The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-04-29
FRIDAY, APRIL 2s, 1904.
SINGING The SAME OLD SONG.

OliN0IiNG l TIE GAME OEO SONGs
The striking characteristic of the
Republican local campaign, if it can
be dignifed by that name, is its abso-
lutte lack of originality. Maybe it is
want of invention among the party
leaders, more likely it is that total alb
senCe Of hope which indisposes men
for creative effort. Whatever the
cause may be, the fact remains that
there is not line or sentence or idea
put forward in advocacy of the Re-
publican city ticket which may not be
found duplicated and Implicated and
repeated indefinitely in any old news
paper file that covers campaigns of
the last twenty years.
1t is rather a wonder that the party
has not discovered that campaign
cries and campaign roorbacks wear out
in time. There was a period, for in
stance, when to Shrek 'the gang" was
actually effective. The title was new,
and, although nobody knew just what
it meant or how it could be applied, it
sounded opprobrious and shameful. A
lot of votes hung on that old slogan,
but there is not one to be gained
there are actually a good many being
lost today-by its stupid iteration.
There was a time when the admins
tration Of the law in this city was more
lax than at present. There have been
many such times, and in all these pc
riOds the demand for a sterner admin
1stratiOn of law and order and a great
er restraint upon the viciously inclined
has been more or less politically eff
fective. 1t is now not only meaning
less, but actually hurtful to those who
raise it. 1t Injuries them in a double
sense; first, because it directs atten-
ton to the UndeniabIe fact that st.
Paul is today the most orderly and
best governed city in the United
States Of its size; and, second, because
1t compels direct comparison with the
disgraceful condition Of things that
prevailed under three Republican
mayors, one Of whom is now a candi-
date for the same office and the other
two Of whom are running on the same
ticket for other places. A party wise
ly handled would have avoided this is
sue as if it were the smallpox. 1t has
harked back because of an absolute
dearth Of ideas.
The same musty files would show
that campaigners for the last fifteen
years have laid great stress upon the
tax question. The people of st. Paul
have been told that they were unduly
burdened and that they could escape
and get relief only by change of ad-
ministration. Now a wise Republican
would not permit the question of tax
alton to be raised in this campaign. Il
is proved that the Democratic admin
istration has reduced and is still re-
ducing the tax rate. It is proved that
the city is more economically governed
than it was ten years ago. 1t is proved
that. Notwithstanding our increase in
population and the multiplication Of
municipal needs, we are running along
on the same schedule Of government
cost. with the single exception Of having
to spend more money to take care of the
additional thousands Of children IN OUR
public schools. The Republican party
is pledged, root and branch and from
top to bottom, to projects that will in
crease city expenses very largely; to
say nothing of the confessed ineff-
cheney Of its candidates, which is al
ways equivalent to financial waste.
Yet the photograph candidate for
mayor goes on grinding out the
speeches that he made a decade ago as
If they now meant something.
This copying machine species of