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triet, too, full of iron ore and coal
deposits.
The Panama canal will force the
linking together of the Tennessee and
the Warrior, but they should be built
concurrently, so that when the one
is opened the other will be ready to
furnish it with traffic. From a gov
ernment point of view, the Tennessee
should be turned directly to the gulf.
It flows now into the Ohio, and south
era coal is not needed at its present
mouth. The gulf and this district are
the time markets for Tennessee prod
ucts. —Age-Herald.
THE PATH OF DUTY AND ITS
DANGERS.
Success is the test of character:
victory brings responsibility. These
are aphorisms, the truth of which the
Republicm
Republican party in Louisville must
realize. Now that the cheering is
over, and the men in whom the people
have reposed their confidence, are
face to face with the duties of of
fice, the need of the hour is moral
courage, firmness and cool heads.
It must not be forgotten that the
Republican party is entering upon a
period of probation. The* citizens
have accepted the pledges of the new
administration at their face value, and
they will be strict in holding it to
fulfillment. Its every act will be
watched by keen and eager critics.
Its first mistaken step will be loudly
heralded, and no doubt magnified by
partisan comment. In these early
days of construction the greatest care
must be taken to avoid blunders that
will give excuse for attack from the
enemy. The establishment of Repub
licanism cn a firm basis in Louisville
can only be accomplished by the most
judicious and earnest effort to give
proof of its sincerity in the expressed
desire for good government.
For some years the Republican
party will have to fight for its su
premacy. Democratic success will
continue easier of achievement, even
under conditions providing for fair
elections, until the Republicans have
won the full confidence of the people
by a demonstration of their purpose
and power to serve the people faith,
fully. "When it has given proof of its
fidelity by the avoidance of those er
rors that led to Democratic down
fall, and the pursuit of such methods
and measures as are in the interest
of public welfare, and the material
and moral progress of the community,
it may hope to meet its opponents up
on an equal footing and with an
equal prospect of indorsement at the
polls.
The leaders of the party must re
member that, while the new adminis
tration is busied with the affairs of
the city, the Democrats of Louisville
will be concerned with the regener
ation of their party. What has been
a splendid triumph for the Republi
cans has at the same time been a
moral victory for the best element of
the Democracy. These men have not
abandoned their party; they have
merely performed a much needed sur
gical operation upon it for the remov
al of -certain injurious growths that,
undisturbed, would have proven fa
tal. They may return to the battle
reorganized, and purified from the
influences which the people condemned
by their verdict last Tuesday.
Only a Republicanism triumphant
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
in fidelity to the principles that have
given it popular support can hope to
face successfully the conflict that lies
at so brief a distance as two years
from the present.
Long years in the desolate valley
of defeat have developed an army of
hungry office-seekers, who are even
now besieging the men elected to po
sitions of patronage and power with
their pleas for concessions. It is a
time when every man must show him
self possessed of vertebrae; when the
courage to say “No” must bo
brought into exercise; when the ad
ama tine brow is a better asset than
the glad hand.
Merit must be the supreme qualifi
cation for appointment. Where ser
vice for the party and merit are found
together it is but fair that service
should be recognized; but service is
not sufficient reason for consideration
where fitness for duty is lacking.
Above all must the men who are ap
pointed to office be men of clean rec
ord; men who can face tire responsi
bilities of the future with the pres
tige of an unblemished past.
Let all potty jealousies be forgot
ten; let personal feeling be eliminat
ed. The Republican party made defi
nite pledges through its candidates
and spokesmen to the keeping of
which its whole energy must be di
rected. It must show itself superior
to all minor currents and eddies of
partisan favoritism. The task of giv
ing to this great city a government
that will win the approval of all good
citizens is sufficiently big to engage
its full atention and to inspire its
most earnest effort.
The Herald has no candidate for
office. It has not asked a place in the
new order of things at the City Hall
for any man, and it will not. It has
faith in the wisdom and the sincer
ity of the men whom it helped to
elect, and is willing to leave to them
the choice of those who will serve un
der them.
In this fight we have been first for
Louisville, and we intend to remain
so. We believe the best interests of
this city were served by the voters
in their choice of tickets at the elec
tion, and it will be our aim to assist
the new administration in justifying
that belief. We will seek to strength
en its hands in every task it may un
dertake for the benefit of the city.
Thus far are we pledged to its sup
port.—Louisville Herald.
RAILROAD MAIL CONTRACTS.
Sensational statements about “pad
ding the mails” during the periodi
cal weighing which precedes the mak
ing of the postoffice contracts with the
railroads have been put forward from
time to time, and recently have been
repeated with considerable vigor by
one of the reforming contributors to
the magazines, who has also collected
his picturesque papers into book form.
Whatever the facts may have been in
the past to corroborate the accusa
tions made by this eloquent gentleman
who tells cf coupling-pins, old bolts,
paving stones, and pieces of grind
stone being concealed in the mail
bags by persons interested in the rail
road contracts, this heavy padding
“making the round trip thirteen times
in the thirty days covering the weigh
ing period,” we have Postmaster-Gen
eral Meyer’s word for it that nothing
of the sort is done now, or is now
possible. ’’’r-wi
The w eighing, which takes place ev
ery four years, is now closely inspect
ed, and any device like that of the
congressman who “franked 50,000
copies of his speech to Chicago one
day and franked them back to his
home the next day,” to give a rail
road mail contract the benefit of the
weight, could not, at the present time,
pass without detection.
The postoffice pays annually to the
railroads, for mail transportation,
something like $50,000,000. The post
master-gdndrail (informs our corres
pondent that these transportation
contracts are being closely examined
by him with the object of ascertain
ing whether or not they can in future
be awarded on any fairer basis than
the one row employed. The state
ment has been made that in France
the railroads are compelled to carry
the mails practically free of charge.
Some persons infer that the American
railroads should do the same tliine J
for our government. But these critics
overlook the fact that a large part of
the railroad system of France is
owned by the government of that
country, so that payment for mail
transportation there would merely
mean taking money from one depart
ment of the state and placing it in the
hands of another department. “It
is simply a matter of book-keeping.”
says Mr. McCleary, the second as
sistant in the postoffice department at
Washington.
It may easily be true that the au
thorities at Washington have hereto
fore paid for the transportation of
mail a good deal more per unit of
weight than they will be justified in
paying hereafter. That remains to
be seen. Mr. Meyer can be depended
upon to do all that is possible to
bring about an equitable arrange
ment. Still, we do not see why the
railroads should charge the postoffice,
as they do, a good deal more than
they charge the express companies for
similar service. And there does not
seem to be any good business reason
why the government should rent pos
tal cars instead of buying them.
Mr. Meyer is not content with be
ing an ornamental chief of the pos
tal service, as some of his predeces
sors have been. He has brought ideas
to the department, and he has the
abilitv to carry them out successful
ly. Congress, of course, must be con
sulted about manv of the proposed
extensions and improvements, but
Congress will hardlv be disposed to
resent the saving of monev on mail
transportation contracts if the ser
vice does not suffer from the econ
omies. Now that congressmen can
no longer travel on passes thev may
approach the subject of railroad mail
contracts with freer minds than in
former years. The country will ex
pect them to co-operate -with Post
master-General Moyer for the good
of the service.—Poston Herald.
When John D. Rockefeller appeared
in Judge Landis’s court and testified
ns to the capital stock of Ifio present
Standard Oil Company, he w\as given
what is called an “immunity bath.”'
Under the law of Congress, made spe
cially for rich criminals, he can
not be prosecuted for any violation
of the interstate commerce law here
tofore committed because he testified
as a witness. The case had been
tried, the jury had returned a ver
dict of guilty and Judge Landis de
sired evidence as to the wealth of the
Standard in order to know what the
fine should be. Any official of the
company could have given the infor
mation desired, but fortunately ’for
Rockefeller he was a witness and ans
wered a few questions. If that 29
million dollar fine is collected it will
be a dear bath, but it is well worth
the money—Missouri World.
NO HELP FOR THE FARMERS.
We were not suiprised at the re
fusal of the Secretary of the Na
tion’s Treasury to deposit $10,000,000
in the southern banks to help in
financing the cotton crop.- It was not
a surprise, because it has always been
the policy of the nation’s treasury,
whether under republican or demo
cratic control, to help the rich 'Wall
street pin gers and let the working
man and faimer “root hog or die.”
While it is an acknowledged fact
that the recent financial disturbances
and threatened panic that has boon
hanging over the nation for the past
ten days was brought about by
reckless speculation, over capitali
zation and inflated securities, wo
have no protest to offer to the
treasurer’s loan to the New York
bankers. We know that the wreck of
the great Wall street banks would
have brought ruin to a large number
of similar institutions in every state
in America, and the common people
would have been the greatest suffer
ers.
Therefore we are glad that Uncle
Sam saved his reckless and guilty
sons at "Wall street. But we are whol
ly unable to comprehend any good
reason why he should not do as much
for the honest, bronzed farmer of the
South, who is being made to bear
more than his share of the burden of
a condition for which he is in no way
responsible.
There is no ready cash to buy cot
ton and consequently very little cot
ton is being sold, but when the need
is urgent, it is being sold at a great
sacrifice by the man who produced it
and who is sorely in need of all there
is in it.
And thus we have another instance
of special privileges, granted by a
government of, for and by the people,
to the rich and powerful. In propor
tion to wealth and ability the farmers
pay more taxes than any other class
in America, while the non-producing
moneyed institutions pay less, and
yet in times of distress, Uncle Sam is
always generous and responsive to
every request of the favored few and
just as ungenerous nd irresponsive to
the appeals of the millions of needy
and much more worthy of his peo
ple.—The Union Review.
OUR MONEY TROUBLES.
(Continued from Page Three.)
wealth coifld demand and receive its
currency representative from a public
official—minus an impoverishing “in
terest” charge.
Let him reflect until he perceives
tliat it is a duty of government to
monetize the wealth of the individual
for currency purposes, on application
of the owner.
Let him reflect until he realizes
that the performance of thia unper
formed duty is the supreme purpose
of Government!
PAGE SEVEN
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