per, as at least two dollars out of every
three that we have received by the grace
and favor Of county officers has come to
us from democratic officials. As we said,
we have never made patronage test Of
support, we have never charged nomi-
nee once cent for our support, and we
are not doing it now. That issue was
made by Messrs. Lampman, Hager, ct
al, and they can lay no blame to us if
they have compelled us to accept that is
sue self preservation is the first law OF
nature. 5