Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1906-09-27

Ocfdtlc HidndSeTS, WnO are Appearing
! for money to enable them to elect {
Democratic House of Representa-
tives, in order to institute an invest
igation into the management of tht
Executive Departments. One woult
presume from the appeal that sucf
investigation would disclose all The
various forms of corruption thai
could be enumerated, for Chairman
Griggs, of the Democratic Congress
sional Committee, says:
GA Democrat can and will invest
igate every department of the Gov
ernment. With all these honey
combed with graft the edges o
which only have been touched by re
cent exposures and prosecutions
there will be a revelation of rotten
ness that will astound the country
and create the demand for a Demo
cratic Administration to clean the
Government workshop"
Such an issue is most important
though not novel one. 1t was
raised in 1884, and after Grover
Cleveland was elected with a Demo
cratic House and each Department
had a Democratic head, the most
thorough investigation was made
but with bare results. Not penny
had gone astray, not an official was
found to be corrupt,not single NAL
feasance was disclosed.
In 1898 the Democrats came into
full control and power of the gov
ernment, and again every nook and
corner was searched, and again it
was found that under Republican
management not cent had been
stolen, and not an official or clerk
had been corrupt.
But Republicans have not been
satisfied with Democratic investiga-
tions. There might at any time be
found the same human nature, the
same weakness in small percent
age of government officials and en-
ployes as is found elsewhere. So
when certain irregularities were sus-
pected in the Post Office Depart
ment, few years ago, it was Re
publican President who called i'm (.
Democrat to join Republican in
the investigation, and when a male
factor was found, it was "A Republi-
can Attorney General who prosecu-
ted, and a Republican Administra-
ton that weeded out the fraud
wherever discovered. Then, in the
InteriorDepartment, when the frauds
in the local land offices were sus-
pected, Investigations were institut-
ed and regardless of the social stand
ing, or political position or influence
of the person or persons believed
guilty of having committed fraud, it
was a Republican Cabinet officer and
a Republican Department of Justice
that instituted trials and secured
conviction and punishment. But
this is not all. 1t sometimes hap
pens that departmental officers and
heads of bureaus ignore or miscon-
true the law respecting public eX
with no wrong motive,
or they may be guilty of practices
that tend or possibly result in eX-
travagant expenditure.
The record of the 59th Congress
shows that it is not necessary for the
American people to jeopardize their
present prosperity by electing a
Democratic House, for the purpose
of inquiring into the expenditure of
public funds and checking abuses of
this kind. Under the present sys-
tenn of framing appropriation bills,
it is impossible for fraud, or inten-
tional or unintentional error to exist
in the expenditure of public funds,
without being exposed.
a Democratic minority, or Re-
publican minority, has the same
power Of investigation into all mat
ters pertaining to public expenditure
that IA majority party has. During
the last session of Congress the rep
resentatives of both parties ON the
House Appropriations Committee
exercised this power to the fullest
extent by closely scrutinizing all es-
Inmates for public expenditure, and
inquiring into the expenditure of APP
propriations previously made. New
er were the estimates more closely
scrutinized, and the expenditure of
previous appropriations more closely