-V ip-,rrjfl7n,rTrT.ipiPr -, ,
The Commoner.
--a
&ARCH G, 1903.
The supreme court of North Carolina lias de
cided that applicants for license to practice law
must be "able to write legibly,
Draw and spell reasonably well.
th Thero are many lawyers
I jna throughout the country who will
not seriously object to the con-
'dition relative to orthography; and yet we may,
expect a general .protest from the bar agains. tno
"able to write legibly" provision of this opinion.
Commentinc unon the "annual currency
BQueeze," Henry Watterson in-the Louisville
Courier-Journal says that 'the
A remedy could be easily found
Bit either in some form of an as-
Slgnlficant ft currency an emergency
issue of bank notes." It is sig
nificant that those who so vigorously objected to
bimetallism as a remedy for our financial ills on
the ground that.it would provide dishonest money
take so readily to the asset currency proposition.
rroaifioTif i?.Hrf nf -"Harvard said recently that
no man can work too hard, and the Cincinnati
Enquirer aous: -rosaiuiy nv
fessor Eliot has never tried it
Let him go to the country some
day and take noto of some farm
er who has cone forth with his
mo of emnriflA Avprv mornlnc and worked till
sunset, and is bowed, broken and rheumatic at
k45 and dies in the '50's, leaving the farm he has
paid for with hard work to some 'young feller
i-who has captured his daughter with a horse and
, buggy."
Eliot's
Big
Mistake.
Wnit-nr Wellman. the Washington correspon-
; dent of the Chicago Record-Herald, seeks to make
It appear tnat Minister jduwou
Not has made a dismal failure of his
a contest over the Venezuelan stt-
FnUure uation with the representatives
L of Great Britain. Germany and
t Italy. Mr. Bowen seems to have exerted himself
to bring about arbitration and aitnougn some ot
fVin prmriiHnnn nvantfirt bv the European powers
I may not strike every one as being entirely fair,
it will be generally believed by tne American peo
ple that Mr. Bowen is entitled to credit for his
earnest efforts.
John D. Rockefeller, jr., says that tho best
thing to give a man who asks for assistance is a
kind word. How would it do
Alms for the government to adopt
and this plan when, it is asked to
WoHr confer upon the trust mag-
w ' nates special privileges? Per
haps it would not bo entirely satisfactory to the
trust magnates, but we may have the consolation
of knowing that it would be satisfactory to the
people and that, so far as the magnate is con
cerned, it wouldbe no less satisfactory than- the
kind word substituted for alms' In the presence of
a hungry man.
Senator Patterson of Colorado, in his speech
In favor of the statehood bill, quoted from an
address delivered by Theodore
Lot Roosevelt at the Rough Riders'
Him reunion at Las Vegas, N. M.,
Sneak Juno 25 1899- In that BPeecl1
v ' Mr. Roosevelt said: "All I shall
say is if New Mexico wants to be a state you
can count mo in and I will go to Washington to
speak for you or do anything you wish." Mr.
Roosevelt is now in Washington and if he could
not speak for Now Mexico, he might at least have
refrained from exerting any of his influence
against the admission of that territory
Tho Washington correspondent of the New
York World is authority for tho statement that
the features of the so-called
Morgan anti-trust legislation as recom
and mended by Attorney General
HJU Knox and indorsed by the pres
ident were approved by J. Pier
pont Morgan and James J. Hill. The World cor
respondent makes the wholly unnecessary state
ment that the plan "will prove of no practical
value in controlling the trusts." If thero was tho
slightest chance of this plan proving of practical
value in controlling the trusts, Messrs. Morgan and
Hill would not have given their approval. And yet
does not the fact that republicans submit their
legislation to Morgan and Hill suggest that it is
about time for republicans who are really op
posed to the trust system to begin to carefully
inspect the manner In which we are proceeding
to "shackle cunning as in the past we have
ahackled force?"
A
Bit
Overdont.
An
Honest
Confession.
Tho Kansas City Journal tolls an interesting
story showing how a Carthago (Mo.) r'tial cstato
agent lost a client, out secureu
an extraordinary compliment. A
Jasper county farmer decided to
sell liis place and called upon a
rnal nnfafn nrronf wlin wrotn for
publication an oxtravagant description of tho
property. When tho agont read the notice to tho
farmer, tho old man said: "Read that again."
After the second reading, tho farmer said: "I
believe I'll not sell; I've been looking for a placo
of that kind all my life, and didn't know I had
it until you described it to me." ,
The following from tho New York Tribune Is
a graceful acknowledgement that tho law is hot
ter enforced In the west than
in the east against dishonest
officials. Tho Tribuno says:
'Western prosecutors of un
faithful officeholders aro steady
and persistent slouths who stick to tho trails. A
tranB-Misslsslppl ex-mayor of an important com
munity has been wandering about in tno hopo
that he might escape tho bloodhounds of tho law.
Of course, ho was chased down, and now ho must
make amends for his misdeeds. Eastern criminals
too often go at large. Western lawbreakers como
to grief."
JJJ
The New York Tribune, edited by Whltelaw
Reid, discussing England's part in Venezuela,
says that "it is especially grati
Tho tying to observe that the Brit-
British ish part in Venezuela has been
Part played with unfailing consider
ation for the rights and suscep
tibilities of the United States." This is as it ap
pears through the spectacles of Whltelaw Reid,
and yet newspaper readers will remember that
they were told that even though British minis
ters were pretending to preserve "unfailing con
sideration for the rights and susceptibilities of tho
United States," true to history, tho BrltlBh
ministry was covertly giving encouragement to
a program that gave scant consideration to tho
interests of this government
On
Dangerous
Ground.
Tho advocates of the proposition that tho
salary of the president be Increased to $100,000
insist tnat tne expenses oi liv
ing havo become so much high
er that an Increase in tho presi
dential salary is necessary. Rc
ferrlnc to this claim, the Bos
ton Herald is moVed to inquire if those who ad
vocated the advance on this ground realize how
much the position they take implies. Tho Herald
observes: "If this increase in the price of liv
ing bears hard UDon tho president, why not also
on the people? If the state of the case calls for
so much additional salary there, mpst certainly
it must mean the propriety of substantial addi
tion to laborers' wages. Before the legislators at
Washington engage in such projects as this one
it may be well for them to reflect upon what they
may logically lead to if reasonably carried out"
Why
the
Exception?
The New York Tribune says: "The convic
tion that this republic needs a navy at least as
strong as that of any otner na
tion except Great Britain ap
pears to be spreading all over
th'e country. Tho interests to
be safeguarded are of incalcul
able value, and tho resources of this prosperous
people will not be unduly strained if a plan of
naval development on a great scale is adopted,
The American flag must bo respected on every
sea." Now, if the conviction that this republic
"needs a navy at least as strong as that of any
other nation except Great Britain" is based upon
intelligent and patriotic ground, will tho Tribuno
be good enough to explain why Great Britain is
excepted? If it is important that this republic
have a navy as strong as that of Germany, for
instance, why should not this republic have a navy
as strong as that of Great Britain?
It's
Nobody's
Business.
Senator Piatt of Connecticut Is quoted as say
ing in reference to the Rockefeller telegrams: "I
don't think that it Is anybody's
business what telegrams any
senator receives from any indi
vidual or corporation," Of
course, and it is not anybody's
business how a United States senator votes; and
it isn't anybody's business if men chosen to rep
resent a people come to be recognized as the
representative of tho, trust magnates on the 'floor
of the senate; . and it Isn't anybody's business
that United States senators and other members
of congress rigidly adhcro to policies that tnk
tho money out of tho pockets of tho many in
order to placo it in tho pockets of tho fow. And
yet, after all, tho tlmo may como when tho Ameri
can peoplo may concludo to mako it their "busi
ness" to look aftor tho things that aro being done
to their disadvantage and to tho ndvantago of
men who contribute liberally to tho republican
campaign fund.
A Connecticut subscriber calls attention to a
recent communication from tho patent offico which
M , says that as tho applicant (a
Hero a Filipino) for a patent Is not a
a Pretty citizen of tho United States, nor
Mess. a citizen or subject of any for
eign country, tho United States
could not consider tho application. Tho patent
attornoys were compelled to notify tho Filipino
that ho could not secure a patent under tho laws
of tho United States. Will some defender of im
perialism pleaso explain tho benevolence of a
colonial system which denies to tho Filipino not
only patent privileges accorded to an American
citizen, but also tho patent privileges accorded to
tho citizen or subject of any foreign nation? To
bo a colonial subject of tho United States puts
the Filipino In a worse position, so far as our lawn
aro concerned, than ho would have been had ho
remained a subject of Spain.
Tho Now York World says that "tho Little
field bill goes much further against tho 'bad trusts'
than any of tho bills tho scnato
is willing to onact Tho public
ity it rcauiros of trust accounts
is fuller and more searching, the
powers given for enforcing it
aro larger, tho penalties for evading It more sin
cere. Above all, It is tho Littlcflold bill alone
that applies tho most drastic of all tho remedies
for monopoly proposed in Attorney General Knox's
famous Pittsburg speech tho exclusion from in
terstate and foreign commerce of the products of
any corporation that Is shown to havo made dif
ferent prices In different localities for tho purpose
of destroying competition." And yet according to
the Washington correspondent of tho Chicago
Record-Herald, Mr. Littlcflold has been informed
that Mr. Roosevelt cannot encourage tho passage
of tho Littlefleld bill. Is It possible that In his
effort to "shaeklo cunning" Mr. Roosevelt has for
gotton how "In tho past wo have shackled force?"
Tho
Littlefleld
BUI.
A
Powerful
Party.
"We do not believe that even in this stat
of Massachusetts, which today seems so soundly
anchored to one great party,"
says tho New Bedford Standard
(rep.), "thero is any actual as
surance of tomorrow In poll
tics. Tho events of tho times
aro tending to enormous changes in tho ways of
the thinking people, and these changes In think
ing aro bound to reflect themselves in tho voting.
Tho republican party, or the organization bear
ing that name, will bo powerful in tho futura
as in the past, not as it adjusts itself for its own
benefit, but as It heartily and honestly responds
to the needs of the times and thus only." What
tho Standard says of the republican party will
apply with equal force to tho democratic party.
The democratic party, or tho organization that
bears that name, will be powerful in the futuro
not as it adjusts itself for the benefit of a few
would-be leaders or for the purposes of temporary
victory, but as it heartily and honestly responds
to the needs of the times.
vCv?y
The Philadelphia Bulletin, a republican paper,
says: "Senator Hoar, as chairman of tho judi
ciary committee, in its rejec
Washlng tioh of the nomination of Byrn
His for United States district at-
Hands. torney in Dolaware, is reported
to have taken the ground that to
confirm Byrne in face of his association with Ad
dlcks would have been to Indorse Addlcks and his
methods. The Massachusetts senator arraigned
these methods as corrupt and demoralizing, and
declared that It was a public duty to mako a
stand against them. The truth which Senator
Hoar uttered should sink deeply Into the presi
dential mind, for it expresses tho sentiment of all
decent republicans. Mr. Roosevelt now has an
opportunity to unload Addicksism and wash his
. hands clean of complicity with it by withdraw
ing the Byrne nomination. Let him be big enough
to acknowledge the mistake he made." But the
-press dispatches announce that Mr. Roosevelt had
no Intention of "washing his hands," but, on the
contrary, he engaged in making earnest ap
peals to republican senators' to reject the report
of tho judiciary committee and confirm Byrna.
iWWfc 1IIMill MIT.
iiitfijfflilliwi.il ft
HI