The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1906-06-24

was thrown in as a fancy epilogue.
and when that got too hot for the inn
pressario. the packers report was billed
as a blood-curdler worth ten times the
price Of admission Finally, and as a
tuppenny sumner, the announcement is
made that the administration is going
TO prosecute the Only Octopus, the
Standard oil company, and prosecute
criminaIly. Having fallen down on
its criminal prosecution of the packers;
having convicted several packers and
a railroad in Kansas City with a net
result Of fines for the packers and i'm
prisonment for poor little freight bro
ker and his clerk, the president is go
ing cunning for the Real Thing.
Somehow or other. the show is begin
ming to pan and the public is wishing
there might be less Of poster announce
ments and more Of real business about
the performance. Barnum in his palmi-
est. most cynical days, did try to live
UP to the Autographs Of his circus but
the Roosevelt combination. somehow,
falls down. Behind the canvas and
painted scenery, beyond the mega
phones and the calliopes. the macbin-
cry of politics is too plainly visible.
The statehood bill shows two terri
tories defrauded of statehood in order
that the Republicans may bar two
Democratic senators from admission.
The Philippine tariff furnished the ba-
sis of manipulation of politics; the rail-
| road rate bill which was to be great
presidential achievement, was whipped
| into some sort Of constitutions; form in
spite Of the president, and the meat
inspection bill has been framed TO suit
the house, not the president.
Now when tho last act, the great
est of all the great shows
curiosieies. is announced, public
/ interest will be at fever heat
/ for at least week Ajax
! defying the lightning or Dowie in his
most picturesque prophecy never had
such a chance for a play to the gal
Ieries as Roosevelt has in his justly
celebrated act, Theodore boarding the
Oil Trust.
Behind the scenes there ought to be
a smoker at the thought Where is
| gratitude when the Republican party
can sanction an assault on its old-time
friend and angel" the Standard Oili
WHAT of the easy money that flowed
to CorteIyOu and Babcock and the
other collection agencies of the great
est party on earth? Why, If such in
gratitude can be possible, there is NJ
end to the dangers that threaten the
whilom friends of the Republican
protection, contributes freely though
somewhat quietly to the campaign
fund, hasn'tsit a right to expect i'm,
munity and decent treatment from it,
benehciaries?
The advance man of the administra
ton says the Standard Oil will prob
ably be prosecuted under the Sherman
antitrust act, and also under the rate
regulation law Of this session Remem
bering the pleasant fate Of the pack
ers Just convicted, who paid fines tina
must have taken at least a days in
come from edCn OF LIlEUls Remembering
that no big criminal has yet been sub
jected to imprisonment under any con
viction by this administration, though
there have been convictions enough; re
membering the political oil which TIT
trust has always furnished as a lubri
cant for Republican campaigns, the or
binary man viii not feel alarmed abou
the Standard OILS fate or the fate o
any Of it's officials in this wideIy-her
aided prosecution. The corporation ma.
, be fined and so have to raise the pric
of oil q notch. Senator A1drich, father
, in-law Of young Rockefeller and bosom
) friend of Roosevelt, may be annoye
for a few moments by the presidentia
) activity; but the trust itself may rea
sonabIy expect to go on doing bushes
! long after the curtain has fallen o.
: the final act of the Greatest Show O.
} Earth. Limited