Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1904-03-10

or more miStreSseS. To have an eX-
PLANTATION, why there is so much clamor
against a bar and so little said OF an
openly drunken congressman.
If the writer is correct In hos figures
there are forty-four states and several
hundred congressman, so there is ND
danger Of personal application or a
possible libel suit from what follow s.
But it is an open secret that the pubstc
have seen several times during the
past five years, congressman actually
Intoxicated on the floors of congress.
We are told Of such men being car
ried to committee rooms to recover
from the effects of the liquor they have
swallowed. We hear of big dinners
where prominent congressman get
drunk and disgrace themselves and
their constituents. But does the reader
ever hear Of the people failing to send
one of these men back to congress be-
cause of his personal habits. Again, it
is a matter of common talk among
those who have spent some toe N
Washington, that prominent public
men, men of family and so-called re-
spectability have a mistress in Wash
ington, as well known as the congress-
mans dog or horse. Society there ig-
nores the situation and the lie IT
public at nome, whose votes send
said public man back to Washington,
term after term, pushes aside the story
as the malice of political opponents.
Meanwhile in his district al home ac-
tive workers are engaged in getting
cis fIIra IN n f.h.a
seating of the meber from Utah" Shall
we call this situation the condition of
a benumbed. callous or degenerate pub
lie conscious?
There is something radically wrong
in our collective Judgment, or rather
failure to act on the part of the coliec-
tive public. For instance turn to the
public press. We have had set of yell
low journals in this country eve have
have them ye) whose statements to-
wards our public men are outrageous.
One of this class in Chicago up to the
time of McKinley's assassination, called
him everything that was vile and inn
puted motives to him worthy of a Nero.
or imaginary Car of Russia. And
did the public of Chicago cease to buy
this yellow paper? Did the Christian
merchants in Chicago fail to advertise
in 1T? On the contrary even when this
paper was at its worst, these respec-
table .merchant princes" added most
to his bank account Even today when
the public knows that some of the
metropolitan dailies are, publishing fake
stories and forged dispatches, this
ND Ia
anese war. does said public refuse to
buy such papers? On the contrary
such papers are subscribed for by con-
scientious people who would feel out
ragged If accused of daily association
with forgers and fakirs. The editors
and owners of such papers are IN good
standing in our churches, are sought
for on al public occasions are the
champions of many, and the associates
of public men, lawyers as Well, as law
breakers. Men today in this country
are even trying to nominate such
man for president of these United Stat
eS.
This is not a strange state of affairs
in a country that tamely submits to
the absolute control of hard coal and
petroleum by two men. One promi-
nent Sunday school teacher, the other
expressing his divine right to control
one OF the necessities of life. Are either
one of these men ostracised socially or
religiously? Why when president of
an eastern college proposed such a
drastic remedy the whole country
laughed at him and the idea. No, it
can be asserted again, our collective
idea of morality is warped. Our COLI
lective idea of right and wrong fails
to produce results for the betterment
Of mankind. Individually we condemn