The record. [volume] (St. Maries, Idaho) 1913-1918, 1915-05-14
THE WHITED SEPULcHRE OF
IDAHO STATE POLITICS.

assessed on a plea of guilty in
stead of severer penalties, suits
the Tribune as we'll as any other
procedure The same can be
said as to the cases against other
state officials, whatever the sub
sequentadiudication may be. No
body is thirsting for the raw head
and bloody bones Of a mereiless
and a colOriess code, nobody is
demanding the laws specified
pound of flesh, nobody wants TO
see men who are perhaps not
criminals at heart condemned to
penal confinement or servitude,
if there is another and better
way out. Probably the better
way out in these special circum-
stances is the way that has been
taken, all things considered.
At the same time when that
has been done the main question
has not been touched. root or
branch. What sort of political
life, of parlyism, of citizenship,
of institutions is the state devel-
Oping that cOrrupts, betrays and
destroys so much manhood as
the state house of Idaho is COM
ing to do? What is the funda-
mental defect and how can it be
apprehended and dealt with? Is
there or is there not sufficient
everyday good sense and good
purpose among us to approach
a serious and consuming evil
with sturdy and resolute hands,
to the end that the state may
again lift up its head with pride
and confidence?
We say the Generalization goes
further and deeper than that at
tached to the men who have been
caught and exposed. During
the last campaign much was
made, pro and con, of a publish
ed letter from Senator Borah
urging upon his party leaders
that the then state treasurer
should be removed from the
ticket, because of known miscon-
duct in office. These leaders
would do nothing of the sort but
proceeded instead to conspire in
the interest of the derelict, i'm
order that he might again win
Office and be continued i'm a
highly honorable and response
BILE place in the public service.
There are circumstances that in
dictate they even involved them
selves in a culpable transaction
for the purpose of hoodwinking.
deceiving and misleading the
state and retainging great
scoundrel in public power. There
is more of the same sort.
Usually these official culprits,
because of the same sort of innu-
ence, are told to go and sin no
more, are told so by iuries, courts
judges and all the other political
powers. But every poor wretch
that peddles a bottle of beer or a
pint of cheap whiskey finds the
public tribunals merciless and in
exorable. The source of all
civic and social virtue in the state
can be posoned and degraded, the
integrity of the states institu-
tions invaded and vitiated the
very fountains of public honor
security and justice undermined
and debilitated, and the coulinu-
ing treason is considered venia
and to be overlooked. Only the
needy, friendless, hopeless anC
suffering nobody is to feel the
weight of public opinion and tn,
heavy hand of legal reprisal.
What or where is the funda-
mental defect in a body polite
whose vision has gone so fan
awry as Idaho's has undoubtedly
gone? We seem here to hav,
every mechanism and every in
ducement that should promote
free and a high public life Their,
is woman suffrage, direct pri-
maries, Prohibition, stringent
anti-gambling laws, abatement
laws, anti-nepotism laws anC
every other legislative device tina
could give effect to the best as
piratiOns of an educated anC
prosperous constituency, but thu
mail harvest so far has been, no
merely a nest of state hous,
crooks and petty larcenists, bul
a system that defends and sus-
tains their perfidy and dishonoi
and rejoices in their immunity
and prosperity.
Who is there wise enough tc