The Bismarck tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, N.D.) 1916-current, 1924-05-21
WATSON HITS
ATPURP0SE0F
MANY PROBES
Declares They Are Designed
To Break Down the Faith
\ OF the People
STANDARD is HIGH
Never More Exacting in Pub
lie Service Than Under
Pres. Coolidge

indianapolis, May II fBy the A.
PAN assault upon the work of
what were characterized as the de-
structive forces temporarily in con-
troll of the situation at Washington
and restatement of Republican
principles constituted the main
themes of the keynote address de-
livered to the Republican State
Convention here today by it's temp
orary chairman, Senator James E..
Watson, of Indiana.
Besides assailing the Senate in
vestigators as seekers after political
advantage regardless of the effect
of their work on their national gov
ernment, Senator Watson reviewed
the accomplishments of the Repub
lican party since Civil War days;
attacked the record of the Demo-
cratic party and praised the achieve
ments of the Harding c coolidge ad-
ministration in the field of interna
tional relations. He laid stress up
on the Senate Investigations declar-
ing that they were not only Obstruc
tive of the enactment of needed leg
islatiop, but also designed to break
\ down the faith of the American
J people in their national institut
tions.
We are now witnessing the bane-
full effects of the activities of OBJ
structive forces at Washington he
said. For many weeks the work
of legislation has been hindered or
halted by the effort being made by
certain powerful elements temper
arily in control of the situation, to
break down the faith of the Amer
lean people in their national admin
istration regardless of it's effect on
their national government. For
weeks the newspapers Of the land
have reeked with stories of public
corruption, exaggerated out of all
proportion to their true value,
broadcast from the capitol at
Washington as an overture to the
campaign of 1924.
Not Defending Wrong
"The Republican party does not
defend wrongdoing in public Off
cials in either state or nation. The
pretense that the personal guilt of
an isolated official is party mat
ter is essentially hypocritical. The
attempt to make it appear, on no
larger grounds than yet have been
developed, that the government is
reeking with rottenness, is a kind
81 politics which strikes not so
much at the party in power as at
the heart of government itself. The
effect Of this remarkable campaign
has been to create distrust in the
hearts Of the people and fear in all
phases of business. 1t has bred a
morbid state of mind throughout
\ the country aud in such an atmo-
{sphere initiative and enterprise are
chilled.
"The present is filled with doubt
and the future with fofebodings
because no man knows what the
morrow will bring forth. As II re-
suit, the factory wheels have been
slowing down, unemployment is on
the increase, and the great pros
perity we have been enjoying as the
result Of confidence in our govern
ment, confidence in our ipstitu-
tions, confidence in the soundness
Of our business enterprises and in
our financial stability, and conf
dence in our fellow man, is slowly
waning because Of these repeated
assaults upon them all for purely
partisan purposes.
Believe me, fellow Republicans,
when l say that the government of
this nation is clean and safe and
sound. Believe me when | say that
the foundations of the Republic still
stand, secure against the attacks of
those who would undermine or
overthrow them, safe in the affec-
tions of the people whose rights
they protect and whose interests
Ihey safeguard. The spots on the
sun do not blacken the orb. The few
instances Of official wrongdoing are
infinitely small as compared with
the cases where public officials have
been and are patriotically and hon
restly doing their duty every day
\and every hour.
Standard Under Coolidge
THE standard of official conduct
under Calvin Coolidge is high, in
very truth never higher, and hope
less indeed would be the future
of our republic should any other
rule obtain. Knowing the President
of the United States as all Ameri-
cans do, his integrity, his zeal for
the national welfare, his inflexible
morality, his fixity Of purpose for
the right, it is unfortunate that,
with all the great postwar problems
confronting US and demanding So
luton at our hands, the business of
the nation should be halted for
weeks by the leaders of the party
out of power which have been en-
gagged in an effort to blacken the
government and besmirch the Re-
publican party.
We all know that that effort has
been dismal failure. We all know
that the people have grown weary
with the flow of gossip and the
flood of scandal with which they
have been deluged from Washing
ton. They are interested first of
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