The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1908-10-15
THE POLITICAL CAMPAIGN-THE
PARAMOUNT ISSUE


his judgment, they r,.ld vote for Mr..
Bryan, the Democratic candidate; and
it has asked Mr.. jams Cleham Phelps
Stokes to tell them why III his opinion,
they should vote for Mr.. Debs, the So
cialist candidate, and it hopes to print
these articles in following issues /
propose in four articles to tell the
readers why, in my opinion, they
should vote for Mr.. Taft, the Republi-
can candidate. In these articles /
shall consider successfully:
The Paramount Issue.
The Fundamental Issue.
The Constitutional Issue.
The Personal Issue.
The Moral Issue is the Paramount
Issue. The first question for the vot-
er to ask himself is What can do to
promote honesty in public and private
life? This is more important than
railway rate regulation, control of the
trusts, tariff revision, currency re-
form, colonial administration, or pub
licity of campaign finances. These
political questions are chiefly import
anly as their solution involves the pro-
motion of public and private honesty.
Law cannot make people honest.
But law can, as Mr.. Gladstone has
pointed out, make virtue easier and
vice more difficult. Because l believe
the election of Mr.. Taft will give an
added strength to the partially awak-
ened American conscience, because
believe it will promote public and
private honesty and make public and
| private dishonesty more difficult, /
hope to see Mr.. Taft elected.
The latter half of the nineteenth
century was one of appalling and ap-
parently increasing corruption, both at
home and abroad. In Russia it was
almost as pestilential as in that of the
Ancient Regime in France. 1t was not
so gross in other European countries
but in England alone was it brought
under control and made diminishing
vice. Local causes, superadded to
world conditions, contributed to in
crease corruption in America. The era
following a great war, always charac-
terized by lowered public con-
science; the influx of a great army of
immigrants, unframed either intellec-
tually or morally for self-government;
the sudden enfranchisement of mil
lions of ex-slaves, who had never
learned in slavery, Thou shall not
steal; the unprecedented growth in
population and in wealth, melting tC
gambling in all its forms; the expert
ment of partnerships between the gov.
eminent and the railways, entered into
for motives sometimes of patriotism
sometimes of pelf; the discoveries Of
gold, oil, and copper, and the intense
struggle for possession which the dis
coveries melted in INSCRIPTIONS men
and the inheritance from motto, "T6
the victors belong the spoils"-al
tended to intensity the forces of greco
and to lower the standards of integ
; rity. Public corruption reached it,
apparent climax during the second ad
ministration of President Grant, bu
the housekeeping which followed
was spasmodic and superficial. Wha
President Garfield might have dom
but for his tragic death we can onl,
surmise President Cleveland raise'
the standard of public morals, but h
was better fitted to oppose the en-
croachments of new dishonesties thai
to ferret out the old ones. Presiden
Mckinley was as honest a man as eve
sat in the presidents chair; but Pres
! ident McKinley's time and energy wer
, all absorbed, first in vain effort t.
; secure international bimetallism, mex
l to keep the nation from lapsing into
, disastrous and dishonest silver mono
: metallism, and lastly to carry to
successful issue the Spanish war.
Y When, therefore, Mr.. Roosevelt sue
t ceeded Mr.. Mckinley in the presiden
4 tial Office, he inherited with that of
flee the results of half century O
t growth in commercial and politica
d corruption, partly due to world condi
: tons, partly to local conditions. Hi
r experience as United States Civil Ser
: vice Commissioner had given him
t knowledge of the nature and extent Q
t political corruption and the method
s of the corruptionists which could hav
q been gained in no other way so thor
8 oughly. His experience as police com
9 missioner of the city of New York ha
I brought him into direct conflict wit
t probably the most skillful and tn
: most corrupt political organization Il
the country. His experience as COVER