The Washington herald., 1908-01-06

New York, Jan. 5.-United States SEN
ator J. p. DolIiver, of Iowa. delivered an
address on "The new moral outlook" to-
day before a large meeting in the Or
pheum Theater. Brooklyn, held under the
auspices of the Central Branch of the
y. NJ. c. A.
tie deplored the fact that the people of
the United States were losing confidence
in our institutions and declared there was
absolutely no need of lack of faith in the
progress the country is making. There
was d ring Of optimism in every utter
ance. and he concluded by saying that
the brightest time in the history of the
nation would soon be at hand.
Il am going to speak" Senator Dol
liver began. ION the question, whether
on the whole our institutions are making
progress in the right direction or are GO
ing backward whether we ought to have
hope or join with those who despair
about the United States.
school of Criticism.
Within the last few years a criticism
has grown up against the entire fabric of
our government that the social and po-
lHical order which We inherited from the
founders Of this nation is being under
mined This school of criticism has ex-
aggerated the defects Of the government
until millions Of people are down-hearted
because they believe our institutions are
going to the bad. l don't think they are.
but 1 have friends who do. One of my
friends points to de Tocqueville. the
French traveller. who, in his book, Dem
ocracy in America, makes the assertion
that there was no corruption in Amer
lean politics. The Frenchman was here
in 1875, and my friend makes that the
landmark in tracing the moral decay Of
our country.
Another friend gave me list of
eighteen persons who were sent to Jail
for violation of the land laws. and he
believed that the dishonesty of these
scoundrels meant the collapse of the
moral fabric Of the country, On the CON
trary, it indicated the great awakening
Of the cOnsCiences Of our people under
the most superb leadership I have ever
known. Many business men seem to think
that the country has taken harm from
what the President has done, but others
believe that the market places should be
purged Of harmful influences.
Some time ago I found in the Treasury
Department report of an alleged de-
ialcation In the Land Office. While the
official in the Land Office had taken
S25aeC0, the receivers books showed
shortage also Of $4,000 The receivers
report went on 10 say that the defaulter
was wholly penitent aand had been led
astray by the examples OF his predeces-
sors; then the special commissioner. who
made an investigation recommended that
another receiver not be appointed. His
report read in part:
1 recommend that he be retained as
he has his hands ful and will not be dis
posed to steal any more
Lobbying of To-day.
Senator Dolliver then went on to say
that he resented that the lobbying of
to-day be represented as a peculiarly un-
manageable evil. He went back TO the
days before the civil war and told Of
the outrageous conditions that prevailed
in the legislature when corruption was
supposed to have never been.
a man without faith, he went on, ''in
our institutions cannot but believe that
progress has been upward and that the
moral level has risen. For twenty-seven
years 1 have witnessed the moral level
in Congress. When 1 first went 10 Wash
ington / saw conditions that wouldn't be
tolerated for minute to-day, Drunken
ness and gambling among the members of
both Houses and the Cabinet members
was common. l have seen men rolling
across the floor Of the House and the
Senate IN drunken condition. I remem-
Der when there was a public saloon al
tached to both Houses where the mem
bers saturated themselves with liquor.
To-day such a spectacle is imDossibla
i have seen the passing away of the
'canteen in the army, and no more. thank
God. viii we ever again see an American
boy, yes. member of the Y. NJ. G. A