The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-22
FRIDAY, JULY %, 1904.
JOSEPH w. FOLK

The nomination of Joseph w. Folk
for governor of Missouri is the highest
vindication of the Democratic party,
and the completest rebuke to those
who maintain that American politics
are wholly given over to occult and
abhorrent influences and to the sway
of the corrupt. 1t shows what one true
man may do in the public life of a
state or nation. 1t is the most hope
full and helpful sign of recent times. 1t
lifts the Democracy of Missouri out of
the foul morass into which it has been
plunged. 1t places upon the Democ-
Tacy of the country the stamp of sin
certify, uprightness and honor. 1t is
the living pledge of that mission which
the Democratic party and it alone can
perform for the republic. Folk and
Parker, standing for an incorruptible
manhood secure and finished in its in
tegrity, are symbols at once of the
meaning and intent of modern Democ-
racy and of the future hope of the re-
public.
is solely the creation of his honesty
asa public official and his desperate
energy in chasing rascals to their
doom. He has no other political capt.
tai. He came to the front in a state
where boodling had been reduced to a
science and political honesty become a
byword. He arose at a time when leg
islatures formed regular pools for the
sale of legal favors and fixed a sched-
ule of prices ranging from a few dol
lars to $4,000. He set his face against
this practice when it had been either
committed or condoned by governors.
United States senators, members of
the legislature and public officials
down to justices of the peace Never.
one might have said, was there a more
veritable political Don Quixote. Never
was the inlet to public life more hone
lessly closed against a man than
against this knight Grant, regardless
of the practical conditions that rose
like gates Of brass before him.
Joseph w. Folk went straight for
ward on his honest way. He struck
from the shoulder the rascal wherever
he saw him. He pursued the boodlers
with all the power of the law. He was
never discouraged, never grew irri-
tated and never lost his balance. He
convicted one batch of thieves and
they escaped. He sent others to the
penitentiary and even the courts found
means of releasing them. He was
laughed at, as the purist in politics AL
ways is, by the strong and foul-hand-
ed combine. Yet he never lost cour-
age, and his campaign has made him
absolutely irresistible with the people.
The machine is still nominally in con.
troll in Missouri. Conventions and
caucuses are ready to do it's will Rut
the people demanded the nomination
of Joseph w. Folk as an honest man
Tor governor, and not all the bosses
and boodlers and corruption funds in
Missouri could prevent it.
This is of the highest interest ami
value to our people. 1t is an inspira J.
ton to every man of honor who has
the least inclination for public life
The search of Diogenes for an honest
man was not as painful, earnest and
persistent as that of the American
people. They look longingly every
morning for the appearance of another
Straightforward, sincere and patriot
'cahy disinterested man. They have
honors and leadership and fidelity un-
told for such. No man could defeat
Joseph W. Folk for the Democratic