The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-06-13

SalilI. ~ DuTglar can 90 llUlie nufIn
if his presence in the premises is
known. Reasoning on the same line
it may be said that political boss
is most menancing when he pretends to
be in accord with the people This is
why Penrose is likely to be mischiev-
Gus now. He hates Roosevelt ''as the
devil hates holy water,n but he is pre-
tending II great friendship for the Presi-
dent He envies and despises Senator
Knox but assumes to he his most ar
dent champion. He is trying to de-
ceive the public by these false pre-
lenses in order to promote his own sell
fish ambitions. "Heu" Buch spoke
Penrose's sentiments as well as his
own.
Moreover the candidacy of Knox is
inspired by enmity against the Presi-
dent. rather than by friendship. The
President has announced his preference
for Taft as his successor and it would
be impossible to imagine man more
diametrically opposite to him than
Knox. Less than year and half
ago Roosevelt publicly denounced
Knox as one of "the railroad lawyers
in the Senate" who were striving to
defeat his policies and circumvent his
purposes. No man selects an agent
who is openly opposed to the principles
which he cherishes. Even lawyer
can't get the best results for u client in
whose cause he disbelieves. As mat
ter of fact Knox is the candidate of
those who are against Roosevet.
FALSE PRETENSE IN THE NOMINATION.
Praising Roosevelt, therefore, and
eulogizing Knox in the same platform
was absurd. But it was hardly more
farcical then the subterfuge through
which the candidate for State Treasur-
er was chosen. 1t was falsely pretend
ed that the Penrose machine was op-
posed to the nomination of Mr.. Sheath.
The truth is that the nomination was
promised to Mr., Sheath five months
ago by the managers of the Penrose
and with the knowledge and
assent of Penrose 1t was his reward
for being good" as chairman of the
House committee on appropriations
Inc Eouse committee on apprOpria-
tions is the instrument for log-rollingn
legislation. The machine icouldn't be-
gin to work its purposes without the
cooperation of the chairman of that
committee.
For example piece of vicious legis-
lation is needed by the maceine but
that sort of legislation is abhorrent to
the average self-respecting country
Every one of those men have
a hospital or some other charity to
take care of and they are taken in turn
to the chairman of the committee on
appropriations who assures them that
their cherished appropriation will be
be made certain if they ego along' Oh
the legislative serpent. OF course they
can't resist that kind of reasoning. 1t
touches too closely on their political
interests. If they want to come back
they must take care of the local hos
pital at any cost in cash or conscience
and they oblige the machine. 1t must
be said of Mr.. Sheatz that he played
fairly. He gave them all the appro-
priations they wanted.
But how about his own reputation
after the accounts ere balanced? In
order to help the machine Mr.. Sheath
engineered through the Legislature APP
preparation bills aggregating ten or
twelve million dollars more than the
revenues amount to. OF course the
Governor can cut the amounts down
and thus cheat the members who, as
one of them put it, "sOld themselves
body and sonl to the machine" for leg
islation they desired. Mr.. Sheath can
protest that he kept his pledge and it
isn't his fault that the revenues are de-
ficient. But his part of the agreement
was iniquitous, immoral and subver-
sive OF every principle of justice and
honor. 1t was a conspiracy to burden
the statute books with bad legislation
for the benefit of corrupt machine.
SHEATH WANTING IN QUALIFICATIONS.
1t revealed an absence of business in
telligence, also, which is an essential
qualification for the office of State
Treasurer. The first duty of the chair
man of the House committee on appro-
priations is to discover, Approximately
at least, the amount of the revenues
and make the appropriations come
within the limit. So far from doing
that Mr.. Sheath went about the
work much after the fashion that a
blacksmith would proceed to repair "A
watch. There We're several revenue
bills introduced, but Sheath paid no
attention to their progress. He went