Sm
rr
_Tr =
Bellefonte, Pa., September 28, 1906.
STUART A DODGER
IN PUBLIC SERVICE
Cyclone Cellar During LastYear’s
Revolution Not New to Him.
HAD BEEN IN IT FREQUENTLY
Journal of Select Council, in Which
He Was a Member, Shows Amaz-
ing Record of Presence Without
Voting on Big Questions.
HIS DREAD OF CORPORATIONS
Everything Likely to Make Bosses
Fear He Would Be Hard to Handle
as Mayor Was Carefully Avoided by
Their Present Nominee.
Edwin 8. Stuart, Republican nomi-
nee for governor, has been, ever since
he first entered public life, a dodger
upon matters generally that were of
vital importance to the people whom
he was supposed to represent.
Throughout his career of five years
as a select councilman from the 26th
ward of Philadelphia, from April, 1886,
to April, 1891, his invariable custom
was to dodge the votes on many of
the most important questions. To ob-
servers aware of this fact it should
not have been surprising, at the out-
break of the municipal and state rev-
olution, in May of 1905, to learn that
he refused on two different occasions,
when duly requested by representative
citizens, to either allow the use of
his name, or even to be present at a
town meeting of the citizens in the |
Academy of Music to protest against
the proposed virtual robbery of the
gas works, which forced Mayor Weav- |
er to open war against the public |
plunderers. ;
It is a pity that a man with a pri- |
vate life so blameless as Mr. Stuart's
should have proved himself so weak |
and timid, not only in the days of the |
last year and a half that “tried men’s’
souls,” but also throughout the pre.
vious years when he was in public
office, and had great opportunities, all
of which he missed, to make himself
of inestimable service to the people
of his native city. The period which '
he spent in the cyclone cellar, from
the start of the present Pennsylvania '
revolution to the date of his slating
by Penrose, McNichol and Martin for
the governorship, was not a novel ex-
perience for the machine gubernato-
rial candidate. He was familiar with
every nook and corner of that refuge
from storm, for he had run into it and
pulled the doors down numberless
times while he was a member of the
upper branch of the municipal legis-
lature. |
Backbone of India Rubber. |
The disrespectful cartoonists who
pictured Mr. Stuart as an ancient mai-
den in hysterics at sight of a mouse
were not far wrong in their evident
estimate of him as a public servant.’
Despite the esteem which Mr. Stuart's
personal and domestic virtues have
won for him, those who know him
best would find cause to pray “God
save the Commonwealth!” if the state’
government and the duty of keeping’
the legislature in check were commit:
ted to his hands. If life should be’
spared, too, and power be permitted’
to remain in the hands of the Phila:
delphia gang who made him mayor
imecause of his record as select coun-!
«climan, and who forced him upon the .
~so-called Republican party as its can-
didate for governor over other leading '
«citizens, when not a delegate had been
«elected or instructed for him, the peo-
ple of Pennsylvania will all need to
pray, “God save the Commonwealth.”
As a select councilman, Stuart had
-a peculiar dread of going upon record
whenever bills affecting corporations,
particularly the street railway compa-
nie, steam railroads and electric light
‘and power concerns, were up for con-
‘sideration. On 22 different very im-
portant occasions, when questions of
permitting the laying of underground
weondaits were before the chamber, Mr.
Stuart was either absent or present as
a non-voter and dodger. Every charge
made in this article is substantiated
by the journals of select council,which
have been carefully examined for the
purpose of letting the commonwealth
know what sort of public servant the
McNichol-Penrose-Martin nominee has
been. Those ordinarily dry-as-dust
records, when scanned with no name
in mind but Stuart's, become, in count:
less places, as amusing as a Mark
Twain narrative in the continuous ex-
posure of Stuart's dodging.
i his name.
Knew the Kind of Mayor Wanted,
He is officially recorded as absent
from 24 meetings of the chamber— '
a very large number, when it is con-
aidered that, at the busiest times, se-
lect council did not meet oftener than
twice a month. But his dodging when
present is more interesting than all
that. Ia every case the records make
it easy to explain his absence, for
whenever he was away there was
something very big before the cham-
ber. At each of 28 meetings that be
attended he dodged votes on steam
railroad questions. There were 21
meetings at which the street railways
were heavily interested in bills then
acted upon, but in not one of which
sessions did Stuart vote upon an issue
of that kind, although he was present,
His dread of going upon record whep
bills involving projecting shop signs
sidewalk disputes or other matters
that might imperil his candidacy for
the mayoralty were under considera
tion, was illustrated on dozens of oc
casions when he dodged such meas
ures. :
It won't do for the Stuart campaign
managers to defer answering these
charges until the eleventh hour of the
campaign, when it might be too late
to specify dates, pages of the jour
nals and other particulars which real
ly make the charges unanswerable.
Now is the time for them to begin,
but they will not do it. They dare
not. What is known in Harrisburg as
a “call of the house,” made for the
purpose of ascertaining if a quorum is
present, is a rare thing in the munici-
pal legislature, and, therefore, it would
be hard to prove that in every instance
referred to Mr. Stuart had not merely
stepped out of the chamber for a mo-
ment just before his name was called.
But if that was the case, why did he
not subsequently have his name re-
corded? In every one of the instances
of the dodging charged against him—
that is of being present but not vot-
ing—he is recorded as answering to
his name at the opening of the ses
sion.
Dreaded Any Antagonism.
But at least one instance of his be-
ing officially caught at his dodging by
a call of the house was on November
22, 1888, when he was present, but did
not vote upon an ordinance relating
to projecting street signs, show cases,
etc. There being no quorum voting,
the roll was called to find out who
were present, and Stuart answered to
Some well-known “ring-
sters” who had been dodgers with
Stuart also answered, and showed not
only the presence of a quorum, but
that one of the men present and pre-
venting the chamber from doing busi:
ness was Stuart. Any reader who may
consider this a comparatively small
matter should accompany the search.
er through the journals and strive to
| study the motives which Stuart had
for dodging votes in 21 different ses-
sions on bills for erection of frame
buildings, and in as many more meet-
ings on important street improvement
measures, not to speak of other do-
zens of sessions in which he was pres:
ent, but failed to vote upon those pe-
culiar sorts of bills that are likely
to stir up local antagonisms.
These records prove that Stuart, as
a rule, was afraid to vote on measures
that were likely to involve him in
controversy, or perhaps to make ene-
mies for himself. It has been said of
him that he has few, if any, enemies.
The journals of select council give the
explanation. Any public nonenity can
gain such a reputation by simply be.
ing a man of putty and never doing
anything. But the fact that such a
man leads an exemplary private life
is no reason why the people should
want to have him in the chief execu:
tive position of the commonwealth,
where, particularly in these days of
bringing the corporations to terms
and wiping out the remnant of the
looting power that has robbed and
disgraced the state, the chief requi-
sites are not personal amiability and
private integrity, but virile vigor and
militant aggressiveness that can and
will restore and maintain the righ
of the people.
How He Kent Out of Hot Water.
Take a few specifications of Stu
art's dodging. All the details would
fill every page of this paper, and then
would not be half told.
September 27, 1886, absent from the
session that fixed the tax rate at $1.50,
when there was a fight to make it $2.
December 2, present, but not voting
on bill to let the Western Union Tele
graph lay undergound conduits in cer
tain streets.
February 17, 1887, present, but not
voting on bill repealing the popular
checking rider of appropriation to the
commission erecting the new city hall
He voted on the very next bill, an in
nocuous measure, however, and just
here it may be said that in nearly ev:
ery one of the hundreds of cases of
serious dodging by Stuart the journals
show that on the bill immediately fol:
lowing, if it was one not likely to get
him into hot water, he invariably
voted.
March 31, 1887, present, but not re
corded as voting on appropriation for
continuing the underground electric
system under Broad street. The very
next bill. as usual, got his vote. May
19, voted just ahead of and immedi:
ately after, but not upon the significant
resolution requesting the governor to
approve house bill supplementing the
act of 1868, for the formation and reg-
ulation of railroad corporations. That
bill was the “Rapid Transit” measure
for the enactment of which people
were clamoring. May 19, underground
conduit dodged by Stuart. June 6, a
special meeting, for which Stuart had
signed the call, and which he attend.
ed, although he dodged votes on a
sidewalk vauit bill and a bill for con-
firmation of police appointments. The
“olevated” railroad bill came up then,
but on that, as well as on many sub-
sequent occasions of the same kind in
relation to the rapid transit question,
Stuart was on the “postponing” or hes-
itating or non-committal side.
For Death of Rapid Transit.
Later ou there were several ‘“ele-
vated” bills, upon all of which Stuart
was True to“his record of an indaia-
rubber backbone man. When, on June
24, a motion was made to postpone
further cons!deration of the rapid tran-
sit question until September, Stuart
seemed very glad to vote “aye.” It
was such a relief, you know. Three
days later John Wanamaker, interested
in the “Consolidated Elevated,” seeing
the futility of overcoming the obstruc.
tionists, diplomatically suggested, in a
letter, that the bill be postponed for a
little while, and that in the meantime
¢ commission be appointed to devise, if
it could, a better scheme than the one
which Mr, Wanamaker and other emi-
nent citizens had guaranteed to be of-
fered in good faith. “We believe,” Mr.
Wanamaker wrote, “the city can never
have a better opportunity to secure
rapid transit under fair and just con-
ditions.” Yet the chief representative
of the Pennsylvania railroad in select
council, who has since died, moved for
indefinite postponement of not only
the bill, but also of the Wanamaker
proposition for a commission, so as tc
kill the whole thing, and Stuart voted
for that death of rapid transit.
The great wonder is that Stuart took
a positive stand on that all-important
question, in view of the fact that, from
beginning to end of his service in coun-
cils, his record, with few exceptions, is
one prolonged series of “present but
not voting” on about two-score differ-
ent important subjects of which he
was evidently very much afraid. He
dreaded, for instance, to take a hand in
Chestnut street widenings, or upon any
important bill affecting the down-town
section in which he lives. There are
innumerable cases of his being present
but not voting upon measures relating
to the down-town wards. Bills inp
which churches of different denomina-
tions were interested were particularly
shunned by him. Confirmation of may-
oralty or departmental appointments
were to him as a plague of chole: .
Any vote that he might cast mig
make somebody mad, you know.
As Wax In Hands of Bosses.
November 17, 1887, absent when un-
derground conduit and electric light
matters, as well as Bell Telephone
company interests were before the
chamber. The Third regiment armory
being near Stuart's house, he did not
vote, although present, upon the ques-
tion of putting up a Siemens gas lamp
in front of the armory. That little thing
might have involved Stuart in a dis-
pute as to the merits of a patent, and
he was willing, in the vote, February
16, 1888, to let the lamp go or stay, as
long as he was not recorded on it.
March 20, 1888, present but not voting
on the creation of a bureau of city
property, a question to be eschewed by
a candidate for the mayoralty in the
days when such nominees were not se-
lected for ability, courage or public
gpiritedness, but for their known will.
ingness to be as wax in the hands of
the plundering power that is now on its
last legs.
June 21, when the appointments of
Mayor Fitler, Director Stokley and the
new administration generally were up
for confirmation, Stuart absent. At
the next meeting, when a lot more of
such appointments came up, Stuart was
present but not voting, although he
voted on the next bill. Presently the
“Northeastern Elevated” came along,
and there was a renewal by Stuart of
the peculiar non-committal policy with
which he had treated similar former
measures. Gratuitous vaccination had
a horror for him, or, at least, on No-
vember 22, he sat silent when the bill
passed finally without opposition.
While other members had the courage
of their convictions on all such meas-
ures, Stuart maintained the show ot
timidity which has characterized him
ever since,
“Peach” of An Investigation.
A certain selectman, who has since
died, and who would be about the last
man in Philadelphia whom the people
would expect to conduct a satisfactory
investigation into legislative bribery,
moved, on December 6, 1888 for the
appointment of a special committee tec
investigate the charge of bribery in
connection with the elevated railroad
proceedings. On the little reform side
there was a motion to excuse the
mover of the resolution from the duty
of acting as chairman. That was about
as polite a/way as it could be said that
nobody would have any confidence in
the probing under the management of
the redoubtable ringster in question,
who, however, won the chairmanship
by a vote of 14 to 9, Stuart being among
those voting to insist upon his taking
that power, which, of course, the ma-
chine expert did. The subsequent “in-
vestigation,” in the vernacular of the
Betz building or the Boas mansion,
was “a peach.”
But this instance is inconsistent with
the general run of the Stuart record
in the journals, as it is one of the very
few cases of his actually doing some-
thing, although, unfortunately, not
very much to his credit. December 13,
1888, the ordinance up was something
momentous, to permit construction of
the East Side railroad along the
Schuylkill river. Great fight in coun-
cils that day, but Stuart not there.
Other measures before the chamber
that day. including street railway track
extension, Keystone light and power
privileges and big appropriations, were
additional reasons for the discreet ab-
sence of the man then expecting the
mayoralty, and now the governorship.
By the way, Mr. Stuart is a remark-
ably healthy man, and nobody would
think of suggesting sickness as an ex-
Your Moneys Worth
In every article you buy.
Everything sold for just what
it is. No misrepresentation
and we stand back of our
statements. Our new lines for
fall and winter service are for
every member of the family.
We are prepared to priced
them all and the ‘goods are
placed strictly on their merits.
Examine what we have to of-
fer and satisfy yourself. No
trouble to show goods
Our premiums are useful
and ornamental. Entirely free.
YEAGER & DAVIS
OPEN EVENINGS.
cuse for either his absence or his
countless cases of dodging. t
Rarely Did He Commit Himself.
December 27, present but not voting
on bill to let a certain brewer lay raii- |
road sidings. Stuart voted just ahead!
of and just after this ticklish measure. |
February 21, 1889 (getting close to the |
time for setting up the pins for the
mayoralty canvass), street railway ex-,
tension before the chamber, together!
with frame building erection, but no!
vote from Stuart on these matters, al-
though he was present. March 21, John
M. Mack's Vulcanite Paving company’s
bill under consideration, with Stuart
present but not voting. One of the
things that used to raise trouble in
Philadelphia was the voting of city
land at reasonable prices to the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, but when such
propositions came before select coun-
cil, Stuart sat mum during the voting
as well as the talking.
But this record must be cut off here
for the present. It was an exceptional
day when Stuart was caught commit-
ting himself on any issue that might
prevent him from having an entirely
colorless public record. Suffice it to
say, until time for the next install-
ment, that Stuart became more and
more cautious, if that were possible, as
the mayoralty primaries of the Febru-
ary campaign of 1891 approached. His
dodging during the year 1890 was the
(FEFERAL DEBILITY.
Day in and day out there is that feeling
of weakness that makes a burdenfof itself.
Food does not strengthen.
Sleep does not refresh.
Itis hard to do, hard to bear, what
should be easy—rvitality is on the ebb, and
the whole system suffers,
For this condition take
HOOD'S SARSAPARILLA
It vitalizes the blood and gives vigor
and tone tb all the organs and functions.
In usual liquid form or in chocolated
tablets known as Sarsatabs. 100 doses 81.
031
HIGH STREET,
BELLEFONTE.
most interesting of all, but there is a
great deal yet to be said of the years
which have been only hastily skimmed
over in this sketching of the people's
experience with Stuart from which they
are to judge of what they might expect
from him in the chair of the chief ex-
ecutive at Harrisburg.
8.Year-Old Boy Convicted of Murder.
Albia, Iowa, Sept. 24.—Oscar Napier,
aged 8 years, was found guilty of the
Coal and Wood.
E2Warp K. RHOADS
Shipping and Commission Merchant,
en DEALER | No—
ANTHRACITE axp BITUMINOUS
jseicy)
===CORN EARS, SHELLED CORN, OATS we
snd other grains.
~BALED HAY and STRAW—
COALS.
BUILDERS’ and PLASTERERS’ SAND
«eee KINDLING WOOD
y the bunch or cord as may suit purchasers.
the patronage of
ales, publie, at ole
we HIS COAL YARD...
Central 1318.
Telephone Calls JQentrai 128 ese
s1.821yr:
Plumbing etc.
A. E. SCHAD
Fine Sanitary Plumbing,
Gas Fitting,
Furnace, Steam and Hot Water
Heating,
Slating, Roofing and Spouting,
Tinware of all kinds made to
order.
Estimates cheerfully furnished.
Both Phones.
4243-1y
Eagle Block.
BELLEFONTE, Pj
Telephone.
YOUR TELEPHONE
ata
business en
KEEP THIS DOOR OPEN
Informa
If You Are Not in Business for Exercise
Eh pln
Pol ed
avast PENNA. TELEPHONE C0.
A. 0. BROWN & CO.,
Members of New York Stock Exchange.
BANKERS & BROKERS.
30 Broap St., NEw York City.
Stocks and bonds bought ana sold for cash or
carried on margin.
Branch Office: Williamsport, Pa.
Both Telephones
near the Passenger Station.
Money to Loan.
ONEL0L0MT me awk ty
J. M. REICELINE,
Att'y at Law
SL-14-1vr.
TILES A cure guaranteed if you use
fEarre ee
phe 0 eh Sk
it in Sime re id by ;
0.
cents,
_— 1y RUDY, Lancaster, Pa