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resulted except the arousing of public opinion? ,
No noted corruptioriist lias been punished. Ham
ilton and Fields are going about their business.
No high official has been punished or even pros
ecuted. McCurdy and Hyde arc enjoying life in
Paris. No syndicating director has been pun
ished. Harriman, Schiff and the rest were not
even officially stigmatized. Ryan has succeeded
Hyde a dangerous change. McCall's son-in-law
has succeeded him and Perkins' brother has
succeeded Perkins. Peabody, a Harriman un
derling, has succeeded McCurdy another
dangerous change. The old presidents have
gone. Throe satellites of predatory financiers
have taken theiF places. The policyholders are
worse off. They get smaller dividends. The
public are worse off. They have not the salvo
of ignorance. The state of New York is worse
off. Its shame is self-confessed. And all be--cause
the law is not executed by the responsible
head of the insurance department and the official
representative of the honor and shame of the
state of Now York. Wherefore Otto Kelsey
must bo removed."
It is, indeed, a deplorable situation; and
most people would conclude that Kelsey ought
to go; but most people concluded that the two
cent rate ought to be established in New York;
but Governor Hughes, it will be remembered,
thought the matter ought to be investigated.
It is strange that upon the very -thing which
gave Governor Hughes his national reputation
lie is so slow to act, but it must not be forgotten
that after the. noise made in connection with the
Armstrong insurance committee, Mr. Hughes
disappointed many of his friends by failing to
insert the probe at promising spots and failing
to follow interesting clues to their high ter
minals. oooo
"INCONCLUSIVE, THEATRICAL FURY"
Referring to the boast that the adminis
tration is about to proceed against the tobacco
trust, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch says: . "Suits
like this have multiplied. Beef trust, coal trust,
lumber trust, oil trust, sugar trust and railroad
trusts innumerable all these in turn have been
made the- butts of the administration's 'policy.'
But, with all this fanfare of trumpets in the lists,
the encounters have consisted of nothing but a
spectacular splintering of lances. Not one trust
has been unhorsed; not one has suffered more
than a scratch; not one has even been made to
breathe hard from exhaustion in the pretty
tournament. One and all, these mock sufferers
are blandly continuing at their old trade, and
the prices of the products are steadily mounting.
That is why the tobacco trust may smile. The
people of the country would like to see one
pitched battle to the death, with lance, sword and"
dagger one good fight finished, instead of the
inconclusive, theatrical fury in all quarters of
the field at once, which has been the essence
of the administration's loudly self-lauded
'policy.' "
Does the Post-Dispatch think that there
can be anything but "inconclusive, theatrical .
fury" in a battle waged against the trusts by
a president whose cabinet is composed of men
not in sympathy with his flgh or by a political
party whose candidates are supported and whose
campaign funds are provided by the special in
terests? OOOO
A NEWSPAPER "SIDE ISSUE
The New York World is devoting consid
erable space to the effort to prove that John
D. Rockefeller's father still lives. The World
Bays that for several years it has sought to
locate the elder Rockefeller and it prints, with
the younger brother of the oil magnate, an inter
view in which Frank Rockefeller is quoted as
Baying that the public may expect the unfolding
at an early day of a scandal which will shock
the civilized world. This scandal, it is said, will
involve John D Rockefeller and the treatment
he has accorded his father. This is all very
Interesting, to be sure, and there are many peo
ple who would not be in' the least surprised if
it .developed that the oil king has accorded to
his own parent the ame sort of Injustice that
has characterized his dealings with other of
his fellowmen. But the World would bo in bet
ter business if it devoted its great ability to an
effort to persuade the authorities to call the
oil king and other trust magnates' to account
for their offenses against the public and their
defiance of the peoples' laws.
Nothing is needed to further inflame the
public mind against the mpst arrogant monopo
list of the ago, but something Is neodod to nerve
the arm of the authorities so that they will call
John D. Rockefeller and offenders of that class
to account. They should bo called to account
not with injunctions that do not restrain, not
with fines that do not prohibit futuro violations,
not with official roports that do not tell the
whole truth, but with prison colls. Then de
stroy, in tariff and in other laws, the shelter
found by special Interests and encourago a de
termination on the part of the people, as well
as on the part of the men in power that in
every act of the legislative and executive depart
ments of government "equal rights to all and
special privileges to none" shall bo the control
ling principle.
OOOO
INCOMPLETE
The Kansas City Star calls attention to the
fact that the report of Commissioner of Corpora
tions Herbert Knox Smith on Standard Oil
prices, domestic and foreign, Is not complete.
The Star explains: "High prices are attributed
solely to the Standard's monopolistic power, and
the monopoly is attributed to preferential rail
road rates and other favors exacted by the cor
poration. But Mr. Smith shows that Standard
Oil demands about twonty-soven per cent more
for its products in this country-than it gets for
the same products In Europe. Russia Is the
only country that can compete with the Stand
ard, and Russian competition, in Europe, keeps
down European prices. But Russia Is estopped '
from competing in the United States by a tariff
that gives Standard Oil about 150 per cent "pro
tection." But for the tariff Standard Oil would
be compelled to make substantially the same
prices at home as abroad. But this is a fact
that a republican commissioner of corporations
can hardly be expected to put Into his report.
Nevertheless a report without it is not complete.
More than that, it is misleading and to a consid
erable extent ineffective."
OOOO
THE GREATEST MAN
William Q. Channing paid a high tribute
to the common people when he said: "The
greatest man is ho who chooses the right. with
invincible resolution, who resists the sorest
temptations from within and without; who bears
the heaviest burdens cheerfully; who is calmest
in storms and most fearless under menace and
frowns; whoso reliance on truth, on virtue, on
God, is most unfaltering. I believe this great
ness to be most common among the multitude,
whose names are never heard." '
OOOO
ELKINS AND CORTELYOU :
The Kansas City Star says: "If Secretary
Cortelyou is really a candidate for the presidency
it is unfortunate for him that his candidacy
should be launched by Senator Elkins."
Does the Star imagine that the people did
not have a fairly accurate idea of theforces be
hind the Cortelyou boom even before Mr. Elkins
spoke?
OOOO
THE TARIFF IN 1800 AND 1000
A Commoner reader directs attention to
the fact that the New York World charges that
the democratic platforms in 1896 and 1900
dodged the tariff question. The World has often
made this charge although its error has, as often,
been pointed out.
The Chicago platform said: "We hold that
tariff duties should be levied for the purpose of
revenue, such duties to be so adjusted as to
operate equally throughout the country, and not
discriminate between classes or sections, and
that taxation should be limited by the needs of
the government, honestly and economically ad
ministered." The Chicago platform denounced
the proposition of the republicans to restore the
McKinloy law, and . declared that that law
"enacted under the, false plea of protection to
home industry, proved a prolific breeder of
trusts and monopolies, enriched the few at the
expense of the many, restricted trade and de
prived the producers of the great American
staples, of access to their natural markets."
Not only did the platform of 1900 "con
demn the Dingley tariff law as a trust-breeding
measure, skilfully devised to give the few favors
which they did not deserve and to place upon
the many burdens which they should not bear,"
but it also declared that "tariff laws should"be
amended by putting the products of trustsupon
tho freo lists to prevent monopoly under tho
plea of protection."
Tho Kansas City platform further said:.
"Wo reaffirm and lndorso tho principles of tho
national democratic platform, adopted at Chi
cago In 1896
Whllo it is true that In 1890, as in 1900,
tho tariff question wns not a conspicuous issue,
and while tho Chicago platform objected to
"any agitation for furthor changes in our tariff
laws, excopt such as are necessary to moot tho
deficit in tho rovonuo caused by tho advorso de
cision of tho supromo court on tho income tax,"
tho party did not abandon Its time-honored pos
ition on tho tariff question In either 1896 or In
1900. Nor wore theso platforms evasive upon
the tariff question. It Is absurd to say that tho
democratic position was evasive In 1900 with a
platform that deuounced tho Dingley law, prom
ised tho amendment of the tariff laws by putting
tho products of trusts upon tho free list to pre
vent monopoly under tho plea of protection and
reaffirmed tho platform of 1896 in which plat
form it was plainly said: "Wo hold that tariff
duties should be lovled for tho purposes of
revenue"
OOOO
ITJ
PERSONS" OR "PEOPLE"
Rccontly the talented editor of tho Wash
ington, D. C, Herald took his pon In hand, and
wrote: "After a two weeks' tranco, an Iowa
girl woke up unable to speak tho English lan
guage." Subsequently the talented editor of tho Now
York Herald took his pon in hand and wrote:
"Purists, noting that our Washington namesako
uses tho word 'people' instead of 'persons,' will
doubtless insist that among tho 'millions who
wake up overy morning' there arc also a few
who aro unable to 'wrlto' tho English language."
A few what, "persons" or "people?" If
wo are going Into this purist business wo must
insist on our esteemed contemporaries being
purists from taw. By the way, will tho "per
sons" or "people" responsible for tho languago
flung at "people" or "persons" in general
through the Now York Herald's columns plcaso
explain: If a hen, engaged in tho process of In
cubation Is "setting," is a hen that merolyrt.
upon her nest "setting" or "sitting?" Proper,
elucidation of a fow of these seemingly minor
points may bo of material assistance to tho rest
of us "persons" or ' people" in furthering tho
campaign for purism.
AS A LITTLE CHILI)
M
As a little child they are leading him, ' v
For his hair Is white and his eyes are dim;'
As a little child ho is whispering low
To tho phantom friends of long ago;
As a little child he is wandering back
In fancy over the golden track;
In tho years that were and the days that fled
He is dreaming the dream of the dreamless dead!
As a little child they must humor him..
When the hair is white and the eyes are dim. .
Ah, do not jeer at his peevish ways - ,;
That try one's patience through dreary daya-r-.
He's living over the life ho know ,- "; Jr
In boyhood's valley of gold and blue; ..
As a little child on a mother's breast, '-.,
His heart is weary; ho wants to rest!
As a little child he must have his way,
In this thought of youth and his dream of play;
He has forgotten his time and place
And lives in the joy of an olden grace;
As a little child in the childheart spell
He hears the chime of tho fairy bell, .
And thinks he is young as a boy again
In tho rosy weather and country lane!
'y
7-4
"
As a little child with his hand In theirs
They lead him forth as his fancy fares; '
His hair is white and his form Is bent, v.;v
And his voice is soft as a sacrament
When he calls the names that are on tho tomb
As if they -were sweet in the living bloom; , ;
He has forgotten, he does not know
He isn't a child in tho long ago!
Second childhood they call It. Yea!
Old heart grown young in the dream f play,
Feeble footstep and palsied hand
Are lost in the vision of childhood land!
He hardly sees and he seldom hears,
But ever the Voices of vanished years
Are singing sweet as they sang of old . .,
In the gates of. youth and the fields of gold!-
f Baltimore Sun.
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