The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1909-12-13

Michigan Arena: There are few
crimes more gross than the deliberate
betrayal of an accepted public trust.
The obligations assumed by a chosen
servant Of the people are as sacred as
they should be inviolate. The AFFAIRS
Of the vast American nation are In
the stewardship OF a selected few.
We make men Of political promin-
ence- absolutely create them and ex-
alt them to office--by the exercise OF
the ballot. Quite as frequently as
we make men of worth to the nation
do we make mistakes. In the latter
event we must quaff the cup we
| brewed. What is done cannot be un-
done-save by the expiration OF an
official term.
II is distinctly to our interest then.
that we watch with jealous eye the
private and Official behavior of the
men whom we ourselves selected.
Each to mis- deserts according the
measure Of faithfulness--the worthy
our continued confidence, and the un-
worthy an Oblivion from whence they
may not return to misuse Office for
private ends.
Congressman AISLE T. Gronna. il now
serving his third term as a member
from North Dakota. During all the
years In which he has drawn his SAL
airy and basked in, the reflected glory
Of his high office he has been q david
Ter and an idler insso far as comforting
any real service to the public is con-
ney &14s-
member from North Dakota the con-
gressional records have nothing of
moment to record. MIR. Gronna did
not possess the ability to legislate
wisely-neither the inclination-did
not, does not and never will. But in a
marked degree he possesses the cheap
talents of the mountebank-assum
profundity, petty craft and a keen
eye for the spectacular.
1t was Gronna who, in the winter
or 1S06@19o7, during the brief snow
blockade. appealed to the president
for aid-and pictured his own state as
a blizzard swept waste where cold and
hunger were wreaking a terrible toll
Of suffering. Actual want or serious
deprivation did not exist--and the
damage wrought by the elements was
small in comparison TO the damake
accomplished by Gronnas SANDER. His
efforts at advertisement In this
single instance effectuaIly frightened
away eastern homeseekers and in
vestors, and bequeathed our state an
undeserved reputation that only years
win overcome.
1t is Gronna who now brazenly poses
as a progressive republican and in
surgent-Gronna, VINO owes his career
to Mckenzie, whose creature and can
didate he has always been. In the
days of gang regime he was counted.
in the halls Of congress and the in
tricacies of private life, as one of the
sturdy old guard who maintained
without dissent or question: the su-
preTnacy Of corporate rule In public
affairs. He is quoted as expressing
gratitude to Mckenzie for favors be-
slowed upon nim-public office, private
prosperity and the ambiguous prefix
of honorable" National affairs at
washington were not of such par
amount Importance, that he could not
leave his duties in congress at Nc
Kennels request and hasten home
ward TO employ his talents in the
strengthening OF gang breastworks for
the impending campaigns. He made
no secret Of his shameful subordina-
ton to q will other than the peoples
his papers Haunted 1t, condoned IT.
reviled his opponents, and in every
way assisted Gronna in the pleasant