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The Commoner.
JANUARY 20, 1905
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ON JANUARY 9 presidential electors met at
their respective atate capitals and cast their
ballots, each state selecting a messenger to carry
the result to the national capital. Under the law,
the electors are required to prepare and sign, three
certificates, certifying on each the vote of the state
for president and vice president. The messenger de
livers ono of these certificates to the president of
the senate, anotner certificate is forwarded by mail
to the president of the United States while the
third certificate Is to be delivered to the federal
judge of the district in which the electors assemble.
.On February 8 the senate and house of representa
tives will meet in joint session, count the electoral
votes according to the certificates delivered to the
president of the senate and will declare the elec
tion of the successful candidates. In this instance
it will be shown that Roosevelt and Fairbanks
received 336 votes while Parker and Davis received
140 votes. ..
SENATOR HALE of Maine, who has been en
dorsed by republican legislative caucuses of
liia state for re-election, will take his place after
March 3, according to a writer in the Chicago-flRecord-Herald
in the little group of five-term sen
ators. The Record-Herald say3: "Senator-Hale was
first sent to the senate in 1881, and is thus com
pleting his twenty-fourth year of service. The
senate contains now one six-term senator, Allison
of Iowa, who has served continuously since 1873;
and one other senator, Teller of Colorado, who has
been elected six. times, though he has not served
six full terms. His first term was for but a single
session, and after he had been re-elected he dropped
out of the senate for two years to accept a seat
in President Arthur's cabinet. Of five-term sena
tors there are now Morgan of Alabama, Piatt of
Connecticut and Cockrell of Missouri, who have
served continuously. Stewart of Nevada is com
pleting, his fifth term, but he had a twelve-year gap
n his service, "having been first'elected to the sen
ate, it is interesting to recall, as early as 1864. Sen
ator Frye of Maine, is also in his fifth term, but his
first term, to fill a vacancy, la3ted but two years,
so that his actual period of service is the same as
that of Senator Hale. Senator Hawley of Connecti
cut and Senator Aldrich of Rhode Island are. now
finishing their fourth terms, and Senator Cullom of
this state is just two years behind them in length
of service."
THERE is said to be increased activity in Cana
dian iron and steel since the imposition of
the $7 duty on steel rails, which went into effect
Dec. 1. The Chicago Record-Herald says that it
13 not expected however that the market will be
held for Canadians. The Record-Herald quotes our
consul at Toronto as saying: "The legislation will
doubtless secure to Canada the establishment of
new iron and steel plants or the purchase by
American firms of plants already in operation."
The Record-Herald adds: "There was a rumor, it
appears, that the United State3 Steel Corporation
had gained control of one plant at Collingwood,
and though it was premature it Is certainly possi
ble for the controlling spirit of that combine to
buy and build in many places beyond our borders.
That its power should become international would
bo the natural sequence of the strength that It has
acquired here through tariff aid and an organiza
tion making for monopoly, and it will be very in-?
teresting to watch the Canadian developments for
signs of its expansion.
THE newspapers have recently paid consider
able attention to Iowa's record for broken
banks. One report that has received very general
circulation says that during the year 1904 there
were about forty bank failures in the Hawkeye
State. The American Banker contends that this
report does grave injustice to Iowa and quotes
from the auditor of the state to the effect that
there were not forty failures during the two -years
of 1903 and 1904, The American Banker declares
that its records show that the actual failures dur
ing the year 1904 could not have exceeded eight
state, and private banks, and two national banks,
and add3 that the majority of these failures in
Iowa were caused by the dishonesty of bank officials.
BECAUSE of the number of fatal accidents to
trains bearing the number 13, orders havo
been issued on the Mountain division of the Oro
gon Railroad & Navigation company which strikes
that number from the train sheet. Tho Portland
correspondent for the Now York American says:
"The tragic death of Conductor Charles F. Brown
at Mamola in November was tho climax. The la3t
train order signed by Conductor Brown on that
fatal trip was order No. 13, which ho received at
Bingham Springs, and which, in tho usual jovial
manner, he at first refused to sign for, tolling tho
dispatcher to change tho number. After a few
joking words over tho wires with tho dispatcher
Conductor Brown took the order and in delivering
a copy of it to Engineer Peter Thelsen, said in fun:
'That's a bad one, Pete. Look at tho number and
then look out' It was tho last order Brown re
ceived, it being a 'meet order' on train No. 1 at
Mecham.
RW. SOMERS of Berkley, Cal.f has discovered
, that he is the possessor of a fine violin upon
which Is inscribed the name of Sfeiner, one of the
great old master violin makers. The Berkley cor
respondent for the New York American says:
"While going over some lumber In his attic one af
ternoon Somers came upon the violin by accident,
where It has been thrown eight or ten years ago.
Its history before that period is uncertain. Som
ers at the time thought nothing of tho instrument,
and hi3 son used it for a while as a sand shovel.
It was while the youngster was playing with the
instrument that a professor of the University of
California camo upon it and apprised its owner of
its real value. Since then many art collectors have
offered largo sums for the violin, but, needless to
say, Somers has declined them all."
PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT recently called fnto
consultation Senators Aldrich, Allison, Spoon
er and Piatt of Connecticut, Speaker Cannon and
Representatives Payne, Dalzell, Grosvenor and
Tawney for the purpose for determining the ad
ministration's position on the tariff question. The
Washington correspondent for the New York
World says that the conference divided with Alli
son, Aldrich, Spooner and Tawney in favor of re
vision and Piatt, Cannon, Grosvenor and Dalzell
against revision, while Representative Payne, who,
by the way, is chairman of tho committee of ways
and means, straddled. Tho World's correspondent
says that It is likely that the joint committee of
the senate and house will be appointed at the
close of this session to sit during the summer and
investigate tariff schedules.
MiRY ROGERS is under sentence to hang in
Vermont, January 16. Kate Rogers Is to be
hanged In Pennsylvania Feb. 3. Each of the3e wo
men is charged with murdering her husband. Mrs.
William Blickensderfer, wife of the vice president
of the Blickensderfer Manufacturing company at
Stamford, Conn., has issued an. appeal to the women
of America to join in irctest against tho execu
tion of these two women. Mrs. Blickensderfer's
grandmother was a schoolmate of Victor Hugo and
the creator of Jean Valjean is quoted frequently in
the appeal.
ALONZO TUBBSamember-of. the Missouri leg
islature, has Introduced a bill' seeking to pro
hibit what i3 -known as tipping in hotels, restau
rants -and eating houses in that state. Referring to
this bill Mr. Tubbs says: "This seems to be a rap
idly growing evil in this state and nation. The evil
has become so great that no 3elf-respectlng man
is willing to go into a hotel or restaurant where the
practice is allowed without he Is also wllfing to tip
tho" servants. When the author of this bill goes
into a hotel and pays for his dinner he thinks
that the price of the dinner is fixed by the hotel
itself, and pay for it at the office is all that he
should bo expected to pay, and that for the price
paid at the office he should receive the proper ser
vice at the table without paying an additional sum
to receive the proper attention at the table. It
seems that proprietors of hotels and restaurants
are encouraging this imposition in order to reduce
the. expense of 'their help to themselves. The tips
received at many of tho hotels and high-toned res
taurants havo come to bo such an Important Item
in tho pay of tho waiters that tho waiters are glad
to servo In their positions without any pay except
tho tips received from tho gueats. In fact, thero are
hotels and restaurants in that state where the head
waiter actually pays tho hotel a bonus for his posi
tion and receives as his pay a percentage of tho tips
received by the under servants, these latter also
receiving no pay from the hotel. Tho author of tho
bill, thinking this custom not only an Imposition
on tho traveling public but incompatible with
American citlzlnship and American manhood,
thinks that tho practice ought to bo prohibited by
law."
PAUL MORTON, now secretary of tho navy, and
at ono time vice president of tho Santa Fo
railroad, in his testimony in a rate hearing case
swore in tho United States circuit court at Los An
geles according to tho Now York American, as fol
lows: "Wo (the Santa Fo) made several endeav
ors. Wo tried tho costly experiment of being hon
est in this thing living up to tho law as wo un
derstood it, and declining to pay rebates, and we
lost so much business that we found that we had
got to do as tho Romans did."
TWO bills relating to railroad rates and discrim
ination, now before congress, aro attracting
considerable attention. One is known as the
Quarles-Cooper bill and the other aa tho Hearst
bill. Referring to tho Quarles-Cooper bill, the New
York American says: "Tho Quarles-Cooper bill
does not meet tho demand of the people nor tho
necessities of tho case, because under it the rail
roads would havo all tho advantages of delay, and
could practically get two trials of every case. On
an appeal under the Quarles-Cooper bill, tho rail
road in a fight with a New York shipper -the Penn
sylvania road, for instance could send him to
Indiana or Illinois to try its appeal. This bill
gives tho road tho right to appeal to any court
through which its lines pass.
THE advantages and disadvantages of the two
bills are summed up by tho American. Tho
Quarles-Cooper bill is dissected In this way: "1.
Permits taking additional testimony in federal
courts on review. (1) This encourages railroads in
practice of not dlaclosing their side of case before
the commission, thus multiplying chances of erron
eous finding by commission, of reversals by the
courts, with protracted delay. (2) This means a
double trial, ono of the evils of tho existing law,
thus Imposing great expense on tho complainant
and a useless burden upon the courts, which are
already far behind their calendars. 2. Permits
railroads to select the judge to re-try case from any
circuit through which roads run. (1) This rendera
It quite feasible for tho railroad to insure trial of
every ca3e before a juuge of the road's own selec
tion. 3. Makes It almost certain that all orders
would be stayed for a year or more. (1) Because
with the power of selecting the judge and the wide
field to choose from, it would bo obviously easy for
a railroad to find a judge who would grant a stay.
Witness the practice in Now York state of procur
ing from up-state judges 'certificates of reasonable
doubt' in criminal cases. 4. Permits an appeal to
tho supremo court in every case.. 5. Fails to pro
vide effective means of compelling before commis
sion production of papers and answering of ques
tions. (1) This Is one of the worst evils of the
existing law, under which a case can be halted for
a year while the relevancy of a paper or of a ques
tion Is being litigated all the way up to the su
premo court, as in the coal trust case."
THE Hearst bill Is described as follows: "1.
Avoids all the enumerated objections to the
Quarles-Cooper bllL 2. Provides a trained and ex
perienced court for this special branch of law. This
court gives attention only to interstate commerce
cases. It is a regular court of appeals for trans
portation questions, and Wi-en Its decision is ren
dered the case is at an end, unless there is a con
stitutional question involved, when an appeal lies
to the supreme court. 3. Permits appeals from the
Jnterstata commerce court only when a federal
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