Cresco plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1913-1945, 1914-04-17
Our Washington Letter.

l
the Iowa Republican papers that Gov.
Clark withdraw from the ticket before
the June primaries with mixed emo.
tions. Some of the Republican mem.
bars, when they have not been talking
for publication, have been limiting for
some time that it was mistake fol-
Gov. Clark to 60 back into the race,
when such . course would compel the
Republicans to put up a defensive
campaign. and not only that but q
campaign in which it will be mighty
hard to make satisfactory deferse
for the tax increase the Iowa farmer
is paying this year, with nothing par.
ticularly that he can see to show for
the additional taxes he is paying out.
The Democrats, of course, are not so
particular that Clark should withdraw.
They are perfectly satisfied that he
should remain and 60 through the bit
ter primary contests now getting un.
der way. Evidence that the Republi-
can leaders realize the seriousness of
the crisis facing the candidates on the
state ticket is indicated by an editorial
urging Gov. Clarke to stand by his
guns which appeared in Des Moines
Register and Leader few days ago.
IF Gov. Clarke was assured of de-
feat at the primary by overwhelming
vote, :" that paper said "he could not
retire with credit to himself or to the
state. 1t would be an act of political
poltroonry. His name is associated
with what has been done. To walk up
courageously to defeat is one thing, to
abandon the cause in the thick of
the fight is quite another. 1t is not a
matter of personal choice with the
governor; it is matter of standing by
his guns and completing his course
with honor. Nor would the party which
has entrusted him with the office and to
which he appeals for vindication gain
anything. For better or for worse the
Republicans of the state are commit.
ted to the acts of his administration,
and they can no more get Ifrom under
than the Democratic candidates for
Congress in November can get from
under the general record of the nation
al administration.
The Democratic candidates are smil-
ing, of course, because they have sup.
ported President Wilson's legislative
program in its entirety and they have
found this course approved by their
constituencies.
So the Republicans are limbering up
their old stock tariff arguments and
offering an occasional prayer for that
panic that s. perversely refuses to en-
gulf the country, as they promised it
would. Whenever everything else fails
there is still that old stuff about Cox
ey's and Kelley's armies to crate a..
bout. 1t won't make any difference
that Kelley has been thrown in Jail by
q Democratic administration, where he.
should have been long ago. and that
Coxey has been back in Washington
within the week, stopping at the New,
Willard.hotel, where princes and poten-
tates live in Washington. and where
rooms cost small fortune, and that he
rode in taxis about the city. There
must be some issue to raise the dust so
the voters won't think of their increas-
ed taxes, 80 they won see that the
Wilson administration is plain, old.
fashioned. Democratic administration,
working hammer and tongs sixteen
hours a day to settle some of the old
problems that will give the plain people
of the country something of squarer
deal.
In the absence Of anything else to
cheer them up some Of the political
forecasters attempted to show that the
defeat of O'Byrne, the Democratic
candidate for Congress in the seventh
New Jersey district, was blow leveled
ct the administration. O'Byrne lost
this district by 5000, but President
Wilson when he ran for Governor of
New Jersey lost it bv 1000, and Gov.
Fielder, the Democratic Governor elect
ed last November by $4,000, lost the
district By 5000. The only observation
Chairman Doremus. Of the Democratic
Congressional Committee, would make
49,, TIT :, ,"a,trong Republican district
y ,9'a|Ei Republican i. i -. intePd1SSa
to do when gerrymandered. The twelfth
Massachusetts district, the cane dsy,
s l tddaD e AZ. r. S;opgss. haeest
chpestts il one Of the greatest Of MANI.
featuring statss. II tie tariff lasiwl lad
proved s. disastrous to the i, mn,.a,nn,uIfas.
turing industries 81 the country ii
eject would have been reflected in The
Yaasachusetts election, but I vote Of
approval w given the tariff there.
Another sidelieht on the tariff which
upsets the contentious Of the Republic
ans that woe would follow its enact.
$780, .--F"1-----r +