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Finally the administration has issued th...

Finally the administration has issued th... image
Parent Issue
Day
7
Month
July
Year
1899
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

THE ARGUS DEMOCRAT

AND

YPSLIANTI WEEKLY TIMES.

______________________

PUBLISHED BY

The Democrat Publishing Company.

D. A. HAMMOND, President.

EUGENE K. FRUEAUFF, Vice-President.

S. W. BEAKES, Secy, and Treas.

________________________

PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY

For $1.00 per year strictly in advance.

________________________

Entered at the Postoffice in Ann Arbor, Mich.

as second-class mail matter.

________________________

FRIDAY JULY 7, 1899

Finally the administration has issued the order to enlist more men for service in the Philippines. Inasmuch as the ;task of putting down t;he Filipinos is determined upon, sufficient force to do it should be sent there. Just let Secretary Alger, when he gets out of the cabinet, put his next friend Pingree in possession of the inside facts as to the war department matters during the war and they will reach the people in due time. None but canned interviews, says the ""oíd man," from now on on the senatorial situation. He should be careful of his canned goods as they may prove to be "embalmed. " Alger knows something of "embalmed" goods and farther experience in this line is not needed to improve his senatorial prospects. Gen. Porter is in favor of the annexation of Cuba to the United States That that will be the ultímate outcome few will question. It will in all probability be a necessity of the situation unless we are to have a, continual nuisance at our doors as Cuba has been for years under Spanish control. The good governor, Pingree, has his dander up and threatens to prosecute those who have impunged his motives. If he can square the account by balancing op a part of the scurvy things he has said about the motives of very other public man, the Argus would -advise him to do it instead of what he threatens.

And now comes Maj. Meigs, of Keokuk, a civil engineer, and declares that crude oil is the best means for road improvement. He claims that crude 'Oil sprinkled over a roadway will prevent dust by keeping the roadways moist and that it also prevents washing away of the roadbed by water. He claims that oil at-$1.10 a barrel can be had for this purpose and that a good road can be made at a cost not to exceed $141.50 a mile. A barrel of the grease will improve 50 feet of road 12 feet wide. A trial of the scheme is soon to be made on certain roads leading into Des Moines. The plan of using oil to lay the dust is already in rouge with railroads and is a success.

The cause of good schools was a great victory in Chicago on Wednesday. Dr. Andrews was re-elected to the superintendency and District Superintendent A. Q. Lane was re-elected after the committee had decided unanimously that he must go. But the political end of the board was thrown down for once and those who favored the highest interest of the schools regardless of politics carried the day. Teaching will never be a profession which can attract and hold the best talent until politics and the spoils system are cut out root and branch. An illustration in point recently occurred in Detroit in the resignation of Principal Bliss of the Central high school than whom there is no abler high school principal in Michigan. But he would not submit to the humiliations he was obliged to at the hands of the political bosses of the board in order to hold the position. Every year witnesses the departure from the profession of many excellent teachers wholly because of politics. 'The most conscientious application to duty and the highest success in the work of the school room many times avail naught against the personal animosity of some politician on the board or the desire of some member to put in a relative. For the good public education generally there should be many more Dr. Andrews.

Now it is said Gen. Alger would like to be forced out of the cabinet, that he would then be in position to say some things which he cannot now speak about. There is a general impression abroad that Gen. Alger is not to blame for many things in the conduct of the war which are charged to him. There are those who were in close touch with affairs at Washington daring the Spanish war who assert that President McKinley was the whole thing and that the responsibility for the blunders of the department is his. It is even said the most insignificant telegrams to the department had to be submitted to him I before being answered. If these things be true and Alger is forced out of the cabinet he might have some things under his hat which would make mighty interesting reading! It is said the president would gladly dispense with Alger, if he would only take the standing hint and voluntarily retire, but that President McKinley does not want to have any friction over the matter. But Alger cannot afford to retire from the cabinet on any such hint. He may and undoubtedly is an embarrassment to the administration, but the administration side is not the only side which needs protection. Alger would certainly embarrass himself by voluntarily getting out.

At a meeting of the Detroit school board Saturday evening, Horace Smith was elected president of the board, the Moore faction supporting him when they saw their man could not win. The Henderson crowd were very sore over Dr. Henderson 's defeat and they immediately declared their purpose of going gunning for Superintendent Martindale. Here is a fine and accurate illustration of all a change of principals or superintendent means in Detroit. It matters not how faithful or how efficient teachers may be, they can only remain in their positions as suits the pleasure of the small ward bosses who manage, without one single qualification for the duties of the position, to get elected to the school board. Two years ago the same gang elected Martindale over Robinson with no more reasons for the change than are now involved in their threat to throw Martindale down. It is surprising how the Detroit schools can stand as well as they do under such management or rather mismanagement.

If Governor Pingree stands for any farther political honors he will be obliged to meet enemies of his ambition which he has never encountered before. In addition to the democratic enemy and more bitter enemies within his own party, if he runs for office again he will nave to meet the determined opposition of his own family and business partners. His brother Frank C. Pingree says the governor will never be a candidate for any public office again, if he can prevent it. He declares that the governor owes something to his business partners and his family as well as to the public. He has given about 10 years, the best years of his life, to the public and it is time now to devote some attention to his private affairs. Gov. Pingree is a man of tremendous energy and no doubt his private business has suffered by absence from it. But the Argus believes this energy could be better expended on his private business than for the public. What has he accomplished during the ten years of his public service that is particular advantageous to the public? While he was mayor of Detroit he kept the city in a turmoil all the time. And from a city with about as low a tax rate as any in the country he boomed it to about the tax rate limit. He made some needed improvements for the city, but at a cost that cannot be justified. What has he accomplished as governor? He has been the principal functionary in a wild and wooly pyrotechnic display which has attracted some little attention as such displays do, but he reforms the promised the state are still promises. [n order to raise this h - , noise, he has abused everybody in public life except those who were willing to "love what he loves and hate what he hates. " The result of all this has been to antagonize those who might ave aided in accomplishing some;hing in the interest of the people. the fact is while hizzexcellency is a man of great energy, his public career, and there is no disposition to discuss any thing else, shows that he has no tact or ability to handle men. Governor Roosevelt has accomplished more in the brief time he has been governor of New York in the direction of equal taxation than has Pingree and that too in a state ii which the forces arrayed against equal taxation are more strongly entrenched than here. But he bring to the discharge of his public duties a disciplined and trained mind. He has tact and good judgment and does not insult and abuse those who do not agree with him in everything. In these things he diners from Pingree. He is undoubtedly as radical in his views upon all questions of proposed legislation in the interest of the people as is Pingree, but he accomplishes where Pingree fails.

It will make little difference to the people, if the governor bags his ambition and retires to private life. They well get along quite as well without him and so if his private business requires ,this attention the people will part with him without serious loss or regret.