Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1908-04-29

are somebody's man, and 1t has only
become necessary to popularlze the
pretentions of few leaders in order
to fill thes state with a swarm OF an
nouncements, bearing a significant
witness to the fact that the pay roll
and the cause of progress work to-
gether. At this point the great crisis
arrives in the life of the nation. And
so we have been treated for years with
the same spectacle which we witness
now, a bogus division in the republican
ranks of Iowa, kept alive for nominal
ton purposes only.
My fellow citizens, this is beaut1-
full spring to put a final quletus on
this time honored fraud.
AIIison's Long Service.
A gain and again I have seen the
shadow pass over his face as his eye
caught some thoughtless paragraph
which thrust upon his attention the
fact that out in Iowa, among the peo-
pie whose interests he had made his own
for so many years, there were men
deliberately measuring the remnant OF
his span of life and coolly counting up
the chances OIL his IeCONSlS.
There is much force, altho l do not
think the argument is at all conclu-
sive, that men ought to quit the en-
ployment which has occupied them be-
fore old age overtakes them. In other
words that having done their fair
share of the worlds work they ought
to welcome the privileges of the re-
tired list. That is certainly so of those
occupations which require physical
strength, tho there are exceptions ever
to that, like the case Of Won Moltke at
the head of the Prussian army of in
vasion, or in an epoch making battle
in earlier times, of which Macauley
says that if the hospitals of Europe
had been searched it would have been
hard to find two more helpless inval-
ids than the llunchback dwarf who led
the fiery onset of France and the
asthmatic skeleton who covered the
slow retreat OF England.
In those departments of life where
the faculties of the mind require less
reinforcement from mere physical
strength, the rule becomes less and less
applicable until at length in the realm
of craftsmanship there is room always
for the wisdom Of the sage and de-
mand, not always we'll supplied, for the
tempered prudence of old age. 1t will
not be denied by anybody familiar with
the recent history of the United States
that Senator Allison stands apart from
all his contemporaries by the excep-
tional service which he has rendered
to his countrymen. So that if the
question were merely one of continu-
ing him in his office on account of the
public need for his services the force
OF the argument in his favor would be
irresistible.
But j do not conceal from my re-
publican friends in Iowa that Senator
Allison's case before our people stands
upon a higher ground even than that
1t is not necessary to argue the ques-
ton whether his candidacy was well
or ill-advised. The question for Iowa
is: How shall we deal with this man.
ment or rejection? 1t is a question that
concerns Governor Cummins and the
senator less than it does US. II he had
ever failed in his devotion to our peo-
pie or they in their devotion to him
our duty might not be so plain. He
has not been a man prone to exagger-
ate his Importance or to think of him
self as Indispensable to the public serv-
ice He has borne himself with such
gentle and kindly tolerance of Others
that in the days of his strength no
man thought of such thing as rails
ing his hand against him and so his
people have followed him with pride
and good will down to the very borders
of the river. His adversaries Of today
professed to be his friends and he en-
tered upon the candidacy which we
are here discussing with the assurance
that the whole state desired with loving
hands to put the crown Of their ap-
prevail upon his public life.
Touch of Sentiment.
Here is the situation from which no
man among us can escape. 1t. has been
said that considerations such as these
are sentimental. That is true, and 1T is
because men feel the touch of senti-
ment that they are called civilized as
distinguished from savage among
whom sometimes the old people were
put to death in order to avoid incon-
veniences in moving the camp.
The question is not, what are we go
ing to do for Senator Allison, but what
are we going to do for ourselves, TOY
the prestige Of the state, for the guild
ance and inspiration of our children
when we have passed from these
scenes? If the good name Of Iowa Is
not involved in this controversy, how
does it happen that the American
press, without distinction Of party, has
felt called upon to admonish us
against the course which some have
chosen to follow? What does it mean
when the greatest living editor, Henry
Watterson, who told me the other day
that he had never had more than a
passing acquaintance with Senator Al
lison, and whose good will to the gov
sernor, tho of a different party, he does
mot hesitate to .avow, used these words
in an editorial in the Courier-Jour-
nal:
"The Journal has a sneak