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I
on llio ground that it was engaged in the vio
lation of the neutrality laws. While this ves
sel was in the custody of a United States Mar
shall it was forcibly wrested from his control
and put to sea. Our government made a de
mand upon the Chilian government that this
vessel and its cargo he roturncd to the oflicers
of the court, and this demand was recognized.
In his message to congress, President Harri
son, referring to this point, said: "It would
have heen inconsistent with the dignity and
self respect of this government not to have in
sisted that the Itata should ho returned to San
Diego to abide the judgment of the court." Is
it not clear here that Benjamin Harrison, who
stood high among the lawyers of the country,
did not entertain the notion that, in the inter
pretation of the neutrality laws the judiciary
was without authority and that the executive
alone had jurisdiction.
In the same message President Harrison re
ferred to a trial in the federal court of Cali
fornia which resulted in a decision holding
that inasmuch as one of the contestants in a
war had not been recognized as a belligerent,
the acts done in its interest could not be a vio
lation of our neutrality laws. "From this
judgment," said President Harrison, the 'United
States has appealed that we may know what
the present state of our law is; for if "this con
struction of the statute is correct, there is ob
viduB necessity for revision and amendment."
If this was a matter of purely executive author
ity the government would not have appealed.
A cabinet meeting would have been held and
notice would have been scrvod upon -the fed
eral court that in attempting to interpret the
laws, the judiciary was trespassing upon the
right of the executive Branch Of government, a
'branch which according to old fashioned no
tions was designed for the execution rather
than the interpretation of laws. But Presi
dent Harrison, it will be observed, said that an
appeal was taken "That we may know what
the present state of our law is." Thero wo
have very clearly stated Benjamin Harrison's
idea that when any doubt existed concerning a
law, the judiciary must deteimine it; the ju
diciary was the branch of government which
was to interpret law. But Benjamin Harrison
was. educated in the old fashioned school of
law as well as in the old fashioned school of
statesmanship. He had not learned that in
this government the executive is the single
power before which all other powers must
bow. Ho had not learned that the mandate of
men in executive positions is potent irrespec-
tive of the equities of the situation.
W
Reviving the Ship Subsidy.
The Chicago Tribune is authority for the
statement that several conferences have recently
been held "between the persons most directly
interested," and that it has been decided to
pass the ship subsidy bill during the next ses
sion of Congress. The Tribune says that an
effort will be made to popularize the subsidy
scheme, and a literary bureau will give out
arguments tending to show that a Nicarauguan
canal makes it essential that the merchant ma-
The Commoner.
rine should be built up by a subsidy plan. It
adds that these conferences have been held
under the personal direction of Mr. Griscom,
President of the International Navagation Com
pany, and it is promised that the bill will bo
amended "in several particulars." It is not
likely, however, that "the persons most directly
interested" will permit this bill to be amended
in any way that will seriously interfere with
the object of the bill, viz., the transfer of
vast sums of money from the pockets of
the people into the pockets of a few subsidy
grabbers without recompense to the public.
W
A Deserved Compliment,
The Herald of Columbia, Mb., one of the
best democratic weeklies in that good old dem
ocratic state, pays a deserved tribute to a faith
ful democrat and an able editor when it says:
The retirement of Capt. Alexander A. Lesueur
from the editorship of the Kansas City Times is a
political and journalistic event of high importance.
It will have an especial significance in the' rear
rangement of the tangled web of 'state and munici
pal politics. But it is not that of which mention
is made. We wish merely to pay tribute to the
man A. A. Lesueur.
Few finer examples of public servants have
ever held office in this state. We have not always
agreed with him. He has done much of which we
could not approve. But his strict integrity, his de
votion to duty, his high ideals have made his ad
ministration of the difficult office of secretary of
state a most successful one, As a journalist Cap
tain Lesueur was brave, clean, courteous. , He
never stooped to low and little things. He held
hinisolf above the slime and ooze of petty politics.
There is no grime upon his hanus. As a gentleman
Captain Lesueur has been above reproach. He has
not mixed with the mud-bedaubed, out he has ia
private life sot an example which is well worth
imitation.
Now that Captain Lesueur has no longer a
great, newspaper at his back with vhich to reward
or punish, we take pleasure in setting down in
the Herald what is his simple due.
Captain Lesueur merits all the good things
that can be said about him. The Times, under
his editorial control, became one of the fore
most champions of democracy, pure and unde
fined. It is to be hoped that the journalistic
profession will not permanently lose the serv
ices of so able and conspicuous a member.
Gambling, Great and Small.
The following press dispatches illustrate
the point which The Commoner desires to
make:
Le Mars, la., April 17. The Le Mars National
bank did not open this morning. Thomas F. Ward,
vice president and manager of the institution, is a
self-confessed embezzler to an amount of from
$25,000 to $30,000. He has also absconded.. Ward
departed Monday night and yesterday Cashier
Frank Koob received a letter frorfi Ward saying:
"Dear Frank: I leave tonight for God Al
mighty knows where. This board of trade business
has ruined me4 Save me from indictment if you
can. I will pay back every cent I can;" , . ,
Then the writer explained the ,fupds from
which he has been stealing to cover his losses.
Vancouver, Wash., April 2A. Crushed by the
disgrace of their exposure President Charles
Brown and Cashier E. L. Canby of' the First Na
tional bank, which was closed yesterday, decided
to end their troubles in death, as soon as the
shortage was discovered Brown .nd Canby fled. It
was believed' that they were in hiding somewhere
naa- town, as thero had been no train on which
they could have left. A posse of angry depositors
searched all night for the missing bankers, and if
they had been found there might haye been a dou
ble lynching. But the fugitives spared their vic
tims the trouble of taking their lives.
Soon after daylight this morning a little party
o the searchers directed their attention to a clump
of woods two miles north of town.
In the center of the wood is a little clearing,
and here the man hunt came to an end. Lying on
the ground before them the men who had sought
their capune saw the dead bodies of Brown and
Canby. Both had used the same weapon and Can
by had evidently died first, as the revolver was
found in Brown's hand. It is evident that Canby
put the muzzle of the revolver in his mouth and
then blew the top of his head off. Brown then
took it and shot himself in exactly the same way,
falling over Canby's body.
Friday evening Canby, upon being told by
Bank Examiner J. W. Maxwell that the bank
would not be permitted to open Saturday, went out
in the yard behind the bank and attempted to
shoot himself. His revolver failed to explode," al
though all five chambers were loaded. After fail
ing to shoot himself Canby went uack into the
bank and he and President Brown left together
later, taking his revolver. When Examiner Max
well confronted the bank officials with the short
age of $81,000 which he had discovered both men
admitted their guilt. It is said that Brown and
Cflflby had been speculating in stocks.
Beside Brown's body there was found a pack
age containing V25 and a note saying that to
money belonged to his daughter. Upon Canby's
body the following brief note was found: l'
'Dear Wife: i feel what !I am about to do:is
-for the best. --'Forgive: me'ifi you. can and tryTto
Jiye ..f,or . our dear children. s , Go.d.. bless, you, ,all.
Good-by. , - .NBD
"April 19."
These dispatches, showing how trusted busi
ness men were led from the path of honesty to
crime, disgrace and, in two cases, death, sug
'gest a contrast.
Ever and anon a crusade against vice is un
dertaken in New York and other large cities.
Attempts are made to close the gambling dens
and eloquent sermons are preached in denunci
ation of games of chance. Sometimes the
crusades are led by ministers and there is no
question that these ministers would immedi
ately secure the expulsion from their churches
of any person convicted of running a gambling
place or of frequenting one. This is good as
far as it goes, but it does not go far enough.
Tell one of these crusaders that a young
man who has, by the exercise of industry and
economy, saved up five hundred dollars, has
been enticed into a gambling place and has
there lost his little fortune, and no language
will ho sufficiently severe to condemn the folly
6f the young man, the crime of the keeper of
the house and the wickedness of the officials
who permit such an establishment to exist.
But change the details of the picture; tell
the crusader that it was a middle aged man
instead of a youth, that the amount lost was
fifty thousand dollars instead of five hundred
that the speculator used trust money and that
the gambling was done on the board of trade
or the stock exchange and what will be the
reply? Will the crusader denounce the board
of trade and the stock exchange and condemn
the officials who permit them to exist? And