Mower County transcript., 1908-10-07

FARMER BEN'S
COLUMN
50 our egotistical dem governor
johnson is travellin' round tellin' what
a big and only great man he is on &C.
count of what the repnbs hav done.
He can't lay his finger on one teeny
thing he has done hisself. It's all what
the repub legislator and the repub offic-
ials hav done. All he's done has been
to put the state to lot of increased
expense by larger list OF otis seekin'
dems who are in oftis by his appoint
ment. johnson has perfect diarrhea
of words tellin' of his own superb ex.
cellence and maxim dirty lowlived at
tacks upon his opponent who has done
more for the state of Minnesota in one
year than johnson ever did in sixty
years. johnson amt explainin' how
his board of dem ,equalizers came to
take off a million dollars valuation cd
of Minneapolis and St. Paul stocks
and added it to the farmin' valuations.
He amt explainin' about his oil inspec'
tors turnln' back into the state treas
ury thousands of dollars of illegal fees
they had to cough up. It's just all
johnson with him.
When it comes down strictly to busi-
ness, it's the repubs who hav done all
that makes Minnesota so renowned and
great and glorious. It's the repubs
that thought out and established the
state prison twine factory and the new
farm machinery plant there. It's tho
repubs who put up the gross earnings
tax on the railroads. It's the repubs
who are responsible for the board Of
control and it's savings. It's the repubs
who founded the soldiers home at
Minneapolis. It's the repubs who are
drainin' our wet state lands and pro-
teciin' our forests and exposin' our
timber thieves and cod1fyin' onr laws
and givin' us 2-cent railroad fares and
purifyin' our foods and investigatin'
our trusts and fightin' 'em. And in
all that's of real progress and benefit
our big-head governor has had no more
to do in accomplishin' than a cat has
in causin' the phases Of the moon
He's just all wind and brag and lie
Just wish that some fire marshals
had wisdom and push aud honesty and
pluck enuf to investigate to the bottom
the cause of the big forest fires few
weeks ago. It's an ugly rumor that's
abroad and it does look strange that
all at once fires started and ragged in SO
many different places hundreds Of miles
apart. Now it is darkly limited that
lost of fires are started on purpose by
the big timber tcespassers who go on
and steal over big areas Of state and
government lands and then set fres.so
as to hide their stealin's. But where
all this time are the watchers of public
property? The millionaire timber
thieves amt any too good to set such
fires to hide their rascality and add to
their millions of illgotten gains. It's
funny anyhow that fires should spring
up all in day i'm so many differan
places so fur distant from each other.
Why don't braggy johnson set his'men
to ferret out this mystery? :.
80 '''
I don't care how much that man
Hearst cuts away at the big rascals in
both parties so long as he reveals ras-
cality and greed and Doodle and evil.
Foraker is a dead duck and Haskell,
Bryan's treasurer, has pulled out to
escape the effect of Hearst's disclosures
and Hearst says he's got some more
things up his sleeves fer later develop
ings on congressman. tell you if any
congressman are gettin' SIC, 400 salar-
les from the Ubiquitous powder trust
and the lumber trust and the. paper
trust and the other combines so as to
keep hands off of the tariff and to Civ
'em continuin' monopoly, let the jig be
showed up no matter who is winged.
I tell you congressman can't get to be
worth half million dollars in a dozen
years just from his salary. He gets
rich from boodlin' in improper ways.
Hearst is fearless chap and l just
hope he will show up whatever there
Is. Amt it a shame that rich con-
gresham can make 80 much money
and buy up his deestrick every time by
spendin' a big wad of political Doodle?
. . o
can't help thinkin' that it ain't