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The Commoner
VOLUME i7,-NUMBER 31
8
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A CURIOUS colncidonco is reported from
Mason county, Illinois. Thomas and Wil
liam Mohan, twin broth" rs, died recently within
tho same week from cancer of the stomach. They
wero brought to Illinois as foundlings, grew up
together, practiced law together, looked very
much alike and died at practically the same age,
of the same disease.
O
AN ASSOCIATED Press dispatch from Mon
gomery, Ala., follows: "For 'the remo
val of a civil cause from the court of this state
to tho federal court,' tho license of the Southern
railroad to do business in Alabama was can
celed by Secretary of State Julian Thursday
ovoning, tho formal announcement being made
this afternoon. Although the action is produc
tive of a condition similar to that existing in
North Carolina, it differs in that it brings tho
matter to a direct Issue botween state and fed
eral authorities, and is impossible of compro
mise as was the case in the Tarheel state. "When
Secretary Julian received a formal certificate
from the clerk of the circuit court for Talla
dega county, which declared that the Southern
railway had removed a case from that court
to the United States court for the Northorn dis
trict of Alabama, ho immediately cancelled the
license of the Southern. The penalty for the vio
lation of tho act which declares against tho
transfer of suits from state to federal courts
is a fine of not less than $100 nor more thau
$1,000, and imprisonment in the county jail, or
hard labor in the county, for not more than
twelve months, provided it is ngt intended to
interfere with or prohibit the transaction of '
interstate business. Thus every employe of the '
Southern railway in Alabama Is now subject to.
arrest "under this section of the law. At just
what point the administration will aim its first
blow can not be ascertained at this time, but it
is said on good authority that an arrest of sev
eral Southern ticket agents will bring the mat
ter to a focus."
O
ANOTHER Montgomery dispatch six days later
follows: "Governor -Comer and the offi
cials of the Southern railway reached an agree
ment late this afternoon, and the license of the
railroad In Alabama will be reinstated. Begin
ning September 1, 1907, the railroad and its
allied lines will put Into effect the two and a
hall cent fare act and the measure of reducing
the freight rates on 110 commodities commonly
shipped in Alabama. . e ngrocmo.nt t as not
reached without concessions being made by both
sides, but in the main it is a victory for the
state. The laws in question will not be put
into effect permanently. The agreement specifi
cally declares that their operation beginning
September 1 ar only subje t to the final deter
mination as to their constitu'. anality and their
reasonableness, when a decision on these ques
tions is finally rendered by the court of last'.,
resort."
. O
FRANCIS MILES FINCH, author of the "Blue
and the Gray" died recently at Ithaca, N. Y
his birthplace. Referring to Mr. Finch, a writer
In the Brooklyn Eagle says: "Tho poem, repub
' llshed on this page, Is on death, and the death
of the author causes its republication. It has
been repeatedly printed wherever the English
language is in.use. Humanity knows the author
by the poem. The legal profession knows him
because ho was for sixteen years an honored
-judge of our court of appeals. He was appoint
ed tq that court to 'fill a vacancy and was ap
pointed for another vacancy by Alonzo B. Cor
nell tor tne same purpose. Incidentally Judge
Finch's appointment was the only high one Gov
ernor Comoll ever made that gave unqualified
satisfaction. After his second appointment
Judge Finch was elected for fourteen years to
the court of appeals, and when his term expired
he was not renominated because he was within
a few months of seventy years, the limit of
elective judicial service in this state. Before
and after his elevation to the bench' he attended
to the legal interests of Cornell university, and '
for tho last eleven-years of his Hfo ,ho nQ ,
head of its law faculty. .His opinions, besides
being legally excellent, were written with a
felicity of style as worthy of a jurist as of a
poet, and the delight of readers of cultivation
everywhere. He was a Yalesian of distinction,
a lawyer of ability, a judge of marked learning,
a poet of humanity, humor and patriotism, as
well as of rare pathos, and as the head of the
law department of his university he was an
administrator and a teacher of a high order of
excellence."
THE "BLUE and the Gray" which ought to
have made its author more famous than
he really was, follows: l
By the flow of the inland river,
Whence the fleets of iron have fled,
Where the blades of the grave grass quiver"
Asleep are the ranks of the dead; ' J?,
Under the sod and the dew, s ',-
Waiting the judgment day;"
"Under the one, the Blue,
Under the other, the Gray.
These in the robings of glory,
Those in the gloom of defeat, ,
All with the battle-blood gory,
In the dusk of eternity meet; " i
Under the sod and the dew, """ - v.
Waiting the judgment day; .
Under the laurel, the Blue, ';,';
Under the willow, the Gray?'
From the silence of sorrowful hours
The desolate mourners go,
Lovingly laden with flowers,
Alike .for the friend and the foe;
1 Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment day;
' 'v- Under the roses, the Blue,
Under the lilies, the Gray.
.'A
So with an equal splendor f
The morning sun rays fall,
With a touch impartially tender, f f
t On the blossoms Blooming for all;
Under the sod and the dew,
Waiting the judgment dayr1"
Broidered with gold, the Blue, . . '
Mellowed with gold, the Gray
So, when the summer calleth, '
1 On forest and field of grain,
With an equal murmur falleth
, The cooling drip of the rain;
Under the sod and the dew,
' Waiting the judgment day;
Wet with the rain, the Blue,
Wet with the rain, the. Gray.
Sadly, but not with upbraiding,
The generous deed was done,
In the storm of'the years that are fading
No braver battle was won;
' , Under the sod and the dew, .
"' ' ' ' Waiting the judgment day; ' ,
Under the blossoms, the Blue,
Under the garlands, the Gray.
No more shall the war cry sever
Or the winding rivers be red;
They banish our anger forever
When they laurel the graves of our dead'
, Under the sod and the dew, '
Waiting the judgment day;
f Love and tears for the Blue, w
Tears and love for the Gray.
O
THE WASHINGTON correspondent for tho
Houston (Texas) Post sends to his paper
this dispatch: " 'It will be either Daniel and
Carmack or Culberson and Carmack for first
and second place on the next national demo
cratic ticket for president of the United States
to succeed President Roosevelt. No other com
bination is being seriously considered in Ten
nessee and many parts of the southwest now '
This was the statement made here today by
prominent Tennessee and Mississippi politicians
They are sincere, apparently, in their belief that
when democrats vmeet n, convention next year
to name a raan to succeed President Roosevelt
no other names will come before tho Gosxim
tion but those of Daniel and Culberson for first
place and Carmack for second place. A boom
has been started to place the name of ex-Senator
Edward Ward Carmack, who was recently de
feated by Robert L. Taylor for re-election to the
senate, on the next national ticket. ' Senator
Carmack has just closed contracts for a long
lecture tour which will begin early in October
and which will lead him through all the ter
ritory available to further his nomination, and
it is the belief of those behind him that before
many months have gone by his name will figure
conspicuously in democratic calculations. Ne
gotiations are now said to be under way between
party leaders in Tennessee and elsewhere look
ing to a conference to be held in this city in the
near future, at which time it is said definite
plans will be laid for keeping him prominently
before the public eye. Senator Carmack gained
his most noted distinction in his successful fight
against the passage of the ship subsidy bill. In
the closing hours of the last session of congress,
when it seemed as if the bill would pass the
senate beyond a doubt, having already passed
the house, the brilliant Tennesseean fought off
the bill and so filibustered that it was impossible
to secure its passage. The republicans in the
senate, when that body was about to adjourn
without having attended to some matters of
vital importance, agreed to stop the fight for
the session in order that appropriation bills and
others equally important might receive atten
tion. Thus Carmack succeeded in preventing
the passage of a bill over which no hotter fight
had been precipitated. It is said by those back
ing the Tennessee senator- that Just such a young
and vigorous politician is needed to go on the
ticket with Culberson or Daniel. He was elect
ed to congress and served in the Fifty-fifth and
Fifty-sixth sessions, and entered the senate in
March, 1901. It is said that the people of Ten
nessee quickly recognized their mistake in 're
tiring Senator Carmack, and that should he
not make the second place on the national dem
ocratic ticket successfully he will be returned
to the senate as the successor" of Senator Frazier
when the latter's term of office expires. The
Tennesseeans who are backing Carmack declare
that it will surely be Daniel or Culberson when
the convention meets."
ACAMPAJGN against the traffic in titles is
being led by Hugh Cecil Lea, M. P., who
has demanded a parliamentary inquiry into the
circumstances under which certain peerages
have been conferred, notably on Lord Michelham
and Lord Northcliffe. Speaking to the London
correspondent for the Chicago Inter-Ocean Hugh
Cecil Lea said: "I have no sympathy under any
circumstances with men who yearn for titles,
but I contend that it would be far better to
frankly publish a price list of such 'honors' than
to confer titles on persons who have no distinction,-
nor, in fact, anything to recommend them
for the peerage except that they have paid cer
tain sums of money to their parties' campaign
funds or into the bunk accounts of persons of
social distinction or of special power at court.
If such a price list was frankly published any
man able to pay down 'the sum fixed could go
into any postoffice and take .out a license to use
a title just as he now takes out a license to
keep a dog. Then the state would benefit finan
cially, we would know where we are, and title
hunting snobs would be placed on the proper
footing. For, under the present system the ac
quisition of titles is associated with corruption
and intrigue, and persons unfitted in every way
to legislate are made irresponsible legislators.
Talk about political graft in America,
what could be more scandalous than the
recognized party system here by which
men who have never rendered any public
service, never shown the slightest capacity for
any duties, can buy the privilege of voting in
the house of lords against the representative
chamber, and so destroy Its work? Lord North
cliffe tried to get elected to the house of com
mons and failed. Now he is a member of the
house of lords. How did he earn the right to
become a hereditary legislator? Arthur -Balfour
can tell, for, Mr. Balfour was prime minister at
that time. . So with Baron de Stern nQw Lord
?vaUxain,.ofwhom the public, neverfev!en heard
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