Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1908-05-05


ment of motives; plausible lies substi-
ing every mans cup. the whole
wretched comedy ending at last in
party humiliation little short of dis
aster.
In the midst of all thi sstrife, we
have had one man too great and too
wise to descend into our party
squabbles; one man whose influence
has been used to compose our difficult
ties and to promote the success of our
candidates. He has never spoken
an evil word of his fellow Republic
cans, nor planted thorn in any
mans pillow. He has never sacrificed
his party to win any reward for him
self, but throughout his public life
has made himself the obedient SER
want of the whole party and the whole
community. From this man, now busy
with the great affairs of the govern
ment at our capitol. bring this mes.
sage to the Republicans of Iowa: He
seeks the good will of all; he asks the
support of all. From the least to the
greatest among us there is a place in
the kindly heart of our great leader
for every Iowa Republican. When he
hears men standing up before the
people saying that the time for har-
mony is long past, he knows that
there must be some mistake about
that, for the governor, seeking his
second nomination, called upon him
to sit down with one Of the most ON
nous creations of the progressive i'm
agination, and write platform broad
enough to accommodate the whole
party, in order that the candidate
might escape the discomforts of I'M
profitable strife. 1t is said that condi-
tons have changed since the famous
peace conference, and that after
wards it became necessary to label
Republicans, calling some Corpora
ton tools" and others friends of the
people" describing one man as a
"standpatter" and another as pro
gressive;;" there are a good many evil
dences that these popular definitions
have been used, not so much to pro-
mote the general welfare as to for
ward the political interests of individ-
ual leaders.
There are some undoubtedly sincere
persons who think that hostility, or
even Indifference to the program
which the governor has arranged for
his own advancement, is conclusive
evidence that the demon Of corpora.
ton rule has not been thoroughly
cast out. The great mass of our peo-
pie, however, feel that it is unneces-
sary to any longer parade the virtues
of the governor under a banner mark
ed progressive" Or to designate as
'standpatters" those who revere the
name Of Senator Allison and feel
drawn to him all the more closely
on account of the infirmities which he
bears.
Not long since I read in the gov
ernor's organ at Waterloo this sent
ence: Allison, an old man in his
dotage, with one foot in the grave and
the other on the 'standpat' platform. "
Is it any wonder that republicans
throughout the state, by unnumbered
thousands, are turning away from a
candidacy which accepts without
shame such support as that? 1t is
the good fortune of the friends of
Senator Allison that they may appeal
to the record to say whether he ever
stood on any platform except the
platform of the republican party. And
While none of us stands very far from
the grave, so that not even the strong.
est ought to boast of his strength,
there is peculiar sanctity which IN
civilized communities is usually
sufficient to protect from sheer and
insult the gray hairs of good man.
venture to say there was never
any reason for dividing the republ!.
cans of Iowa into two classes and stir.
ing up strife between them. 1t may
be that there have been some differ.
ences of opinion, growing out of mems
conflicting ideas about public policies
but all these differences could have
been made the subject Of friendly de-
bate among the people, and brought
to satisfactory adjustment without
rending the party into histile factions
We had only to follow the leadership
OF Theodore Roosevelt to have escaped
most of our troubles. Fortunately fol
the party at large, his leadership was
accepted, and we approach the cleo
ton Of new president with few
traces of dissension in our ranks. But
even yet in Iowa it is thought wise
in order to give the governor of the
state certain individuality and tic
hold the allegiance of followers who
have, been led to think that they are
the guardians of progressive repub
llcanism, to perpetuate the notion that
the friends of Senator Allison are not
in sympathy with the progress which
is so much sought after. Such are
the eXigencies of Office seeking, wher:
speech is free and where printing is
free.
A large part of the senator's life
work has been the revision of tariffs
and the study of their administration
So true is this that it will be i'm
possible for the student of our indus
trial life to separate his name from
the progress which the nation has
made. Whenever you hear men WING
nave never spent week in bona fide
study of the tariff system seeking tc
discredit men like Senator Allison
who have been dealing with the sub
ject all their lives, you can easil,
understand the disgust which Noal
is said to have expressed for new
conner within the Gates of PEARL
talkative survivor of the Johnstowr
flood, who insisted on occupying thf
time by relating his own experience
with the high water