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MAY 24;-1007""
.only; ono was selected by four votes, and one
by twelve votes. The man, olected by threo
voted for hlmselfNuid he has three sons who
voted for their father. vThrcd democrats had
pluralities of less than 100, the smallest being
seventeen. In the senate the republicans have
ono member who was chosen by a plurality of
fifty while the smallest plurality for any demo
cratic senator was 252. The domocratlc1eaders
declare that any election giving a plurality of
100 or less is anybody' fight when the next
election comes around."
IN HIS ADDRESS at. Yale college recently,
.Secretary of State Root said J,. "Doubtless
there may hav,e been abuses In raising and ap
plying campaign funds, but In the main there
is no more useful expenditure of money from
thd public point of view than this, which In the
last presidential election, according to official
statements, amounted to only about three - anil
one-halt cents per. capita for the people of the
United States ohpne side and probably some
what less on theiother, for, the great bulk of it
is applied to the political education of voters."
EEFERRING TO Mr. Root's speech, the.New
York World says: "On notable occasions
Secretary Root has appeared as spokesman for
the president. - Do his remarks at Yale reflect
Mr. Roosevelt's views'? Is Mr. Roosevelt sat?
fsfied to let the matter of. campaign contributions
rest as it is? He hesitated a long time after,
the 1904 election before ; urging congress to pro
hibit, corporations from contributing to cam
paignfunds. Does he favor secrecy in collect
ing and disbursing them? 'Do Secretary Root's
remarks mean . that in President Roosevelt's
mind no more "safeguards are needed against
political corruption? Is this all the administra
tion has to say? Is there to be only praise of
the 'useful expenditure' of campaign money and
no further practical steps to. secure publicity
of receipts and expenditures? Does Mr. Root,
and does Mr. Roosevelt, think that 'turning at
least 60,000 votes",' in E. H."Harriman's phrase,
could be called a 'useful expenditure' of the
money Harriman raised in 1904? Did Mr. Har
rlman mean by that phrase the 'political educa
tion' of those 50,000 voters? Where does Mr.
Roosevelt stand?'' .t . ,, .,'..
Commoner.
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rr HE COURTSHIP of Mayor and "Mrs. Isaacs
ly of Ohllllcothe, Mo., who. recently celebrat
ed their fiftieth wedding anniversary, is told
by the Kansas City Post in this way: "When
the mayor was a young man he called at the
Austin home one day as a peddler And exhibit
ed his wares. While enjoying the huge com
fortable fireplace the mayor's glance fell on
Miss Amanda who was busy in the kitchen. Of
course it was love at first sight with the mayor.
While he stood rooted to the spot the playful
.fire took hold of the seat of his pants. Miss
Amanda saw the danger and quickly enveloped
him In a blanket. Needless to say the trousers
were In a bad shape and Miss Amanda volun
teered to mend them. Her services were ac- .
ceped, and from that time to this she has
been, busy keeping the mayor away from the
fire." ' '
a WASHINGTON-dispatch to the New York -.jCV.
World says: ''Secretary Taft went into
total eclipse today when a visitor weighing 349
pounds appeared at his office. It was Chairman
Rush, jit the Worth Bagley Monument associa
tion. v Mr. Rush said that a massage expert
told, him that he hatl reduced the weight of
Secretary Taft from 347 to 237 pounds. The
masseur agreed to reduce the weight of Rush,
and got $20 for the first treatment. Instantly
. the appetite of Rush increased, and' in forty .
days he gained twenty-seven pounds. He told
the secretary of war that if he had continued
the treatment it would, have been impossible"
for him to get through the door. He said that
although he had been buncoed, he would not
demand the $20 paid to the masseur if Secretary
Taft would lend him some government flags
for the unveiling of the Bagley statue. Secre
tary Taft agreed and expressed the hope that
the shadow of Rush would never grow less."
rpHE UNITEp STATES supreme court, speak
X ing through Justice Holmes, has an
nounced its decision in a number of cases in-
volving the construction of the eight-hour law
of 1902, by which the employment of laborers -and
mechanics on public works is limited to
eight hours per day. The defendants were all
prosecuted criminally and were all found guilty
and fined by 4he trial court. The suits were
Instituted especially for the purpose of testing
the application" of the law to laborers and me
chanlcs employed on dredges in fiver and'bar
bor Improvements, but the' other . points "rtroro
all necessarily involved. The court, hold tho
law to be constitutional, but -hold that 16 'does
not apply to laborers and mechanics on dredges,
and that men so employed can not bo hold to
be employed.on public works.
A CCORDJNG TO THE Associated Press there
XX are seven of the cases brought to tho su
premo court on writs of error front the United
States court for tho district of Massachusetts.
Justice" Holmes' opinion was based upon the
.cases of William H. Ehis and tho Eastern
Dredging company 'vs. the United States, and
all the other six cases were decided along tho
same lines. Justice Moody delivered a dissent
ing opinion. Tho decision will have immediate
r bearing upon the lotting of contracts. lor tho
$87,000,000 worth of river and harbor work
made by the last sess'lon of congress. Most of
tho contracts under that law were held up by
the war- department pending tho settlement of
the case. Justice Holmes' opinion that the men
employed on dredges in river and harbor im
provements "ire not laborers or mechanics was
based on the ground that in effect such men'
are seamen, to whom the law Is not applicable.
He said that all other employment Js incidental
to the work of tho men and to their service as
seamen and that, therefore they must bo
classified as seamen. Justice Moody held a
diametrically opposite view, declaring the duties
of the men in handling the dredges are inci
dental to their work as laborers. Their prin
cipal duty was that of digging and removing
dirt and the fact that they are employed on a
vessel does not alter the case. Tho court, ho
said, had nothing to do with, that policy of
congress in enacting the law. "Justices Harlan
and Day concurred in the dissenting "opinion.
ON MAY 16 Governor Gooding, of Idaho,
escorted, so it is charged, a number of
newspaper men to the cell of Harry Orchard,
the self-confessed assassin of former Governor
Steunenburg and whose alleged confession seeks
to Implicate officials of the Western Federation
of Miners. Orchard submitted to an interview,
saying that he had not been promised immunity
and that if he had confessed the confession was
not obtained by force.- Governor Gooding sup
plemented Orchard's statement by saying that
the assassin had riot been promised Immunity.
JUDGE WOOD, who is presiding at tho trial
. of Haywood, promptly called tho attention
of the county attorney to the Orchard and Good
ing Interview and directed him to take such
action as was deemed necessary if these Inter
views appeared to be In contempt of court.
Judge Wood condemned the publication of these7
interviews and said that they were calculated
to influence the jury. Attorneys Darrow and
Richardson for the defense charged that the
interviews were published for the purpose of
preventing the defendant from obtaining a fair
trial. After -the attorneys had engaged in a
heated argument Judge Wood interrupted to say
that his course in the matter had been made
clear. He said that some time ajjo a proposed
juror had reported that he had been spoken to
in reference to the case. "I directed the acting
prosecuting attorney to take cognizance of the
matter at that time, and I understand he did
so. I will (do the same thing in this case, and
as the prosecuting attorneyls present I call his
attention to seyeral articles in this morning's
paper one reporting the details of the visit
of-the newspaper meja to the penitentiary, two
others signed by two correspondents, and giving
their opinion of Orchard, and another purport-,
ing to have been sent out by the Associated
Press. If after careful examination, without
fear or favor, he, concludes that an attempt has
been made in any way to influence jurors, he
will take such action as toe law seems to justify.
I have every confidence jn the prosecuting attorney."
Ill" . .'Vifc
HiJUiwUL SOCIETY
9
of tt presidcute, Miguel Romcrnldcz, who Is a
violent Amerlcunlata.' An American dflicor of
the array wns present at Hie torture, but I could
not determine his responsibility. In nnolhcr case,
ah 'American detective bent a chained prlsonerto
force confession. The. prisoners were tried In
largo batches. They had the legal right to de
mand separate trials, buttlicy did not know It"
Probably these are Isolated Instances of tiic bar
barous niothod of obtaining worthless testimony
by physical torture. Publication Is rceonnridha
cd ns the surest way to prevent the spretfd of
tho practice.
HORACE WHITE, writing to the New York
Evening Post, under date of New York,
April 22, says: "Sir Dr. David J. Doherty, the
representative of the Filipino Progress association
In Manila, writes from Takloban, Leyte, under
date of March 15, 1907, as follows: 'The use of
.thumb screws' on some prisoners till the v blood
spurted from their finger ends was employed by
a Filipino presidente, but an American officer
stood, by and did not stop it. Of course, the pris
bner 'confessed.' " In another letter from Manila
he says of the same affair: "Thumb screws were
used on some prisoners in Tolosa, under orders
REFERRING TO recent railroad disasters,
a writer in Colliers Weekly says: "Tho
statistics of railroad 'accidents' for March con
tain nothing to dispel "Mr. Hill's gloomy feeling
that when ho starts on a Journey ho Is taking his
life in his hand, in that month, as shown by an
unofficial but falrjy complete record, there were
fifty-three serious wrecks' In which nlnety-tyo
persons were killed and at least two hundred and
fourteen injured. That Is four more wrecks, with
forty more killed, but by rt curious chance eighty
eight fcwerlnjured than lh "February, which", It
Is only fair" to remember, was a shorter month
than 'March by three days'. The worsV of tlio
March disasters was the smash on tho Southern
Pacific near Colton, Cal., In which twenty-eight
persons were killed and fifty-eight Injured. In
that month there were seventeen collisions, nine
trains ran into open switches, five suffered from
explosions, five were derailed py spreading and
broken rails and broken trucks and six were
thrown from the tracks by wreckers, three of
these crimes occurring on the Pennsylvania rail
road, within a few days of each other. Negli
gence, disregard of orders,' or faulty orders, arc
charged with four wrecks. Two were admitted
by railroad officials to be de to ovorspeedlng.
Washouts caused two, and . others were laid to
slides and speeding on curves. In February, for
which complete statistics have been collected by
the Railroad Gazette, there were forty-nine ser
ious wrecks, of which twenty-six were caused by
collisions, twenty by derailments and three by
boiler explosions. In these fif ty-two persoiis wei'o
killed and three hundred and two injured."
THE New Xork Evening Post, a republican
paper, does .not appear to be greatly im
pressed with tho efforts of Mr. Roosevelt to, dls
miss Mr. Harriman as a person unworthy of re
spectful consideration. The Post says: "It was
not necessary for President Roosevelt to take no
tice of the publication of a letter, confessedly
stolen and garbled. Yet If he had to do it, tho
pity is that he could not have done It in a inore
dignified manner, and made his rejoinder mora
effective and Ingenuous, while quieter. Having
chosen to disgust the public by laying before it
tho details of his correspondence with Mr. Harri
man, the president invites a sifting of the case;
and we are bound to say that a comparison of tho
documents does not leave Mr. Roosevelt- In an al
together happy light. .The president gloats over
the fact that this new issue of veracity and what
a lamentably long list of such Issues he now has! -has
been raised between him and a man suffering
the discredit which attaches td Mr. Harriman.
But that gentleman, was pretty well known. In
1904, yet In that year Mr. Roosevelt found 'real
pleasure' in seelngJMm, consulting with, him about
the campaign, and -taking his $50,000, with -the
$150,000 more which he raised among his friends. ,
All told, the new reyplations confirm what has
come out before about President Roosevelt being:
so anxious in 1904 to save the country that ho
did not scruple to uBe abhorrent means, and In
vite the aid of the men whom he now calls 'ene
mies of ihe republic,' in order to do it"
AN INTERESTING story Is given under dat
J. - of Northampton, Mass., In tho New Yori
World: "The will of John James, of the town
of jGoshen, made ono hundred years ago, was
presented in the probate court today. It stipu
lated that at tho end of one hundred years $100
with its accumulated Interest should be paid to
the town of Goshen and the parish of the Con
gregational church of that town. .The $100 with
its accumulation now amounts to $19,431.72.
Tho court ordered a division of the fund accord
ing to the terms of tho will. Orie portion of
the money $10,556,72, was ordered to be paljl
the town for the benefit of the schools and the
support of the poor of tho town, and $8,800
applied to the support of a gospel minister In
that town and for the repairs of the house of
worship, which has the same organization and
the same meeting-house that existed in the lif?
ttrao or tne lesiaior.
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