The Newark journal., 1920-05-20
POLITICIANS ARE REPEATING THE SAME OLD STORY.

those who have taken the time and trouble to read them will recall that they have read and heard the same things before, or to be more accurate, for the last ten or fifteen years.
 The chief points in the speeches that have been made is that the state is in helluya bad fix and that each particular candidate thinks he is the only "Johny- Pea-Juice' to straghten it out The first point we think is we'll talk en- The state is in a helluya bad fix and grow ing worse, but from the character of the men running, and the character of some of the men behind them who are using desperate means to get their hands on the throat of the state, we see no relief now or ever if they are elect ed All of these sensational charges and coun- ter charges, and the sugar-coated promises to the voters is only one method of swapping the devil for the witch and so far as the people are concerned they will continue to pay the fiddler whether they dance or not
 As usual the penitentiary is one of the points of attack-and has been for twenty years,-and will be until the end of time if it's settlement is left to men who ride into office on it. We only hear about the penitentiary in campaign years It is alright between elec- tions.
 Much is also being said about the High way Department and it's efforts to build itself into political machine. We'll, the Highway Department has developed into political ma- chine during the present administration, and is it reasonable that the present administra- tion is going to permit it's own machine to be killed? Not much, and all this talk about kill ing it is hot air and rot Whoever heard of an office being abolished or machine smashed in the state capitol?
 Four years ago the people were fed up on promises of reform until they sweled like poisoned pups. They were promised lower taxes, but we are now paying tax rate that would put the taxes of reconstruction days to shame We were told that we would have no vice-governors, but every county has it's vice. governor or pardon attorney with a string leading into the Chief Executives office in the State Capitol Some of these vice-goVernors are now candidates for governor and they have all the power of the machines they are lo dCoIAoy eaC lIlSAl bCNh eliid Nell
 Four years ago We heard the death sen tence of the St Francis Levee Board proclaim ed from every stump, but today it is more powerful than ever, and it is now playing a strong hand in naming the next governor.
 Four years ago we were promised an eco. nomical administration, but in this time the cost of running the state government has in creased from one million dollars year to sev en million dollars year and the state virtu ally bankrupt
 Four years ago local legislation was de nounced as an evil, but within year we have had three sessions of the legislatures passing local bills that placed one hundred and fifty million dollars bonded debt on the homes il the state.
 Promises to the people for good and eco- nomical administration were thrown to the winds, and we have drifted to the extreme of extravaganza and profligacy. This saturnal- ian coterie of machine politicians are behind some of the candidates who aer now promis- ing dire destruction of the very things on which they thrive.
 We believe the people should be treated