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to take hi place as their general. Was Ittho
dead Clnion or his thought that still dominated
them, or the average thought of the army maw
that prompted them to ignorantly follow the
galley that was his bier? What was the secur
ity, the leadership of hlg dead body or their
thought to accomplish a purpose? In brief was
It not the moral force working out the security
of Greece regardless of the thought of a lead
ing thinker?
But the strongest evidence I find is this.
Within the possible life of a man after the
crucifixion of the Savior, the great Plutarch
taught philosophy at Rome. In all his volumin
ous writings, and with a very evident religious
disposition, and an eagerness to see, hear and
learn the leastv details of everythingr possible,
added to an almost overwhelming research
among.all the writings of the learned and learn
ing of all ages and then within hjs reach, not
one word does he write that chronicles a single
fact of the Savior's existence nor of His teach
ings, nor of those of His followers. And this,
too, we must remember, although he was in
Home when Nero was glutting his gory appetite
by a destruction of Christians. Jerusalem was
under Roman dominion, and it is certain that
In the lifetime, of the Savior He was known of
at Rome; also, that the greatest of the Apostles
had, preached Christianity at Rome and suffered
death therefor. What, was lacking? Was it
not the thought of the mass of men? Else,
what silences the wordy Plutarch from all ref
erence to an interfering religion with that of
Rome? Or, on his returning to Greece, what
was. there tosilence him, Nero being dead?
Had silence been commanded would notthat
fact have come to us? Indeed, the only cause
we can attribute to Plutarch's silence respect
ing a subject that Is so overwhelming- to us, is
the probable lack of interest on the part of the
mass,, of men nay," of all thought whatever
Respecting that of which they had no knowledge
as a mass. What the great thinkers thought we
know, but that such thought was not the control
ling one is eyident from such a conspicuous
silence on so great a subject by one wlio never,
seemingly, permitted the least opinion among
the leaders of Rome to escape him. His dis
position1 to. analyze the opinions of men of his
and immediately preceding times at Rome arg
ues the absencelpf that controlling, thought that
In, any way affected the peopje whose disposi
tions he is always very -careful to explain.
When we contemplate that the leader of
this thought was the Savior, God upon earth as
man! and that His Fishermen of Gallilee were
leaders of the thought, and yet such thought,
lacking knowledge and support on the part of
the mass of men, was without even the knowl
edge of the leading thinkers of great Rome,
what can we conclude but that the mass of
thought lacking in the mass of men gave no pur
pose for thought In or to the leading thinkers of
that day? There was no necessity to think of
Christianity, for it was not in the minds of the
mass of men and had no place in ,the thought
of their leaders. But when it did come Nero
nor his successors nor their imitators in sav
agery could check tthe progress of the average
thought of the average mass of men.
And so it must be. The great difficulty
for us nowr in America, is to Impress upon so
called, leaders that when the average thought
of the average mass of men concentrates upon
the accomplishment of a purpose; it becomes
then a moral force which no man can appro-:
hend or explain, and which no power on earth
can restrain much, less withstand.
It were wisdom to obey the behest of the
average mass of thought of the average- mass
of men-or that thought might materialize most;
terribly. W. S. RYAN.
Indianapolis, Ind., June:!.
The Commoner.
Washington
Letter
Washington, D. C, June 24. Lately Amer
ica has been startled by a aeries of appalling
railway, wrecks. Many of them have been as-?
crlbed to "derailments, broken rails, spreading
rails and defective switches' In this regard
the recent utterance of Mr. B. H. Harriman
who can not be accused of being unfriendly to
the' railroads, is significant. He is quoted as
stating that 'In the month of February 449
rails on' the Union Pacific system were broken
' and of these 179 had been laid within five
months." In this connection it is interesting
to note that the Iron Age, which may be accept
ed as. the spokesman of the rail trade, gives
prominence to the increased -work thrown upon
the rail as an explanation for the frequent crip
pling of them One railway is said to have
computed that driving wheel loads have . in
creased 49 per cent, while the weight of the
rails had increased but 16 per cent. Another
computation makes the increase in driving wheel -loads
60 per cent, and the increase in tho
weight of the rails 25 per cent. The disparity
between the two sets of figures is even more
unfavorable to the rails because of tke general
increase In weights and speeds under conditions
of constant forbidding repairs except when un
avoidable. The railways have also sacrificed'
the toughness of rails demanded for their hard
ness. They have aimed at the maximum amount
of wear, where a softer metal would have worn
down quicker, but been far leas liable to those
fractures that result In terrible accidents. Tho
Railway Gazette Is not afraid to denounce "the
criminal willingness" of makers, whom it names,
to supply rails below their best product for
uses upon which human life depends. In proof
of this the Gazette cites a meeting of "railway
men representing 230,000 miles of track. When
all who were satisfied with their rail deliveries
were asked to say so no one respondod. Mr.
Schwab of steel trust fame has recently stated
that he-could supply "good rails if tho railroads
would pay three times the present price." But
Mr. Schwab did not say that our steel trust is
selling a superior rail in England for far less
than they charge Americans for an inferior
product.
The Calumet, Illinois, News recently took
occasion to criticise this correspondent for mak
ing the above statement. The News frankly
admitted that our railroads have sacrificed the
safe rail to the rail that will wear. They admit
that our railroads have placed a greater stress
and strain upon these rails than they were in
tended to stand. The News does not even deny
that American steel rails are sold in England
for less than in the United States. But It will
not admit that the steel companies of Calumet
or elsewhere have been accessories to these
'w-rongs. And it scouts the. idea that the Amer-V
lean rails marketed in England are of any bet
ter quality than those sold atr home. One can
only judge of rails by results. England runs
more heavy and more high speed trains over her
trackage than we do; This is mentioned because
broken rails in America, have recently in certain
quarters been, ascribed to our high speed trains.
Why . is it, then, that English trains do not
affect their, rails in the same way that ours
do?
The public,' however, does not care sc much
who is accountable for this evil, as "it desires
that the evil be remedied. Tho steel trust can
shift the -burden of blame upon the railroad,
and the railroads in turn can lay the wrong
at the door of the steel company. But whoever
is to blame, one thing is certain somebody is
at fault; and present conditions are intolerable.
When one employe in every 133 is killed, and
one ip every ninete injured on our railroads
yearly; when' over ten thousand people are
killed and a hundred thousand injured in rail
road transportation every year In our country.
It is high' time that something was done to
fix the responsibility for such appalling condi
tions. Those who have been compelled to patronize
our non-competing telegraph companies lately
have probably noticed that it costs forty cents
to send a message which a few 'months , ago
could' have been sent for twenty-five cents. It
was. something, of a consolation to telegraph
company patrons, however, to be informed that
this sixty per cent increase in rates was pro
mulgated In order to give telegraph employes
an increase in wages. It was nevertheless rather
difficult to appreciate the. necessity of increas-
ing telegraph tolls sixty per cent in order to
raise wages- less than fifteen per cent. The pay
ing public as a rule are eyer willing- to give a
little more to the wage earners, provided they
can be reasonably sure that the wage earner gets
It. It ,came, thereforer with, something like a
shock "when the; telegraphers throughout the
nation announced that they were preparing for
a strike for higher wages:. It transpired that
their demand and threat had been before the
telegraph company officials for some time prior
to the announcement of the impending strike.
By using, a, calendar, and, putting wo and two
together, it is. now apparent that the telegraph
'companies' .sixty per cent increase In rates was
made not to meet the demand for increased
wages, hut to get the money to fight that de
mand. Thus is the public forced to supply the
telegraph monopoly with the ammunition neces
sary to crush a movement for higher wages with
which the public is itself in hearty sympathy.
If our postoffice- department should raise t
rates for carrying! letters sixty per cent, what a
howl the votaries of private monopoly would
make. And yet here is a telegraph monopoly
that has stifled all progress in. the telegraph
lBR?W STATF
AISTOiwuL SOCIETY
business, raised rates, and fought Its labor. Why
don't wo hear more of tho completo falluro of
this private monopoly? Tho successes of gov
ernment ownership of public utilities often go
unheralded. Its failures never. By the same
token tho real failures of tho private ownership
of public utilities are seldom recorded r its suc
cesses always. The beneficiaries of these nat
ural monopolies appreciate the value of pub
licity. They are ably represented in our news
papers and periodicals, too many of which are
largely subservient to vcBtod and monopoly in
terests Tho falluro of a public Institution to .
pay expenses is always a source of delight to
the spokesmon of private monopoly.
Private monopoly has' called public atten
tion in its loudest manner. to tho deficit In our
postofllco department, but let attontion bo called
by tho advocates of public ownership to tho
news in Tuesday's paper that tho Adams Ex
press company is about to distribute among its
stockholders $24,000,000, or 200 per cent on
every share of stock.
The postofflce is run for tho people; .the
Adams Express company for its stockholders.
Tho postofflce will carry a parcel from De
troit, Mich., to Hamburg, Germany, for loss than
tho Adams Express company would carry the
Bamo parcel from Detroit to Now York. Which
does the bettor service for tho people?
In tho postofllco department we see an Insti
tution that gives more for two cents than any
private monopoly in existence; a, business con
cern paying Its labor bettor for a like claso'of
work and treating it hotter than any private
monopoly; an employer who has never had to
.meet a strike. If left alone by private monopoly
tho postofllco department would be able to carry
packages all over the- United States naturally
much more cheaply than it now carries them to
Lisbon or Buenos Ayres, but the express com
panies, the private monbpolies, are ably repre
sented in the. United States senate, and unhap
pily In tho ppstofiTco department itself. There
fore they hold their monopoly of tho express
service in the United States.
The postofflce need not show a deficit, hut
the- railroads havo tholr representatives too, and
it Is. through their extortions and fraudulent
charges that the deficit is forced upon the dep
partmont. Postal telegraphs, postal savings
banks and a parcels, post are demanded by every
consideration of political wisdom and will cor
talnly come, -
Rear Admiral Coghlan, just retired from
the navy, has done a positive service to, humanity
and to civilization in expressing his conviction
that there will never be a war between the
United States and Japan. Ills reasons aro po
litical, rather than humanitarian, but at a time
when too many naval officers aro talking war
they may help to preserve peace. "I never ex
pect to see war declared between tho United
States- and Japan," said he. "I don't bellevo
Japan wants to fight us either now or in the
future. The Japs have their hands full at pres
ent and I believe always will in their develop
ment and exploitation of eastern Asia. The
Manchurian and Corean situation, together with
their relations with China and Russia will keep
them busy enough' without casting longing eyes
upon the Philippines and Hawaii. My atten
tion was called recently to a magazine story in
which the writer evidently possessed of a .vivid
imagination, discussed the gloomy manner in
which Japan thoroughly thrashed us in two
years of a war that is to begin in 1912 and may
last indefinitely. I don't believe stories of this,
sort serve any good purpose. Rather they aid
in stirring up race hatreds and creating un
pleasant feelings among tho nations."
Admiral Coghlan's words are creditable
equally to him and to 'the service in which he
has- been so long. His criticism of yellow Ac
tio might Well be extended to certain alarmists
in 'tke armed service of the United States. While
it may be' admitted that the best way to Insure
peace is to be prepared for war, -It is equally
. true that the surest way to invite war is to
continually tell a friendly nation that it is in
evitable. WILLIS J. ABBOTT.
BRYAN COUNTY
' 'Mr. Bryan extends his thanks to the con
stitutional convention of Oklahoma for the honor
done 'him in giving his name to one of the
new; counties Each delegate residing in a new
county 'Wis allowed to name it and Hon. R. L.
Williams of Duraht, I. T., now a nominee for
the supreme court, selected the name, Bryan,
lor his county fThe first town named for him.
(the name was selected by James Simmons) is
also located in Oklahoma and he thus has per
sonal reasons for feeling interested in tho future
of the new commonwealth. He gratefully ap
predates the. compliments thus paid him.
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