The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1905-10-29

Senator German similar to that in Ohio
against Cox. In the former state 1t is
a republican fight and in the latter it
is a democratic fight. Politics, how
ever, seems to make no difference to the
people when they have Determined that
the boss must go. If Senator German
fails to secure the adoption of the Poe
amendment to the state constitution,
limiting the franchise, his career will
be at close This situation has been
accepted by the state, and German has
become the leading issue in the Mary
land campaign this year.
Good Even in Losing Fight.
Even if the fights in New York, Penn
sylvania, Ohio and Maryland should be
lost this year to the supporters of good
government, the fact that the effort
has been made to drive the bosses out Of
power will so stimulate the voters as to
insure renewal of the contest at the
earliest possible moment. For years in
these states the bosses have been in
uninterrupted control, with nobody
thinking of saying them nay. It Is
much that an organized contest against
them has been at last begun. It will be
much more if the contest can can be
won, but won or lost, there will be a
distinct gain for good things.
The boss in this country has no secure
position. This general uprising against
him is sign Of the dawn Of better
times. just how much President Roose-
welt has had to do, by precept and ex-
ample in bringing on this crusade, which
tions, it would be difficult to determine.
His friends are inclined to claim for him
the credit Of initiating almost the entire
movement. Whether he did or not, he
is undoubtedly pleased to know that it
has gone forward during his career as
president. That it is quite to his Ek-
ing, none will deny.
Fight on G.aft. ~.
Equally important with the fight on
BASES is the campaign which the presi-
dent has been so insistently making
against corruption in federal affairs. It
was he who brought about the postoffice
investigation, SO fruitful in the uncov-
ering of rascality.% It was he who
brought about, also, the landoffice in
vestigations In the far west, the, fruits
of which have only recently been reaped
in the form Of numerous Important con-
today demanding honesty and efficiency
in the administration Of all the federal
departments in this city, and whose am
bition it is, before he goes out of Of
fee, to leave the public service, so far
as the central government is concerned,
on a higher plane than it has ever hith-
erto occupied.
Another matter Of the highest i'm
portance as Indicating the determination
graft, is the insurance investigation now
under way in New York: No. greater
service is today being performed by any
man in the country than that which
is being performed by Mr.. Hughes in
that city as the legal adviser Of leg
islative committee Of Investigations
Never Such Movement.
Old-time politicians in this city, men,
bers of both the great parties, say that
never, within their recollection, has
there been such a forward movement
against official corruption of all sorts.
A wave Of reform of unprecedented
dimensions seems to be sweeping over
the country and engulfing men who for
years have stood in respectable atti.
tudes, before the people: The movement
ular branch. of the public service. In
the national field the results already ac-
complished are Of great significance.
Similarly, in several of the states, i'm
portant results have already been
achieved. In several of the more prom
1nenC municipalities there Is dcGlV1Gy
of equal determination.
|. just what a the net result is to be,
nobody is yet willing to predict, but it
looks as if the country were about to
enter upon an era Of better government
all around > Il Il - " = j.
Substantial Efforts.
There is one fact which seems to
stamp this general reform movement as
| being substantial and expressive of a
well-defned and widespread public de.
termination that the political boss must
90. No one reform movement seems to
have any relation to any other one.
| Each one has been Of independent origin
and yet all are on econverging lines
moving toward the same focus-the I'm.
doing: Of the boss. The Folk reform in
Missouri has no relationship to the La
| Toilette reform in Wisconsin, and mel
Their has anything to do with. the move
ments in. Philadelphia, Ohio or Mary
! land. There seems to have been no
single controlling cause. The country
as a whole, appears to have suddenly
and almost at the same moment, awak
ened to the realization of existing con
ditions and determined to put an enc
to them. This is the most hopeful fea
ture of the situation. and it is the one
which is causing the bosses the greatest
| anxiety. -.y.-