The Commoner.
Oct. 17,-1903
11
toe-
X"
,'
"Starch n."
The people by thousands were crowded
about
And the president spoke, with intent
to give, out
His position on trusts and the things
that ho said
Caused every old codger to doddle
his head
And remark:
"Well, whar does ho stand? D'yo see?"
And I said
"Search mo!'1
The newspaper fellows were writing
like smoke,
Shorthanding every darn'd word that
he spoke,
But when all the pothooks and curves
were unspun
I heard each afasking the next other
one
This remark:
"Where did he land? Could you see?"
And ho said:
"Search me!"
The folks read the papers, all anxious
,to see .
How dead right on trusts our Teddy
must be,
But when they had scanned all thor
ough and clean
Each turned to his neighbor with
questioning mien ,
And remarked:
"Well, whar in this d d trust busi
ness is he?"
But t'other un said:
. "Search me!"
Atlanta Constitution.
Slumbering in Ignorance.
Philippine affairs are forgotten. Ex
cept attention is attracted by the hor
rid mark of Cain there is nothing to
invest our interest We know our isl
and possessions as centers of discon
tent .or riot at all. v ,
A punitive expedition, is spreading
lire and sword through v Mindanao to
teach the Moros to be good, otherwise
we should hear nothing of our Mo
hammedan wards, any more than we
do of Porto .Rico.
For wo have fared fortunately in
Porto Rico. Not one American in a
thousand has the faintest idea w.hat
is the form of government there or
what we are doing or what we have
assumed the dictation of their destiny.
When it Is raining it is no time to
repair the leak and when it is fair no
body thinks of it. In time of insurrec
tion we are forbidden by the rulers to
discuss Philippine questions and at
other times nobody cares.
And there is the vital point We
have assumed the mastery over these
seven or eleven million people about
whom nobody cares. Wo are govern
ing them and we don't know the first
thing about them.
The sooner we get out of that mis
erable business the happier it will be
for America. Red Wing (Minn.) Argus.
A Field" for Ingenuity. N
The inventive genius of the country
should not fail to produce an econom
ical substitute for hard coal in the
heating of modern dwellings. The
present crisis has opened every house
holder's mind to the desirability of a
new kind of fuel which would be with
out the ashes nuisance and the great
heat waste that always accompanies
coal-burning in furnaces. Springfield
Republican.
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Whih We Jive Speaking of JIntbracik
Milwaukee News: Maybe that
duty of 67 cents a ton was placed on
anthracite coal merely to afford the
foreigner another opportunity to pay
the tax.
Milwaukee Sentinel: That Boston
petition for a receiver may at least
perve as a straw to show the coal
men the way the wind of public opin
ion is blowing.
Indianapolis Sentinel: President
Baer bas sent 500 tons of coal to Wash
ington to prevent complaint of a coal
famine there. The trustee of the Al
mighty believes in keeping officials in
a good humor.
Trenton True American: If Sec
retary Shaw has any difficulty about
getting his thirty million issue into
Wall street he might well back them
into the empty coal scuttles and trans
port them in the empty coal cars.
Boston Traveler: Every day that
the coal strike continues means thou
sands of dollars loss to the nation.
What nation on earth, save the United
States, would put up with the indig
nity forced upon it by the coal oper
ators? Chicago Chronicle: The spectacle
of the divinely inspired Mr. Basr grac
iously according an interview to Mr.
Roosevelt is one to excite the wonder
and admiration of mankind. It is an
echo of the days when the gods came
down from high Olympus and played
ping pong with the sons of men.
Memphis Scimitar: Whatever the
original merits of the strike may have
been, the operators have now put
themselves beyond the pale of public
sympathy, even of public patience.
There is a limit to what any man may
do with his own, and they passed that
limit when they refused to listen to
the president's appeal.
Chicago Inter-Ocean: The attitude
of the hard coal proprietors in their
controversy with their employes inev
itably raises the question whether the
private ownership of their property
carries with it the right to use their
property exactly as they please. In
other words, is their right the right
to abuse as well as to use?
Houston Post: Of course, as one
of the officers of the coal roads said,
the strikers are entirely to blame for
the scarcity of anthracite and the con
sequent suffering entailed. If they
were content to work for a bare pit
tance and spend that pittance at the
company stores the present state of
affairs need never have arisen',
Chicago American: It is bo efcsy
for a man accustomed to yoars of suc
cessful trust managing to think that
the peoplo are just so many good-natured,
patient souls born to bo led and
bled and bamboozled; it is sp easy for
a man in Baer's position to think that
he has a divine appointment to saddle
and ride the less fortunate and they a
divine command never to protest
Chicago American: It may puzzle
some persons to say why the attorney
general found it possible to proceed
under -the law against the beef trust
and impossible to proceed under the
the same law against the coal trust,
but Mr. Knox nodoubt has found suf
ficient reason. Perhaps it is because
you eat meat and burn coal, or be
cause beef begins with b and coal
with c, or something like that Some
good reason, of course, moves the at
torney general to his course.
Joplin Globe: The conference of the
coal barons, the workers in the mines
and the president came to naught be
cause of the autocratic attitude of the
coal barons. The miners, through
President Mitchell, offered to submit
the difficulty to arbitration, agreeing
to let the president choose the arbi
trators, but the coal barons would not
agree to that nor would they suggest
anything else to relieve the situa
tion. The coal barons operate in de
fiance of law. The laws of Pennsyl
vania provide that no one having stock
Jn a railroad shall have interests in a
coal mine. This law is openly and
flagrantly violated. Why does not
the republica administration of Penn
sylvania enforce the law against these
coal barons? They are very free in
calling out troops to enforce the 'law
against the poor man. Why not en
force it against these autocratic rich?
Shaw's Surrender to Wall Street.
The secretary of the treasury appears
to have yielded to "Wall street"
at last A horror bred in tho
land of bearded wheat that ho
might aid stock gambling seemed to
govern his acts prior to tho recent
money crisis. So far did this preju
dice go that ho issued a statement
in which ho intimated that there were
funds in abundance for commercial
purposes. "Official" utterances were
sent throughout tho country from
Washington strenuously denying that
tho secretary was "experimenting,"
and attributing various rumors to "ir
responsible men of tho street"
But a breath of tho air of old Trin
ity's neighborhood has changed tho
man. Today Wall street resounds with
tho praises of financiers for the able
secretary who has overleaped all bar
riers and outdone all his predecessors
in "saving tho market" Mr. Shaw
suddenly branched out with a proposi
tion relieving tho banks from retain
ing as a precautionary reserve in casb.
one-fourth of tho amount deposited
with them by tho government, as they
must do for other depositors, and of
fering to accept bonds as security for
the people's deposits of a class sug
gested by "Irresponsible men of tho
street" Verily a day in Wall street
worketh wonders!
On Monday tho stock world was in
a state of panic. Thirty-fivo per cent
was demanded for call loans, and brok
ers threw tho stocks of margined cus
tomers on the market in big blocks.
A largo number of men of moderate
means were "wiped out," losing their
all In the slump. Meantime the rich
and powerful were buying the fearful
ly sacrificed securities, for no others
could buy, But not a word from Mr.
Shaw to stay the panic. Late at night
the secretary of the treasury an
nounced his plan to throw $30,000,000
to tho banks. Tho rich men were
jubilant; in the morning stocks open
ed "wide" $4 to $5 higher than they
closed. Tho powerful purchasers of
the day before reaped enormous gains
to which they had not contributed ono
iota.
Sad indeed that when Mr. Shaw suc
cumbed to Wall street it should have
been after tho "Iambs'' had been
fleeced and tho rich laden; especially
so when the precise announcement
made at 2 o'clock p. m. tho day before
would have saved millions of dollars
to those who porhaps could ill af
ford to lose. The newer methods, how
ever, appear to be better "experiments'
than was the offer to redeem bonds at
105 which brought 105 1-4 in the mar
ket Philadelphia North American.
S