Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1914-05-25
THE MEllENs OF IOWA.


voting booths on June I and again in
November, they should frst Of all ex
anime carefully that scroll OF current
history which is destined 10 live tor
many years il future under the title,
The Mellen TESTIMONY" Starting al
this point the scroll! should be slowly
turned backward.
First and sorenos, It will be found
that the Aellen story Is startling and
shocking revelation Of high finance
corruption. a railway IN one case was
purchased for s35.ooo,ooo when it was
in fact worth not TO exceed $4,000, 900.
in another case one and a quarter mil
lion dollars wen, to a lot Of public
officials IN New York for securing fran
chise rights, which, Il right and for the
public good, they should have had for
the asking. And II wrong and against
the best interests 0. the public, they
should not have been had at any
price.
Turning the scroll back over a few
years, and /, will be found that in every
state in the country there have been
groups Of politicians and financiers
seeking 10 do on large or small scale
the very things that Morgan did thru
Mellen in the case OF the New Haven
railway. This is nothing short OF re-
fined Captain Kidd buccaneering. II Is
making a farce Of civilization. 1t is
making OF the fruits OF civilization,
Gods bounties, as the chuTchmen might
say, a plaything FOX high brow fnan-
ciers rather than a means Of promoting
human veal thru service to all the
people.
Opposed 70 these groups Of spoilsmen
the unfolding scroll will reveal a de-
termined band OF public officials who
have met and opposed the Mellens and
| the Morsans at every turn in the road
Conspicuous among these will be found
| the names of Roosevelt OF New York,
LaFolle.,e OF Wisconsin, Cummins OF
Iowa. Folk Of Missouri, Norris Of Ne
braska, Clapp Of Minnesota and Stubs
OF Kansas. This group Of men, with
their followers, have steadfastly stood
for the rights Of the public, and against
the exploiting Of the Morgane. 1t Is
pertinent to recall In this connection
an incident which occurred when Cum
Minis was governor OF Iowa. Under
the leadership Of Senator Aolsbery OF
| Louisa county, then and still part
| Of the Burlington reservation. bill
had passed the Iowa legislature. whid9a
| was called the Molsbery merger. This
bill would have made Iowa fertile ield
for the operation Of railway exploiters.
The effect would have been to make
1t possible to do, under the cover OF
! Iowa laws, what has since been done to
the Rock Island and New Haven sys-
TENS under charters from other states
When this bill went up TO Governor
| Cummins 1t was vetoed. The governor
told Its promoters then just what the
measure provided for. It wore the
livery Of business enterprise. It wal
| supported on this ground. In Vetoine
the bill Cummins told Its sponsors thai
he was serving the people Of Iowa. ant
he proposed to remain faithful to thet'
interests.
This incident furnishes the keynote
to his whole public career. He hal
been one Of the stumbling blocks in thu
way Of such men an Morgan and Mel
len. On the other side Of tho picture
the Morgans have had In public lif'
as their active and efficient aides sucl
men az Plat, Depew, Aldrich ant
Penrose.
The predictions Of Cummins when HI
vetoed the Molsbery merger are n
verified IL the LeIlsn Testimony. HI
Twas not playing politics in this work