The Vinita daily chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1902-1913, 1910-04-06

munlclpal character was new fOrk
City, as it was misgoverned some
twenty-five years ago. Under what
was known as the infamous Tweed
ring municipal corruption reached its
utmost limits. AS a predatory enter
prise it could not be excelled. Among
theologians of the period there was
no doubt but that the Devil himself
must have had hand in formulating
such an unexcelled system of thievery
and rottenness. 1t dominated the leg
islature of New York state; utilized
the agency of large wing of the pro-
Tossing church to assist in the robbery
of the people; assumed the garb of
charity in order to cover up its ini-
quitous practices, and its ramifica-
tions of greed were to be found in
every grade of the social, civil and
commercial world. A large portion of
the press was subsidized by the Judas
Iscariot corporation. 1t was the limit.
But the day of judgment came at last,
and Tweed, lineal descendant Of the
Beast that fiddled while Rome was
burning, was brought to the bar of
Justice, and the rule of Tammany was
broken for season. But this Tom
Cat of Satan had many lives, and the
citizens of New York failing to per-
petuate the Rule of Reform, are still
struggling with the problem, although
|Tammany will never dominate civic
affairs as in the olden days.
Boston, Philadelphia, st. Louis, Kan
sas City, San Fransico, and at present
Pittsburg, Pa, are in the birth throes
of civic reform The latter is having
a revelation of the depths to which
a city may descend when under the
power of partisanship. Truly the po-
litical bubonic plague is in poor old
Pittsburg. The stencil of it reaches
to high heaven" The columns of our
daily press have been full of the story
of it's municipal corruption. Revela-
tions have been made, and are in the
making, that should cause that city's
patriotic people to weep with shame.
The old Scriptural doctrine of total
depravity has it's strongest vindica-
ton in these manifestations of civic
rottenness. 1t appears that no mat
ter what the character of the man
who is placed in Office may be, if he is
there as a partisan he becomes cor
rupt or corruptible. 1t is evidenced
that the spirit of the cult of the gold
en- calf influences him sooner or later,
and he becomes the mere tool of a
class of men who have long since part
ed company with the good Angel of
Conscience. Pittsburg's men of busi-
ness, professional men, and, in many
instances, the ministry, had no time
to devote to an honest oversight of
municipal affairs. Unhindered the
tentacles of the Octapus grew and
reached out, until there was hardly a
spot that its foul suckers had not fas-
tened upon, hardly any portion of so
ciety it had not reached, poisoned. and
blighted.
But even this old world, grown hoary
in its sins and sorrows, when the bur
den becomes too heavy arouses itself
and seeks to shake off the oppressive
weight. For a season at least, the
good man, the real patriot, awakes
out of his profound slumber, especial
ly if the evil trenches upon his pocket
book too strenuously or affects the
good name of the city in which he
lives. For a certain pride inheres
even in a worldly mans soul, and SO
there comes about at last a revolution,
and ways and means are devised to
get rid of the ills that afflict
Des Moines, Iowa, is fine example
of city that was thus aroused to in
vent a method that would put an end
to municipal greed and grab. Mr..
Charles Edward RUSSELL in Every
body's shows how that city was mis-
managed for long years, no matter
whether the republicans were in power
or the democrats. He remarks that
For many years they were cursed
with a local government usually ex-
travagant and wasteful, sometimes
dishonest. and always grossly incom-
petent and futile. Again and again
good men. feeling the sting of these
conditions, and upheld by the sympa-
I thies of most of the people, set their
hands to the task of improvement
Without exception their efforts had
one dreary record of failure. Good
men seemed to become bad when they
took public Office; wise men to turn
foolish; efficient men to become sud
denly incapable, and honesty itself to