The Commoner.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1903,
Dodging
the
Problems.
as
Missionary.
Tho Wall Street Journal refers to the panic of
1893 as "Tho Bryan panic." Many republican pa
' I pers attribute that panic to tho
"The Sherman law, which law was
Bryan repealed before the panic was
Panic" wel1 under way; others have at
tributed tho panic to tho "Wilson
bill which did not take effect untihthepanic had
oxhausted its force, and so wo presume that it
would be improper to protest against the charge
that Mr. Bryan, then a member of congress, was
responsible for the financial disturbance of. 1893.
It is now plain that republican leaders have
succeeded in persuading the president not to call
an extra session of congress as
early as October, and the Wash
ington correspondent for the
Chicago Record-Herald says
that these leaders are now con
centrating their efforts to prevail on the president
not to call any extra session at all. They think
it would be bad policy for the republican party to
undertake to meet any of the pressing problems
that will present themselves in congress any
edoner than is absolutely necessary.
Newspaper dispatches report John G. Carlisle
as having said that a finance measure will bo
' passed at the coming session of
Carlisle congress, and it is also said
that Mr. Carlisle will be among
a number of "prominent demo
crats" who will do missionary
work among democratic senators and representa
tives, in behalf of the republican financial bill. .
Perhaps Mr. Carlisle will assure tho democrats
that the defeat of 'the republican financial bill
will bring more misery upoj. tho people than alt
the wars and pestilences that have happened in
the world's history.
Elihu Root served as secretary of war for
several years and upon tendering his resignation
received a letter from the pres-
Allles ident in which the latter said:
and "The American people wish you
Root wel1 an1 appreciate In full the
debt due to you for all that you
avKaon.o for them in their behalf." General Nel-
VonA. Miles served the American people for forty
years and was permitted to retire from tne public
service with a decidedly formal order issued by
one of General Miles' discredited subordinates.
And yet Mr. Roosevelt has frequently told us th .
the services of the soldier are . entitled to the
"highest consideration."
The Brooklyn Eagle, referring to tho charge
of fraud in the interior department, says that
"the evidence cf a- land ring
who profited by these and sim
ilar opportunities is alleged and
it is said to reach back to the
administration of Benjamin Har
rison." Has the Eagle overlooked the fact that
the Cleveland administration' followed the Harri
son administration? How did it iiappen that un
der the administration of the man to whose po
litical fortunes the Eagle is so devoted, the "land
ring" was not destroyed?
The New York Tribune says: "The constitu
tion of tho United States declares that 'all per
sons born or naturalized in uiu
"United States, and subject to the
jurisdiction thereof, are citizens
of the United States and of the
state wherein they reside.' That
includes negroes." Porto Rico and the Philip
pines are subject to the jurisdiction of the United
States. Why, then, does this not also includa
the Porto Rlcans and the Filipinos? Yet under
the republican policy the inhabitants of the Phil
ippines are classed as "citizens of the Philippines,"
while the inhabitants of Porto Rico are classed
aa "citizens of Potto Rico."
How Did
It
Happen?
There
are
Others.
Signs of
Powerful
Control."
In his letter under date of New York, August
22. Henry Clews, referring to the recent decline
in biockh, uuya: uuuub mo
whole downward movement
there were signs of powerful
control generally exerted toward
inwpr nrir.p.s. hut invariably used
to check disaster at" tho critical moments." Mr.
Clews says that in "a year of general prosperity
we have had a contraction double that incurred in
a year of adversity only ten years ago." He says
tbat "this year's shrinkage In securities amounted
to 2,650 millions on a capitalization of 6,034 mil
lions, compared with a shrinkage of 1,300 millions
anda capitalization of 4,668 millions in 1893, a
year of general financial disaster."
Tho Chicago Record-Herald prints an Inter
esting story from William E. Curtis, undor date
. of Bloomington, 111., August 24,
Tn relating to "Majors Hall, In
Last which Abraham Lincoln dcllv-
Specch. ored bis celebrated 'lost speech'
in 1856." A number of promi
nent republicans are discussing tho "lost speech"
although it is admitted that there is no rcliablo
account of what that speech contained. There are,
however, a very largo numbor of Mr. Lincoln's
speeches which aro not lost; and yet It is to bo
observed that republican leaders aro not quoting
from theso speeches to any extent The reason Is
that the Lincoln speeches that aro not lost pro
vide striking condemnation for tho republican poli
cies of today.
Europe's
Great
Curse.
In an interview given to tho Boston corre
spondent for tho Chicago Record-Herald, Lord
Brassey, an eminent naval au
thority and president of tho
London chamber of commerce,
said that the United States is
destined to be the first naval
pewer in the world. Then Lord Brassey declared
that In Europe sontiment is growing in favor of
at least partial disarmament, and ho added:
"These expensive armaments aro the greatest curso
of Europe and wo of Great Britain have about
reached -the limit ourselves. Tho breaking point
has been reached in France, Germany and Russia.
These countries are staggering along with an aw
ful load."
H. H. Kohlsaat of Chicago, after dining with
President Roosevelt, said in an interview with a
newspaper reporter, that ho
Very thought some financial lcgisla-
Brlef tlon "of a remedial character"
Indeed. would be enacted at tho ap
proaching session of congress.
Mr. Kohlsaat explained: "Tho best judgment Is
that whatever financial legislation is undertaken
should bo purely remedial and very brief, covering
perhaps not more than twenty-fivo lines." Why
is it necessary that the bill providing financial
legislation bo "very brief, covering perhaps not
more than twenty-five lines?" And what, Indeed,
has the length or brevity of a bill to do with its
merits? A great deal of damage could be done
to the people in a bill "covering perhaps not more
than twenty-fivo lines." Indeed, almost irrepara
ble Injury might be accomplished by a bill cov
ering not more than twenty-five words.
A correspondent for the Chicago Chronicle
directs attention to a letter written by General
Grant to General Meade on the
Grant field 0f battle In Virginia. Tho
and letter foll-ws: "Grant's Head-
Miles, quarters, April 2, 1865. General
Meade: Miles has made a big
thing of it and deserves the highest praise for
the pertinacity with which he stuck to tho enemy
until he wrung from him victory. As the cavalry
was coming down the Cox and River roads I am
very much in hopes we will hear tonight of tho
capture of the balance of Heth's and Wilcox's di
visions. I think a cavalry force has been thrown
to the very bridge over which they expected to
escape in advance. U. S. Grant, Lieutenant Gen
eral." And yet this man to whom General Grant
referred as deserving of "the highest praise for
the pertinacity with which he sti -Ic to the enemy
until he wrung from him victory," was permitted"
to retire from the service of his country without
one word of commendation from the president of
the United States.
A Minnesota republican predicted that tho
Minnesota state convention would declare for
tariff revision and the Boston
Who are Advertiser, recognized as a
the People Roosevelt organ, says that It
Anyway? doubts that the Minnesota con
J ventlon will "slop over on the
tariff or any other question. Tho Advertiser says:
"The conventions in the different republican states
will do what President Roosevelt, as the only
candidate in sight, wants them to do. Whatever
may be the local sentiment in this state, the re
publican convention will go on record as 'stand
patters because President Roosevelt himself Is a
'standpatter.'" The Washington Post thinks
that this "comes much too near the one man pow
er to be contemplated with saccharine serenity
by the average American." According to the
Posl, If the Boston paper was not mistaken, "the
people are now getting policies from the presi
dent" And yet Is It not trua that the republican
convention of these days Is not a deliberative
body, but merely a machine for placing upon rec
ord the plan agreed upon by the leading machinists
for the party?
Miles
and His
Comrades.
The Grand Army convention assembled at Sam
Francisco adopted tho following resolution: "Re
solved, That wo congratulate
tbat splendid soldier, exemplary
commander and patriotic citi
zen, General Nelson A. Miles,
upon his attainment of a dis
tinguished and honorable retirement after a
matchless record as a soldier of ovor forty-two
years' sorvlco without just criticism of his official
conduct, which begun as a lieutenant In the
' Twonty-second Massachusetts Infantry, progress
ing by tho brightest grado of heroic patriotism
fiom Manassas to Appomattox during tho greatest
of all civil Wars, from 1861 to 1865, and illuminat
ing this record by his great military achievements
as a successful Indian fighter and again as a
great and judical military disciplinarian and or
ganlzor." Mr. Roosevelt was doubtless very much
interested in this lino tribute to tho distinguished
soldier whom Mr. Roosevelt has persistently
sought to discredit and humiliate.
Mr. Joseph Pulitzer has very generously do
nated $2,000,000 for tho purpose of establishing a
school of journalism. Tho plan
Educate Qf instruction outlined In Mr.
the Pulitzer's nowspaper indicates
Owners. tliat tn Pupils f that school
aro to bo those who aspiro to bo
writers and editors. It will occur to a great
many people that it might bo well for Mr. Pulitz
er's school to educate tho business office In the
hope of impressing upon tho owners of newspapers
tho fact that they owe obligations to tho public
as well as to their own counting room. Once tho
newspapers of tho land nro owned by men who aro
devoted to public Interests, It will bo a very easy
matter to select from tho rising generations men
Who, although they have not attended a school of
journalism, are capable of prcrontlng to tho pub
lic sound doctrine in a pleasing way. A course
in the Pulitzer school of journalism, however thor
ough It might be, would bo utterly useless, so far
as public interests aro concerned, if tho graduate
entered tho employ of a newspaper that was
owned and controlled by men who were more con
cerned for the advantage of special Interests than
for tho public welfare.
Favors
From
Corporations.
Many republican newspapers are severely
"criticising Senator Tillman because of tho dis
covery mat no noias a rauroau
pass. Commenting upon these
criticisms, the Atlanta Consti
tution wants to know which of
theso two things is worse: "For
a senator .to accopt a pass for himself, dr for a
president of tho United States, who Is at tho head
of tho departments of the government which have
to pass upon so many questions Involving tho re
lations of the great railroad corporations to the
government Itself and to interstate commerce, to
accopt at the hands of tho railroads special trains,
stocked with all kinds of edibles, on which to
make political tours of the country?" The Con
stitution further directs attention to an article
presented by a writer In tho New York Sun. In
that article liberal quotations are made from the
message of President Roosevelt In which ho ad
vised the creation of a department of commerce .
because of tho necessity of restricting the bad
ccrporatlons in contradistinction to the good ones.
This writer wants to know whether the good
railroads or tho bad ones furnished the president
with these well stocked presidential trains.
But
What About
Bristow?
The New York Commercial Advertiser says
that Mr. Rooaevelt's selection of two criminal
lawyers as special counsel for
the prosecution of persons Im
plicated in the postoffice depart
ment scandals will "stop the
mouths of the chronic harpers
as to his sincerity in the matter." Mr. Roosevelt
did very well to choose special counsel for this
prosecution, but there are other things to bo done.
What is needed Is rigid investigations of every
branch of the federal service in order that corrup
tion may bo exposed wherever it exists. In the
light of the revelations In the postoffice depart
ment, does It. stand to reason that other depart
ments of the federal service are free from wrong
doing? If Mr. Roosevelt was as vigorous an
sincere in the pushing of these investigations a.
his political friends would nave us believe, tb-'en
it Is not at all likely that L o friends of the dis
honest officials who were exposed by Mr. Brlatow
would now be loudly boasting that their pwrpoee
Is to drive the fourth assistant postmaster gen
eral from his position. If Mr. Roosevelt were
really serious in these matters, these politicians
would be running to cover rather thanspending
their time in displaying their anger tpoward an
honest public official.
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