Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-11-28
perth to all bosses. big and little.

an lncalculable interest in putting
these quarrels and contentious of the
last few years behind them We
/ ought to train up generation of in
dependent thinkers in Iowa politics.
! We need no programs issuing for out
| approval out Of secret conclaves. We
do not desire to have the Offices
which ought to dignity our public life,
made the subject of traffic and barter
and private negotiations running over
term of years. The time has come
| to deliver the state from these evil
tendencies. AS our young men come
forward eager for their part in the
service in their day and generation.
would have them take into their con-
fidence, not a few men, not coterie
Of office brokers cheerfully admins
tering the oath Of allegiance to it's fav-
orites, but the whole body of their
fellow citizens, never more anxious
than now to recognize ability and to
reward manliness and sterling worth.
Ever the Servant of Iowa People.
One Of the discouraging features of
American public life is the fleeting
character of the reputation 1t makes
and the feeble impression which even
its large achievements leave on the
fact that young men who were not
born when Senator Allison's service
In congress began have exposed then
selves to ridicule by demanding 10
know what ne has done to merit the
reverence which our people have for
him makes it appropriate, although
hardly necessary, to speak at some
length of his record from the time the
old Dubuque district first elected him
to the house of representatives III
1852; for it Is upon this record that
he will be judged Ly the historian.
Though from his first entrance into
the congress he identified himself
with all the great questions which
were debated there;S yet he has al
ways been, even in the time of his
most pressing labors, in special
sense. the servant of our Iowa people.
From the first congress in which he
served, no Iowa community has ap-
pealed to Senator Allison in vain for
help in matters of local concern and
not even the humblest petitioner has
ever been turned away without his
attention and his assistance. The
fact that our state. aside from the
construction Of the public buildings
and the Improvement of the rivers on
its borders has had few direct rela-
lions with federal legislation, such as
public land questions, Indian ques-
lions, questions of irrigation and for
estry: in short the questions which
absorb the activities of public men in
other states, has been peculiarly
/ favorable to the development of
career like that of Senator Allison
Yet when such questions as the pay
ment Of the indemnity due the pioneer
settlers Of the Des Moines valley for
the failure of the title to their home
stead arose, he did not hesitate to put
his commanding influence into the
scale in their behalf. He was, from
the beginning, student of those ma
tional problems which constitute the
chief business of modern govern
ments. 1t required only one session
of congress to bring him to the front
and make his appointment to the most
important committee Of the house, the
committee on ways and means, newt.
able. 1t was upon that great commit
tee, In the most troublesome times
the treasury of the United States has
ever seen, that he laid the foundations
Of that profound knowledge Of the Ma
tfonal economy which afterward made
him the adviser of presidents and the
] leader of the senate He participated
In all the important legislation relat-
ing to the finance Of the government,
including the refunding Of the public
debt, the remission Of the most bur
densome Of the internal revenue taxes,
and the readjustment of the tariff
schedules. He was the author of the
Internal Revenue Law Of 1868, which
has ever since in its essential features
been In force. Prior to the passage Of
this act, although the tax on distilled
spirits was two dollars a gallon, the
revenue collected was only fourteen
million dollars year. while during
the first full year of the operation nf
the new law: with the tax Of distilled
spirits reduced to seventy-fve cents a
gallon, the revenue through the elm
nation of frauds in its collection,
amounted to thirty-six million dollars.
To those who are familiar with the
difficulties which the government has
had from the beginning in the collec-
ton Of its internal revenue, this legis-
latton of which Senator Allison was
the author, shows his mastery of the
problems of practical craftsmanship;
for while some changes have been
made In that act since 1t was passed,
the principles upon which it was
framed have remained undisturbed for
nearly forty years. It was that and
kindred labors while member of the
house which drew from Mr.. Blaine
this ungrudging tribute, when he came
to write the history of his own times:
For industry, good Judgment, strong
common sense. and fidelity to every
trust, both public and private. Mr.. AL
lison had established an enviable rep.
utation." Upon his first entrance in
to the senate was assigned to the com.
mittee on appropriations and the COM
mittee on Indian affairs, of which he
shortly afterward became chairman
His Singular Genius for Constructive
Legislative Tasks.
1t was during the first session VI
the Forty first congress that an op-
portunity came to him to illustrate his
singular genius for constructive legis-
lative tasks. The District Of Column