Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1910-10-28


"The world wants men, true men,
who can neither be bought or sold.
Men who scorn to violate trust
Genuine gold.
1.-THE world wants men, pure men,
Free from the faint of sin;
Men whose lives are clean without
And pure within"
When Mr.. Roosevelt said in his Atlanta
speech that the men of New York state
had been found to sink all their political
differences, to be strong enough to put
out the bad men who had taken control
of the politics of New York, he said
something that should have universal
application in every state of this union.
Bad men are Oftentimes very smart
men, but their very smartness contrib
utes to their power to do harm. The
sharpest witted burglar is the most sue
cessful one, because he brings his intel
lect to the business.
II is therefore TO be expected that
the worst men in politics can accomplish
more of evil, and are, therefore, the
more dangerous.
1t is said of Mr.. Lorimer, the United
States senator who is now in the lime
light in the state of Illinois, that he was
considered a model man in the church
before and after he entered politics, until
the painful things that are now disclosed
came to light.
He bought votes right and left from
Democrats and Republicans. to gain this
coveted position in congress. He paid
tens of thousands of dollars to these
smaller men, who secured their own
elections to the Illinois legislature, to fill
their pockets with unholy gain.
They were on the make; they were
bribed with gold, and at the very time
when Mr.. Lorimer was holding up his
hands in the senate chamber of the Unit
ed States and declaring his own purity
and political honesty, some of these un-
derstrappers were confessing before the
court that they had taken big money to
vote for Mr.. Lorimer.
All the protestations of innocence offer
ed by Mr. Lorimer awaited nothing in the
presence of these terrible exposures, and
his colleagues, who were honest men,
despised the hypocrisy of the man who
posed before them as a gentleman In
manners and morals.
At this very time the papers are filled
with the exposures which connect some
of the richest men in New York state
with the race-track gambling bill which
was lately before the New York leg1sla-
ture.
These men Clipped in with many thou
sands of dollars to buy votes against this
bill. They were horsemen, kept big rae
ing stables, here and in Europe, and they
bought up these corrupt legislators like
a butcher buys sheep in the open market.
To say that these legislators are I'M
worthy does not cover the case at all.
They are unfit for any position in life
where honor and truth are at stake.
| FrSn- 4~fw~ An ANNGS NAGC
as we'll as in public affairs. and haz-
ard nothing when I say that man who
buys votes will sell his own vote to the
highest bidder.
1t is a well known fact that many
congressional elections are controlled by
the money tn at the successful candidate
furnishes to vote sellers, and 1t is high
time that honest men In every state
should take warning and regard the adj
vice which Mr.. Roosevelt gave in his
Atlanta speech with reference to the UNI
ion of good men against the bad ones
to save the country from wholesale
, ruin.
We have convincing evidence of the
danger which attends bad men in poll
tics in our sister state of Tennessee
A sorry governor coIleagued with some
desperately corrupt politicians and all
defied public opinion in their dare-devll
performances. There was a crisis, when
these desperadoes in politics assassinat-
ed ex-senator Carmack on public
street in Nashville, Tenn, and this gov
ernor was sufficiently controlled by
this desperate element to make him
pardon these assassins before they could
be punished for the crime of open, ora-
zen unprovoked murder.
Some have said 1t was politics run
mad, but it was more than that This
weak and perhaps equally guilty. COVER
nor was put in office to run rough-shod
over the decent people of Tennessee.
The good people of the state nave
united with al lpartis to put down these
bad men in politics and 1T Is a shame
hwen men of supposed political honesty
have given themselves over TO lhoe-
cent craftsmanship so that the Pattersons
and Coopers can call them under tnelr
foul banner of assassination and make
them obey their orders in the coming
election.
I predict that the Democratic party
in Tennessee will be eternally disgrace
ed If these so-called leaders unite win
these assassins of Senator Carmack IN
this open struggle for decent govern
ment. as against foul desperadoes III
present control of the states business
Tanmany in New York state has long
been regarded as the desperate elemeht
in the political history OF bHdI siS0S
commonwealth, and when 1t has oeen
seen and fully exposed that the race
track gamblers of New York paid down
huge money to buy these political or1oe-
takers. anybody and everybody VIII APP
nreciate Mr.. Roosevelts speech in Allan
ta. and estimate the warning as II de-
serves to be estimated
am here also to deprecate the use OF
money in popular elections and VIII
saw in this presence that the expense &C
counts rendered as legitimate are openly
sneered at whenever they are mentloneo.
Mr.. Lorimer doubtless furnished sup
nosed expense account and u was ofiset
nv his Sunday school contributions. put
that amount no more represented what
was really spent on bribe-takers 10 Sc
cure his election. than Governor Patter-
SONS official conduct In pardoning tne
assassins of Carmack represents pubic
oninion in the state of Tennessee
when politics is mixed up with any
sort of money then the bulwarks are
broken down and the tide of corruption
will flow in.
And the candidate who spends sucn Dig
money to secure his election, expects TO
make it back, and what goes over (When
wheel turns round) is sure to go un-