Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1905-07-26
FROM WASHINGTON.


in = yeritabIe Symmes hole with
ever = ladder in sight. from the
s,ondpoint of graft. " Every de-
.artment in Washington seems TO
10 boncy-comcd with rottenness
and graft. 1t is lust of loot, a
riot Of rapacity and fiduciary
fsndango, to a plumb finish.
AsI frequently have written in
this letter previously the whole
tariff fattened gang begins to be-
love that this government was
made 70, them and their especial
benefit: that theyare the Almighty's
.nointed and that the great com
mon people of the country were
intended to be hewers of wood and
drawers of water for them. They
steal the peoples money and then
hook hurt and have the injured in
nocence appearance, if Grand
Jury or District Attorney gets
busy with one of them.
The latest is the Government
Printing Office, which has its story
Of craft or corruption requiring
Investigation and perhaps dis
missal or two. Where is this to
end.
Must President Roosevelt devote
his entire administration to discov-
ering scandals in the departments!
If SO. it is a very hard fate for
man who is himself believed TO be
so copyright. But if he has much
more of this work to do, he may
find il worth while To- go behind all
the trouble and inquire why it Is
that the Post Office Department
had It's Machens, Beavers and
others, the Agricultural Depart
ment its Holmes and other depart
ments their quota Of grafters and
thieves. and why he has had to dis
miss eight army officers this year
and bring TO trial six more all for
enlightenment. Ii is the get-rich-
quick craze which has been stimu-
lated by the Republican theory
that government exists to help
people make money, either by
creating new offices, obtaining CO.
lonial possessions, or 10y artifcially
raising wages and prices 10y means
of protective tariffs.
When the history of this period
Of corruption and speculation in
and out of the government comes
to be written up, some decades
hence, he will be but n poor histo-
rian who fails to perceive that the
spirit of protection is at the bottom
Of it all.
The spirit of protection the
mOney-mad craze that has taken
possession of the people of the
country, and has kept the Repub-
hcan party, the party that has 50
long and peIsistently advocated
the policy of a few getting rich off
the many, in office, is responsible,
absolutely, for the great era of
graft that has made the last three
Republican administrations rotten
to the core.
The grafters who have grabbed
the offices felt secure in the Jobs,
for they believed the people had
gwen the Republican party an I'M
limited lease of power. They pro-
ceeded, upon this hypothesis, TO
grab everything in sight and store
away as much loot as possible
with the results every day visible
III graft coming To light.
II every executive department
IN Washington were Investigated
by honest, impartial men, the
rahkest compound of villainous
smell that ever offended nostril,
arising from departmental rotten
ness and official decadence would
aSSall the people, the long suffering
people, of the country.
1t Is safe to say, however, that a
Republican Congress will refuse
absolutely to order free and full
investigation of these departments,
as 1t did year or more ago tC
order an investigation of the Post
Olhce Department when the Dem.
ocrats in Congress dared them tC
do it.
let the people continue to cleo
Republican Congresses. Are tn,
people enamored of graft, theft
rottenness and corruption in Office
In the face of all these pecula
V.ohs and dishonesty in office, d.
they think the Republican part,