The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1907-01-13

| sire Tor or 9ntagonlsm against any can
didate for the Secretaryship of the
| Treasury on account of his particular
| friendship FOR themselves or their ri
walls. will be most shocking to the SEN
| sibilities of Americans. Heretofore
there have been charges, more or less
vacuous and sometimes apparently sup
ported, that Secretaries of the Treasury
have been more than solicitous in be-
| half of the general interest Of Wall
| street; but this has been defensibe By
| high financiers on the ground that the
preservation of stability and the avoid
9nce of panic were Of moment to the
whole country-that all citizens were
| equally interested. that while the act
itself was directly performed for, as it
WAS obtained by, the moneyed men of
the metropolis, it was helpful IN pro-
portion to every farmer and every ar
tisan in the land. So far then, the
friendliness and amenabeness of the
Secretary of the Treasury to the inter
ests of finance have not justified any
suspicion of insincerity or of discrim-
| mating and pernicious favoritism, But
when one of the most powerful finan-
cial combinations that the world has
ever seen makes war upon a Presiden
tial appointee to the Secretarysh,p Of
| the Treasury. lest the new official shall
| ntilize the power of his great Office to
advance its rivals In the railway and
money world situation is developed
which must awaken the indignant pro
| test Of the American people, If Mr..
Cortelyou is in such close relation to
| one group and is so much their servitor
! that he would aid them to the disad-
| vantage Of the other group; every man
| in public life who knows the facts
| should protest, and should continue to
| protest until Mr.. Cortelyou shall be re-
moved, In all probability such is not
the ease; and therefore no such remedy
should be invoked. But that leaves
but one other possible alternative;
namely, that the rival financial empe
rors desire to use tho Secretary of the
| Treasury, each one for his own selfish
ends and each one against the interests
of the other; and this demonstrates a
| danger in finance, a contempt for the
rights of the people, disregard of the
| dignity Of the executive Office, and
| an overbearing determination to make
| government an adjunct Of the selfish
purpose Of the modern billionaires; and
| against this condition, which is the
more likely of the two, the whole peo-
pie should protest in emphatic tones.
| Secretary Cortelyou came into dan
| gerous affiliation with certain financial
interests when, as chairman of the Ma
tional committee, he procured contri-
buttons from life insurance companies
and the trustees of other funds, belong
ing to the people, without the consent
of the people. But be merely followed
an example and there was attaching
| to him no taint of personal dishonesty.
| Following his successful campaign by
means of the funds thus procured, he
was elevated to the Cabinet; but there
is no apparent justification for the sup
position that President Roosevelt be-
slowed this high advancement upon him
as reward for any improper relation
with financial contributions.
Ii is net to be supposed that the
President would give such an important
Office to n man who was not competent; /;
it is not supposed that Mr.. Cortelyou
is lacking in fine sense of integrity;
and. unless better evidence than the
jealousy of rival Croesuses shall ap-
pear, it is not possible for any fair
| minded man to admit that Secretary
George B. Cortelyou would use the
| United States treasury to assist Rookie
feller against Hill or Hill against
Rockefeller, or either or both of them
against the interests of the people of
this Republic.