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Show CAMPAIGN BITTER -IN PENNSYLVANIA, Storm Cent&rs re the Municipal Contests in Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, New York and Cleveland. j ThU is an off year according to the political al- 1 manacs. because , there is no general election throughout the country. There are less than half a dozen states where governors are to be chosen and in each case the political conditions are such that the results can be forecasted with unusual accuracy. ! There are, however, three state campaigns and three municipal fights in different sections of the country which are decidedly spectacular and which will give to the election returns unusual interest. In Pennsylvania, Maryland and Ohio, and in Philadelphia, Phila-delphia, Xew York and Cleveland there are' cam-' paigns which have throughout great moral and political po-litical issues. . ; In the states and cities named the tights are being be-ing conducted with extraordinary bitterness. Pennsylvania undoubtedly furnishes the most tempestuous and sensational state campaign this year, and it is there if anywhere that a great politic cal revolutions may be looked for.- Pennsylvania long has been ruled by the most currupt ring of poii-. poii-. ticians the United States has ever known. In Pennsylvania, under the unscrupulous leadership of Matt Quay, a disreputable political machine calling itself Republican, not only has seized upon-the government, gov-ernment, of Philadelphia but has looted the' state, debauched its officers, elected United States senators, sena-tors, and thrust its own odorous representatives j within the chamber of the United States, senate. . 1 ' . It is no wonder that the present prospect of de-j de-j feat of the Pennsylvania Republican ring, follow-I follow-I ing upon the revelation of corrupt use of state funds for the benefit of political bosses, has startled the country. It is hardly probable that Senator I Penrose, who is Quay's nominal successor as party ..boss, could have been beaten in the state at large if it had not been for the opportune failure of the Enterprise Xational bank of Allegheny, the suicide of its cashier, and the disclosure of the fact that a dejsit of state funds was secured by the bank as a return for. the heavy loans.it made to the Republican Repub-lican bosses on their private notes. . . So bold did the gang become that they sought-to .sell for a period of seventy-five years the gas works of Philadelphia, which practically was owned by the municipality. They were blocked in this steal by Mayor Weaver, and great was the indignation in Philadelphia,, but there, was distinctly lacking the element necessary to produce a great "popular uprising up-rising throughout the state. .. :: ,. : '.: ' "'J . Senator Peurose and his followers; -'Iz" Durham... vo-V-Mui'Uri otlieti.' tiii x whom were lieutenants of Quay, but no one of whoni possessed a tenth of his political sagacity, were all alarmed at the possibility of defeat in Philadelphia. but they were successful in separating "the; revolt there from .Ahe part' in the state until the bank fail-ure fail-ure and suicide in .Pittsburg. This" has' split the state wide open politically. : ' : ., ', It already has been shown that "Bull" -Andrews and others freely drew upon the funds' of the bank ' to float their suspicious schemes in Xew. Mexico. One of the bank directors has charged that Senator Penrose had a note in the bank for a large sum, and although the senator denies this the. investigation thus far has shown clearly that it was the practice of the state treasurer to deposit his funds in certain banks, and no bank could secure this favor unless it was willing to advance large sums of money to the Republican bosses, either upon their own notes or upon sonie wildcat security which would not produce pro-duce a dollar under ordinary commercial conditions. condi-tions. - - In one respect the time is peculiarly ripe for the present uprisings The head of the -state ticket to be elected is not a governor, but a state treasurer, and it is this officer who now is under fire. It is the state treasury itself which is the source of corruption cor-ruption and which has been used through favorite banks to enrich the ringsters. -4- |