SEPTEMBER 27, 107
The Commoner.
9
nishes Bufllclcnt ground for setting aside the fine.
Then it will bo up to Judge Landis again, but
it is assorted by those who have studied his
attitude all through the case that it is improb
able that ho would reverse the fine ho himself
imposed, though the judge, his friends say, is
not pleased with the Alton's prospects of immunity."
TllE LATEST on the third term proposition
comes from the Washington correspondent
for the Sioux City (Iowa) Journal (rep.) who
says: "There is only one possible contingency
under which President Roosevelt would become
a candidate for re-election. That is a contin
uance of the assaults that are being made on
him by financial influences displeased with his
policies. Some of these men, and the news
papers that speak for them, are hinting that
the president is adhering to his declaration not
to be a candidate for the presidency again only
because ho realizes that ho can not be renominat
ed, and that if he were renominated he could not
bo re-elected. This sort of talk, if persisted in
long enough, will, in the opinion of some of the
most intimate friends of the president, force
him into the fight. The constant repetition of
stories that the president hari'lost his influence,
that the country is turning.. from his policies
and that he is getting out of office because of
his loss of popularity, is said by friends of the
administration to be the surest way of getting
Mr. Roosevelt into the contest of- i908."
THE REPUBLICAN politicians are worrying
considerably over the negro members of
their party. A negro speaker at the tenth an
nual meeting of the Afro-American council in
Baltimore said: "There are about 700,000
negro voters in this country, and we intend to
force the president to do the right thing by
us or turn the whole into the democratic party."
The Washington correspondent for the New
York Times declares that the negro revolt has
not been over-estimated. This correspondent
says that hut for the fear of the negro vote
the Kentucky republican convention would have
endorsed Secretary Taft. The Times corres
pondent adds: "The resolution demanding a
Roosevelt type of president is the one drawn
up in the White House itself for conventions
of Roosevelt republicans to pass this year, and
there is no doubt but that the Knox-Cannon-Fairbanks
combination would have stopped it if
they could. There is that much evidence, then,
for the claim of the Taft men that they con
trolled the Kentucky convention. But control
ling it, they could not obtain a specific Taft in
dorsement, because their Kentucky republican
friends feared the effect on the negro repub
lican vote. Kentucky, unlike most of the south
ern states, has a negro vote. So" have her border
sisters, Maryland and West Virginia. The
negroes of Baltimore were said, in a Baltimore
dispatch to the Washington Post, to have con
tributed to the recent defeat of the republican
candidate for mayor pf Baltimore, for whose
success Attorney General Bonaparte had made
himself personally responsible. Here, too, it
was the Brownsville issue. Such are the politi
cal first-fruits of this purely race issue in the
preconvention presidential campaign of 1908.
Keenly interested politicians are pricking up
their ears and asking how firmly and how far
the 'black battalion,' as Foraker and his negro
supporters themselves call it, will march
through this campaign."
THE "PEOPLE can govern themselves" is the
title of an interesting editorial printed in
the Chicago American. The editorial follows:
"All the world has lessons to teach of the strug
gle going on between the masses of mankind
and the powerful and fortunate that prey upon
them. Persia, for instance. About a year ago
Persia broke from Oriental despotism and es
tablished a measure of popular government, the
first in the East. Lately correspondents from
English newspapers, which are naturally anxious
about India, went to Persia to see how free in
stitutions worked with an Oriental people. They
reported that free institutions did not work at
all. The country was facing an impending
anarchy. The government was feeble. A return
to despotism was necessary to prevent national
ruin. At this there was great joy among all
the forces everywhere that believe in keeping
the masses down. Popular government had
failed in Persia; it would fail everywhere ex
cept in a very few favored regions where the
people had been edncated for It by yoars of
patient effort on the part of their betters. Ob
servo tho futility of mob rule. What was nood
ed was government by tho wise and the giftod,
until, of courso, In some day far honco, low,
common people might become 'proporly pre
pared' for a share In their affairs. But now it
appears that so far as this modern instance
of Persia was concerned one essential was lack
ing, and that was truth. Tho testimony of visi
tors, residents, consuls and others, spontaneous
and iudubltable, shows that there is no anarchy
in Persia; the country is not going to ruin; tho
government is not a failure, and popular gov
ernment, instead of being a failure, is a success.
Of course it is a success, everywhere and any
where, now and forever. Except wholly and
hopelessly degenerate races there are no people
in tho world not 'properly prepared for it, no
people not able to carry it on, no people that
need the supervision and direction of the gift
ed and tho wise. The idea that government is
any huge mystery or occult science was an in
vention of feudalism. The science of govern
ment, in this country.or any other, is common
sense, a possession of the masses of mankind
usually denied to the gifted and. the wiso. Bet
ter the worst republic than the best monarchy."
EEFERRING TO exports of our manufactur
ers the St. Joseph (Mo.) Gazette says:
"Our exports were large during the past fiscal
year, to the extent of three-fourths of a billion
of dollars. To foreign countries alone the total
was $740,000,000, while to the non-contiguous
territories of tho United States tho value of
manufactures sent was forty millions, thus bring
ing the grand total to considerably more than
three-quarters of a billion, against less than
one-quarter of a billion a dozen years ago.
Practically two-thirds went in finished form,
and one-thirjrt in partially manufactured. Fin
ished manufactures exported show an increase
of about twenty millions over last year, and 1G7
millions over 1897, a decade earlier, while man
ufactures for further use In manufacturing
shows an increase of thirty-four millions over
last year and of 1G2 millions over 1897. Of
this 740 million dollars' worth of manufactures
sent to foreign countries in 1907, 181 millions
was iron and steel manufactures; eighty-nine
millions, manufactures of copper; eighty mil
lions, manufactures of wood; seventy-eight mil
lions, mineral oil; forty-six millions, leather
or manufactures of; thirty-two millions, cotton
manufactures; twenty-seven millions, agricul
tural implements; twenty-two millions, naval
stores; twenty-one millions, cars and carriages;
eighteen millions, chemicals, drugs and medi
cines; fifteen millions, scientific instruments;
ten millions, paper and manufactures of; nine
millions, parafilne and paraffine wax? seven mil
lions, India rubber and manufactures of; seven
millions, fur and fur skins, while the remaining
100 million dollars' worth is made up of mis
cellaneous manufactures, chiefly in the finished
form. While the destination of all articles com
posing the $740,000,000 worth of manufactures
exported is not yet shown by the bureau of sta
tistics, a comparison of Its figures with the fully
completed analysis of 1906 seems to justify tho
general assertion that about 350 millions' worth
went to Europe, 200 millions to North America,
100 millions to Asia and Oceanica, seventy-five
millions to South America, fifteen nillions to
Africa, and that while about one-half of the
manufactures sent to Europe and one-third of
those sent to North America went in the partially
manufactured form, nearly all those going to
the other grand divisions were finished manu
factures. No other nation is equal to the United
States in manufacturing industries."
AN INTERESTING story concerning the jave
line or Mexican vild hog is told by tho
Colutta, Texas, correspondent to the Kansas City
Star. This correspondent says: "The javeline,
which is in general use by ranchmen throughout
this section as a watch dog is far superior to
the ordinary dog "when it comes to guarding
the home and premises of persons to which it
has become attached. The javeline is easily do
mesticated if taken ,when it Is a pig. There is
hardly a Mexican household In this section that
does not have a pet javeline, which serves many
useful purposes. The javeline of the southwest
has very few characteristics of the hog. Beyond
the fact that it closely resembles the hog in
appearance, it might well be classed as an en- '
tirely different species of animal. It is remark
able that so little has been written about tho
$
Javeline by mon of neienco who mako a study
of animals. It Is assorted by men who hnvo
spent years In tho nativo haunts of tho animal
that it should have a prominont place In fho
natural history of this country. In point of fmr-
lessncss and courage It surpasses any other ani
mal that roams tho chaparral or tho gou thwart.
It is one of the few wild animals that docs not
hosltato to attack man. It Is foared by ovory
doer hunter who visits this region. Innumer
able instances aro known of hunter having bpn
forcod to seek rofugo In troon to avoid being torn
to pieces by enraged Javcllno. They aro bo
ferocious in their wild state that only the most
Intrepid sportsman will brave tho dangers of
hunting them. President Koouovclt, when po
Hco commissioner of New York, made a trip
all tho way to Texas to hunt Javollnen. Ho
spent two days hunting the animals on a ranch
near Uvaldo. He had an exciting experience
with tho boasts. According to tho statement of
his guide bunches of Javcllnos got Mr. Roosevelt
Into close quarters sevoral times, but he man
aged to escape unscathed In each instance.
When taken as a pig and domesticated tho javc
llno can easily bo trained to do almost any trick
that can bo taught tho .most intelligent dog. It
is quick to learn to know the members of tho
family and will protc t them against harm with
Its life, If necessary. No strango human being
or animal Is pormlttod to enter the houso or
yar'd of a home where a pot Javeline is on guard.
It has a bark something uimlJar to tha, of a dog,
and when danger approaches it 8o(h up its pe
culiar cry. The Javeline .. almost as fleet as
n dog, and one Javeline will whip several dogs.
Tho Javelines of southwest Texas arj of tho
same color as the yellow, sandy soil. They
weigh, when full grown, from fifty to' eighty
pounds, j'hey are taller in the fore part of
their body than in the rear. In this respect
they resombie the wild boar. They are dls-"
tlnguished from tho wild hogs of Arizona and
New Mexico by a band of gray hair which ex
tends around their neck. The common wild
hog does not have this neck band. Tho Javcllnos
In their wild state run in droves of twonty to
fifty. They always travel in single file and ap
pear to have a recognized leader. When feed
ing or bedded for sleep or rest, one of the Jave
lines is always on guard. Whenever a drove of
the animals is about to cross an open space a
sentinel is first sent out to take a view ot tho
situation. If everything Is found to be clear
tho signal is given by the sentinel and the wholo
drovo trots across the clearing and ro-entera
tho chaparral."
IN THE republican contest It Is "Taft against
the field and each one of the field more
anxious to down Taft than to win himsolf,"
according to a Washington dispatch to tho Sioux
City (Iowa) Journal (rep.). This dispatch
says: "This Is the situation today regarding
the contest for the republican nomination for
president, in tho opinion of expert observers.
Taft is conceded" to bo well in the lead. Other
candidates are anxious, and several of them aro
reported to be a bit miffed at the help Mr. Taft
has received from tho president. For Instance,
there is Senator Knox. His friends donot ex
pect aid from the White House, but contend that
one of Senator Knox's rivals should not be ad
vanced at his expense, and Secretary Cortelybu's
friends regret that the president should appear
to discriminate between presidential possibili
ties In his cabinet. All the candidates are open
ing their eyes to the development of tho Hughes
boom. The governor of N the Empire state Is
making a tour of county fairs, and if the enthu
siasm of Jlils, receptions are any indication he can
have the New York delegation In the next con
vention either as a mere compliment or as a
cornerstone for a determined candidacy. It
can now be stated that James R. Garfield, the
young secretary of the interor, is the field mar
shal of the Taft campaign. He-'Vas one of the
first to urge the secretary into the race. When
Senator Foraker would have been glad to ceaso
his attacks on Mr. Taft in return for an assur
ance that the Taft forces would not oppose his
re-election to tho senate It was President Roose
velt and Secretary Garfield who dissuaded Sec
retary Taft from the compromise. Twice they
did this. The result is no compromise seems
possible. One of the shrewdest political writers
of the country Just returned from Ohio says that
Ohio Is a Taft state so far as the Ohio news
papers go, but that Taft Is really only a fac
tional candidate and that the republican conven
tlon will be forced to the conclusion that If he
is nominated his own state of Ohio will bo
in the doubtful column."
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