The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1910-05-26
A THREATENED HOLD-UP.

to read of the bad men of the west hold
ing up town or stage coach and levy
ing tribute at the muzzle of rifles or re-
volvers. AS civilization moved into the
western wilds, carrying law and order In
its train, and justice was administered
by Judge Lynch, unhampered by legal
technicalities and at no expense save for
a bit of rope or few charges of powder
and ball, the bad men took refuge in the
large cities, and with the aid and counsel
of INSCRIPTIONS practitioners of the law
they set about devising schemes for rob-
berry in less violent forms, marking for
their special prey the people of rural
communities, the widow and the orphan,
the men with a few hundred dollars saved
up against rainy day. Gaudy pamphlets
with such alluring titles as ga Guide to
Full Pockets" advertisements promising
''220 for l." and interest guaranteed
above the legal rate, were among the
inducements used to separate the I'M
suspecting investors from their money.
But however skillfully devised and care
fully guarded, such schemes sometimes
come within the scope of the Federal
law and a Fraud order puts the promot-
ars out of business, and they have to
seek fresh woods and pastures new.
Belfast IS now threatened with 'hold-
up that must not only affect the bust
ness interests of the city, but the COM
nQnity as whole. This purpose was
announced in the mayors personal organ
last week IN these words;
That there will be a universal shaking
up, that some business interests may suf-
fer temporarily, that citizens who hold
high THEN heads may wish to hide them
in the future, is but a part of the inevl-
table harvest when the sickle of truth
separates the wheat from the tares. -
The mayor calls upon friends through
out the county ito help boost up our cir
culation fast enough to make up for the
deficit we may suffer through the loss of
the advertising that will be withheld
from our columns through the influence
of the interests we are exposing" He
invites communications in aid of this
work, which he admits to be that of can
iconoclast' and promises to publish them
without signatures, so that, other ma
terial lacking, he may write them him
self and make anonymous attacks upon
individuals and firms who, acting within
their rights as American citizens, may
- l., 10
tribute to his pocket.
In the crusade he threatens to make
against the business interests of Belfast
and the peace and prosperity of our city
the mayor claims that he will have the
support of "a few enterprising mer-
chants and of "our readers scattered
throughout our field, including the mer-
chants of adjoining towns" Will those
whose business is threatened continue to
support this engine of destruction and
thus enroll themselves as enemies of
their fellow citizens and OF the commu.
nifty at large? Not if there is any spirit
of manhood left. The limit of endurance
must have been reached with the threats
made last week, although they are in
line with much that has gone before.
There are grounds for doubling the
sanity Of a man who would thus openly
declare his intention to hold up an entire
community in New England; but it is a
natural sequence of previous efforts to
divert trade from its accustomed chan
nels, to compel people to buy only where
ne dictates and to punish every one who
presumes to differ with him.
How the town of Stanton, Virginia,
appointed a general manager to take con-
troll of its administration is told by Rob-
ert 6. Hidden in the issue of Harper's
Weekly for May 21st. "Unable to rid
themselves of the aldermanic system and
adopt the more modern plan, says this
writer, 1.-THE people went as far as they
could. They abolished the old system
under which the city council appointed
committees to attend to the various de-
partments of city government and
created the Office of general manager
The general manager was given entire
charge and control of all the executive
work Of the city in it's various depart
ments and full control Of the heads of de-
partments and employees of the city,"
he whole system is vast improve
ment over the old PLAN said John
Crosby, the author of the new arrange
'nent. We believe that when it has
been thoroughly worked out it will prove
TO be the ideal system. About the only
people who object to our plan of govern
ment are the contractors Belfast has
been under one-man rule for several
years and has found it far from satisfac-
tory.
In his personal organ the mayor stated
that I'VE have letter from a former