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Show THE CHEEK OF ! I "JOEY" CHAftfBERLM j; li!s InS'uer.e With His favorite Audience, the I BnUsn Bob A Liar of the Ananias f Type. o. The Honorable .7nspli Chamberlain of Bir- mingha n. England, has boon in ji state of eruption ' i for sonic time, but in 1 he last fow weeks his out-i out-i f put of words. lias become enormous, lie lias trav- I clod up and down the length of England and lie has f invaded Sect land, deluging the island with words, exploiting with Hoods of garrulity his new nostrum nos-trum for the cure of England's incurable malady degeneracy. Joseph has heroine the idol of the most dangerous beast in Great Britain, the British, mob; and as he knows the ignorance and darkness of hi hov'ling followers, he never hesitates to tell 1 thetn any absurdity that will tickle their prejudices j ; JUid advance his fortunes. The other night he ad-I ad-I j lressod liis favorite audience, llie mob which as- 1 vaulted pro-Boer advocates and within a fortnight i tried to drive out tlx: speakers who disagreed with i j -lory, and in answer to the charge of his oppon- j I ruts, that the protective system was a breeder of ) corruption, lie blandly told his clients that the only I I corruption existing in America was ihe corruption ? of Irish luditicians. ' , I 1 The principal value of this delightful tit of 1 falsehood is its ue in illustrating the measure of I his mi ll's intelligence and in showing the charac-. j ! ier of ("hamberlain. In itself it is hardly of first 1 I class importance what class of politicians is cor-j cor-j mpt or otherwise: and. as Americans arc fajrly familiar with protective legislation and those whose j iii'iliiciM-" makes it corrupt. Joseph's nasty lie, to ; ie:.'s In, groundlings, will simply deepen the di-i di-i v idi which the decent people of America rc- ; ganl Chamberlain and Chamberlainisiu: Taken as I fl "hole, it is assumed that the Irish and Irish- Americans who are in polities average about the j x.mr degree of honesty and corruption as their I fellow politicians; but the place where tariffs are s made and unmade is in congress, where the Irish I an- not very numerous. j The exposure in the postoffice department of the corruption and dishonesty incidental to its admin- l i-traiinhas brought to light the names of a good t -;!iiy political rogues; but there1 are no Irish names jOnong these criminal politician. A. .fact that -seemed to make the friends of the rogues very 1 raw, that the man most urgent and strenuous in ! driving these rascals into the net of justice was I a big, clever, fearless Irishman Assistant Post- j master fleneral "Boh"' Wynne. In ihe land office I frauds and the custom Ixm-e peculations, the sim- pie. unassuming Anglo-Saxon felt quite able with- cut ihe ail of the Celtic politician. j Returning to the upper planes of political ac- i livity. where tariffs are coopered and trusts arc I eiao' led. ihere is a jtopular belief that a good deal j t ilie influence used to secure the legislation lhat 3iiM'ie tl. Steel and Sugar trusts will hardly bear ! vtiUieity. Kightly or wrongly, ihe belief exists ! j :1m' .roteetion does breed corruption. One of the I Jiiit persistent workers for tariffs to benefit his in- 'ii-;iies has been our pious and canny friend Car- j v.' gie, who is not popularly understood to he an j Irish politician. Since he sold out his interests j 311 inm,, f,,,. al,ut (jo jK,r (.(lt ,,f tilp rst lllor(. bonds o the Steel 1 rust, his keen enthusi- as,,, ,,,r protection has waned. As ihe bonds must 1 be met. and the other fellows have to hustle, the patriot,,. Andrew gets a chance to pose as a re- former. The 1 a riff made the Steel trust, and the I fie-et of that creation was a stimulus to that gen- T:d Hnjuu-ial corruption which has shocked the I '"iimry of late, it is fair to assume that Brum- I ii 'reii Joe's opponents have the heller of the argu- !:V,:!- 1 rent hot ically. it may he said that Schwab, I A;on. (t ;il., al nauseam, who have so ruthlessly j tiiaiiaged the Shipping trust, are not generally be- I iieve.1 p, . Iri'v, politicians; nor is it without in- to add that Green of the Asphalt trust I ' " 'cel., , ), and Jx'ixon of the Shipbuilding trust j l'iis.T.-,J i, and (fitting, of another trust, are all good I T' ' 'i mers, opposed to Tammany, which is said to I be managed .y corrupl Irish jxdilicians. j ! might be wise for Joe to revise his state- I Hi'i i: nn! he won't. lie was addressing a long- j ''J! lb lninnageni mob. and not a wideawake ! ri.-.i,, auilience. Chamberlain is, a raw dema- s '-la . pip-,, and him pie: a liar, beside whom Ana- I ' is an amateur, and a political humbug of I f '- !:.! water. ' I lliai such a fellow as (hamberlain should say i ; 'i'!:: iig about corruption and corruptionists any--. i ' j" . is simjily an evidence of his astounding ' j ' I. ,is unmitigated impudence. Iu America' : ' population is made up of plain men and wo- 1 'Hei:; if W(. ,ave any large admixture of angels J : in .lir ilioy have escaped the census mar., and , f titi'n t Ik- circumstances we expect to have our I v!' '! e.ling of rascals in the community, in finance, i 1 'ii!-ivr and poiiiics. It is generally understood jf I ;l,ere are no dishonest jK'oplc in England; and ! I l'-i.iih jails are purely ornamental institutions, f j v"'-r- British army and navy contractors are I "'i.cd for iheir patriotic work. We never hope I1 I 1";'e America reach the high standards of British I "l!ie,a honesty; so we content ourselves with huild- jails for the hou-ing of our detrimentals. In I -nirriea consequently we have grown sceptical of "fiieials. and keep a sharp eye on them. When I Alger was a member of the cabinet, during the $ l ; :iisi war, while there was no hint of personal j ';;-iiiiie,,y against him. the loose administration of . ! J i" 'i' partineut drove him out of office. Had the fbiiiorablc" Joe Chamberlain, in that war, been a j 'ii' iiiM T of the cabinet and given out all contracts '.r i'lniiiunition, lyddite and other supplies to the I .'lteM l,i,ij,.r and that bidder was his own fam- l y - l ihe ammunition factory was one in which j j1' V; - a large stockholder, Joe would not only f ."'V bef-n chaed out of office but have been landed h V As these things happened in England j ; ' "ltr 1n Boer war, we do not expect to see any- ! -p 'luitf 0 vulgar happen; indeed, if noble j ,!'"ish precedents are followed, and the shining , f'V;inr,lt. of various dend and distinguished public I I1 uiulerors is appealed to. we should not be sur-j sur-j j prised to SPt. Josj.ph landed in the House of Lords. 1 f 1,'('.rK-ans arc so stupid, after all; jhey insist on j naknig a distinction between patriotism ahd.pil- ; 1 fering; the Briton never descends to such vulgarities. vulgari-ties. Surely Joseph Chamberlain's amazing brass paralyses par-alyses the world. The pliable tool of Rhodes and the robbers of the Rand, he precipitated a war that cost his country .$2,000,000,000; he turned loose an army of incompetents to destroy the republics of South Africa, and set an army if villainous thieves-to thieves-to prey upon his country's treasury and the wretched wretch-ed Tommies. The war over, huge sums were voted to rehabilitate the wasted land, and now while ihe population starves and the miserable loyalists plot revolution in poverty and disappointment, the harpies of Chamberlain eat up the money that was j to restore normal conditions to South Africa. As j an expert in the ways and means of corruption, j Joe of Brummagem has few equals; but America I is not his field of knowledge. The gallant officers and gentlemen who were sent to Austria and America to buy horses and mules to carry the limping, footsore Tommies to battle made a pretty penny out of England's misfortunes. Some of the more impudent and' not prions of the thieves were denounced and hauled over the coals; ! but the bad precedent of sending, anybody to jail for anncxping John Bull's liiono.v. was not established. estab-lished. They will appear later, it' is assumed, in ihe Book of Peerage, when they are rewarded for their prudent patriotism. Xor have. we heard of anybody's being punished or rebuked for building the unwieldy, unseaworthy. old steel hulks which make up the awe-inspiring British navy, and which' turn turtle when they are hauled out of the dock; nor have the British prisons been congested with the rogues who sell the big guns that arm these terrifying hulks, guns more dangerous to England than to England's enemies. One thing is certain: These rogues are not Irish politicians, for the gorgeous graft lying in British army and navy contracts is reserved for the Scotch and British patriots who are the parasites of Chamberlainism and decayed Toryism. When we hear the strident, brazen, impudent falseh oods of this imperial humbug, we are more than ever convinced that some malicious M-ag has stolen the British lion and substituted a yellow dog for him. . The best minds of England arc deploring the dec-ay and degeneracy of the country, and we know of no better proof of this British debasement than the political leadership of such an arch-charlatan as Chamberlain. If the English people will listen to Chamberlain Chamber-lain long enough, and follow him far enough, it will take no prophet to point out where they will fetch up. He seems to be about the kind of a man a stupid, flabby, beer-sodden nation likes; and the longer thoy have him, the-better we'll like it. There arc two things about Brummagem Joe, however, that do excite the.admiration of students in .criminology his boundless inveracity and his colossal cheek. They approach almost the frontiers of genius. Joseph Smith in the Tilot. |