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6
The Commoner,
VOLUME 3, NUMBER 2t
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AN OSWEGO, N. Y., CLERGYMAN HAS CRE
ated a small sensation by entering into a
contract with the bill poster to bill the city ad
vertising Ms sermons in the manner employed by
the theatrical agent The name of this clergyman
is Rev. C. H. Jones and ho is pastor of the First
Presbyterian church. During the summer months
he will hold dally services to bo called "Twlllgut
meetings." He proposes to advertteo these ser
vices by posters on the city bill boards, windows,
street cars, and other public places. Replying to
criticism of his plan, Mr. Jones asks: "Why
-should satan have a monopoly on publicity?"
SO MUCH DISHONESTY HAS BEEN RE
vealed in the postofflco investigations that
several senators and representatives say that they
will insist upon a congressional inquiry. Investi
gations into other departments may follow and
It is freely predicted that systematic inquiry will
develop dishonesty in other branches of the fed
eral service. Some idea of the extent of the cor
ruption in the postofflco department will be ob
tained when it is luiown that practically all large
divisions of the postofllce department are now
without heads. George W. Beavers of the salar
ies and allowance division has resigned. A. W.
Machen of the free delivery system, was re
moved and he has been indicted for accepting
bribes. G. A. C. Cnristlancy of the free delivery
system has been suspended. George E. Lorenz,
postmaster at Toledo, has been indicted as a part
ner of Machen in the contract frauds. Dillar B.
Groff has been indicted as a member of the con
tract Arm that had fraudulent relations with
Machen. James P. MetcaLf, superintendent of the
money order system, has been removed. James
N. Tynor of the law department and D. V. Miller,
his assistant, have been removed; the former on
the charge of "indiscretion, and the latter on
the charge of accepting bribes. McGregor and
Upton, clerks in Machen's oillce, have been in
dicted. Samuel A. Groff, the other member of the
contracting ilrm, has been indicted for collusion
against the government. Charles Hedges, superin
tendent of the city delivery service of the post
offlco department, has been charged with solicit
ing stock in a gold mining company from post
masters .and also for giving the same gratis to
secretaries of certain representatives.
THE WASHINGTON GRAND JURY HAS RE
turned indictments in the case relating to
the street letter box fastc ers and is now in
vestigating a number of other '.ontracts made by
the postofflco department. It is announced from
Washington that an investigation will be made
of the money order bureau and the dead letter
office; also that the railway mail contracts are
to be inquired Into. It is predicted that this will
prove a fruitful aeld. The railroads are paid for
carrying 'the mails upon a basis established by the
general mail weighing every six months. Tho
railroad officials are not presumed to know when
the weighing will take place, but somehow or
other, they have managed to be Informed, and this
advance knowledge has given them the opportun
ity, which they have not been slow to take ad
vantage of, to increase the mail at that partic
ular time. The Washington correspondent for the
Chicago Record-Ferald says that the government
i paying at least one trans-continental line more
for the transportation of tho mails than is charged
for first-class passenger traffic and that pound
for pound this particular railroad gets more from
the government upon mall carried across the con
tinent than it does out of its passenger traffic
If tf
THE PURCHASE FROM A CALIFORNIA
company of 17,000 letter box devices for in
dicating the hours of collection, of the malls is
now being investigated. The Washington Post
says that 7,000 of these devices originally were
ordered at a cost of four dollars or more each, or
a profit of 1Q0 per cent on tho cost, and that a
further order for 10,000 was placed notwithstand
ing tho original 7,000 devices were not used, but
were reposing in tho storehouse. The company
controlling this device is largely made up of Cal
ifornia postal c ployes and it is charged that
former Representative Loud of California, for
merly chairman of the, house committee on postal
affairs, took an active part in behalf of this com
pany and wTote several letters urging the adop
tion, of the device by the department It is an
nounced that every branch of the postofflco de
partment is to be investigated, that all the largo
postoffices in the country will bo Included in thia
inquiry. Much dissatisfaction because of Post
master General Payne's original attitude toward
these investigations Is expressed and it is saw
that Mr. Roosevelt is in receipt of many letters
urging Mr. Payne's retirement It Is said, how
ever, that Mr. Payne will not retire and that ho
enjoys the confidence and support of Mr. Roose
velt AMONG THE DEVELOPMENTS IN THE
postofllce investigation, none are more in
teresting than those relating to tho rural mail
delivery system. It seems to be well established
that it was intended to use this system as a great
political machine. Some idea of the methods of
the machinists will be obtained when it Is known
that out of the 11,199 rural routes In the United
States, 3,792 were allotted to the four states,
Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois. Commenting
upon this fact, the New York Post says: "Can
we resist the conviction that there is a direct
connection between that fact and the other fact
that the most powerful republican politicians and
congressmen came from those states?" The Post
says: "There is no longer any denying that tho
scandal is one of huge proportion. Its investiga
tion has only begun. We must make our rulers,
from the president down, understand that such
crimes in the public service h t us and make us
angry. They are a national disgrace, which the
people must resent Any one in authority who
would excuse or shield a single guilty official or
politician, we must make feel the weight of our
displeasure. And, for the future, wo must all
insist, not merely upon a wholesale transfer of
the detected rascals from office to jail, but upon
now safeguards, new checks upon congressional
greed, new courage on the part of the chief ex
ecutive, which t ill make the recurrence of the
great national shame more difficult, ifnot im
possible." IT IS VERY GENERALLY AGREED THAT
tremendous significance attaches to the re
sult of the German election. The socialists made
large gains, their candidates polling moro than
2,500,000 votes, a gain of 400,000 since the elec
tions of 1898. The socialists gained twelve seatB
in the relchstag, carrying every district except
one in Berlin and made sweeping gams in Sax
ony. Herr Bebel, the socialist leader, declared:
"Saxony is now the red kingdom." The New
. York Tribune says that the result of tho elec
tion "Is a sign of the times- it does not seem pos
sible that an' Imperial government can afford to
ignore. It Bhows that the rising tide of socialism
is still rising in spite of all barriers and threat
ens soon to flood the whole land. At each elec
tion hitherto anti-socialists of various parties, ob
serving the increase in the socialist vote, have
said that the high water m -k had then been
reached and that thenceforth there would be re
action and decline. Such cheerful prophecies hava
not been fulfilled, and there is no aparent reason
lor thinking that any such that may now be
made will be fulfilled. On the contrary, It seems
more probable that five years hence the social
ists will sweep the whole empire almost as thor
oughly as they now have the kingdom of-Saxony."
THAT SOCIALISM IN GERMANY HAS
thrived. on persecution and repression and
that tho government classes are fuco to face with
an internal problem which threatens tho founda
tion of the monarchy and omplre, is pointed out
by the Brooklyn Citizen. The Citizen interprets
tho recent elections to mean that modern Ger
many "is marching with seven-leaguo boots to tho
overthrow of existing institutions. Underneath
all of tho outward splendor of imperial magnifi
cence and military display, the Germany that
toils that others may enjoy is seeking to make
itself free." The New York Trir 'o, while ad
mitting that among tho German socialists there
are some extremists who would instantly abolish
tho throne and make an oqual division of all
property, says that they are in the minority, and
that tho average so-called socialist in Germany
is far less radical than his American namesake by
whom, Indeed, he would probably be regarded as a
conservative. The Tribune explains: "The Ger
man socialists are chiefly a party of protest. They
are protesting not against the monarchy, but
againBt the abuses of tho monarchical system. If
these abuses were reformed they would be satis
fied. They would probably, the great majority of
them, be quite content with some such govern
mental system as that which exists in England.
But if their protests are not heeded, and if their
demands for reform are not granted, they will
steadily grow more and more extreme until they
become outright revolutionists. t In that consider
ation is seen the peril of 'laissez falre,' and In
it is also seen the most pertinent suggestion for
governmental action for the averting of the so
cialist menace."
MAJOR JAMES BURTON POND, WHO DIED
' in Jersey City June 21, was an interesting
character. At the time of his death Major Pond
was sixty-five years of age. When a very young
man he became an ardent abolitionist and served
in the civil war, rising from the ranks until he
became a major. Major Pond became famous as a
lecture bureau manager and among the lecturers
and singers whose tours were managed by Major
Pond are mentioned the following: Henry Ward
Beecher, Wendell Phillips, John B. Gough, Kev.
Dr. Joseph Parker, Frederick Douglass, Canon
Kingsley, Wilkio Collins, Charles Bradlaugh, Mat
thew Arnold, Archdeacon Farrar, Henry M. Stan
ley, Max O'Rell, Dean Hole, Ian Maclaren, Sir
Edwin Arnold, Conan Doyle, William Parsons,
Mrs. Annie Besant, Archibald Forbes, Frederick
Villers, Anthony Hope, Georga Augustus Sala,
Israel Zangwill, Justin Huntly McCarthy, M. P.;
Mark Twain, Rev. T. De Witt Talmage, Mme.
' Sarah Grand, Josh Billings, Bill Nye, George W.
Cable, Anna E. Dickenson, Julia Ward Howe,
Charlotte Cushman, Clara Louise Kellogg, Mrs.
Mary A. Livermore, Emma Abbott, Ann Eliza
Young, Richard Le Gallienno, Thomas Nast, Wil
liam Lloyd Garrison, Charles Sumner,
THE INCIDENTS OF POND'S FIRST MEET
ing with Charles Sumner were frequently re
ferred to by the famous manager. The story as
Pond was Inthe habit of telling it is related n
the New York American in this way: "Charles
Sumner was an aristocrat. He was my father's
ideal. He walked nine miles to hear him spea.
Father always spoke of him as the Honorabla
Charles Sumner, so great was his reverence of tlw
man. He enjoyeu the speech immensely. I do not
know whether I did or not Father sat near, with
the intention of rushing up and greeting him when
he had finished, but the Jtnorable Charles was
too quick for him. He had vanished. Father
said: 'James, the Honorable Charjes -Sumner is
going to Milwaukee tomorrow morning, and we
can ride with him a part of the way. He was n
the. drawing room car when we got on the train.
Father stepped up to him and said: 'The Honor
able Charles Sumner, I have read your speeches.
I have felt it the duty of every American to taka
you by the hand. This is my son. He has re
turned from the Kansas conflict' Honorable
Charles Sumner did not see father nor his son,
but ho saw the brakeman, and said; 'Can you gt
me a place where I will be undisturbed?' Father'3
heart was almost broken."
" jc
THE YALE SUMMER SCHOOL OF FORESTRY
opened at Milford, Pa., July 1. The Wash
ington correspondent for the Chicago Record
Herald says that the work of this school, it is
believed by those scientists connected with the
government who are interested in such matters,
will be of far-reaching importance in directing the
attention of the general public to the question of
the conservation of tho forest -and the dangers
attendant on their indiscriminate destruction. H
Is further pointed out that unusual interest at
taches to this school in view of tho extraordinary
floods, cyclones, and forest fires which have pre
vailed in various parts of the United States with
in the last few" months, their ravages being ac
companied by great loss of life and property. The
meteorological influence of tho forest is well
known and appreciated, but little understood, ana
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