MARCH 20, 1908
The Commoner.
9
tariff plank: 'A revision of the tariff by a spe
cial session of the next congress, insuring the
maintenance of the true principle of protection
by imposing such customs duties as will equal
the difference between the costs of production
at home and abroad, together with a reasonable
profit, to the end that without excessive duties,
American manufacturers, farmers, producers
and wage earners may have adequate protec
tion.' The story put out here tonight is that
Mr. Burton offered a plank which followed the
sentence demanding revision by the next con
gress with the. words, 'To tho end that the
further fostering of trusts and monopolies by
tho tariff shall be prevented.' Members of tho
sub-committee who are here admit that the
plank as written above was that Mr. Burton
offered, to the best of their recollection. It is
said that tho Cleveland congressman assured
the sub-committee that he had consulted with
the party leaders most interested on his plank
and that it had their approval. This was ac
cepted as an assurance that tho president and
Secretary Taft had approved it. Nevertheless
General J. Warren Keifer offered a prompt and
warm protest against talk of fostering trusts and
monopolies in connection with the tariff plank
of the Ohio republicans and enough of
the sub-committee took his view to chloroform
the Burton plank then and there."
THE "Tax' i declaration of independence cre
ated quite a stir in political circles. The
Washington correspondent for the Boston Herald
explains: "Secretary Taft, in Washington, and
Manager A. I. Vorys in Columbus, O., today
nipped in the bud after a few hours of embar
rassment the delight that began to pervade tri
ranks of the anti-Taft allies over the issue from
the Taft campaign bureau in Ohio of a pamphlet
purporting to show that the Secretary, if elect
ed president, would be entirely independent of
the Roosevelt policies and influence. When the
story, which was published this morning, was
first called to his attention, Secretary Taft "got
busy" at the little telephone deck in the corner
of his office. Soon he had Mr. Vorys on tho
line. Mr. Vorys disavowed the pamphlet, so
Secretary Taft denied it publicly and tho news
flew to the capitol. In the meantime, there was
a commotion at Columbus, for Manager Vorys
found that the pamphlet had gone out as rep
resented. After an anxious Investigation, he
telephoned to Secretary Taft and explained that
the pamphlets had been issued without his
knowledge or consent while he was away at
the Ohio state convention. Ho said he had
found that a subordinate in his office had taken
some excerpts from a Columbus newspaper and
had sent them out in the envelopes of the
bureau. The secretary again sent for the news
paper correspondents and explained matters. 'It
was done wholly without authority,' added Sec
retary Taft, 'and is repudiated by Mr. Vorys
as strongly as by myself.' Some one who saw
the president this afternoon says he laughed
loudly, as though it were a splendid joke."
JM. PAYNE, Charleston, W. Va., writes:
ft "In your issue of the Gth inst., you publish
a poem entitled 'Look Aloft,' and ascribe it to
Jonathan Lawrence in St. Louis Globe-Democrat,
but you do not give the date of the issue of
the Globe-Democrat. It surely can not be re
cent. I knew that poem forty years ago." The
poem referred to was clipped from a recent issue
of the Globe-Democrat, but was probably intend
ed by the publication as a reprint of an old
poem.
CONGRESSMAN Hitchcock of Nebraska has
replied to a New York inquiry in this
way: "I challenge your allegation that the
democratic party has reached a crisis and that
the coming campaign involves its existence. The
fact is that rarely in the history of political
parties has there been such unanimity of opin
ion as now prevails among the rank and file as
to candidate, principles and policies of the dem
ocratic party. This harmony is so great that
even your ordinarily powerful newspaper and
its abettors will be unable to induce any avowed
candidate to dispute the nomination with the
generally accepted candidate in any state. With
your utmost efforts you have failed even to
ruffle the serene surface of democratic waters.
In the matter of policies and principles I see
no need to outline any particular ones 'to give
the party new life,' for the reason that the
.recognized principles and accepted policies have
endowed the party with a vitality bo great that
in the face of repeated defeats it -has survived
and increased in following and in influence. It
is prepared to enter the approaching campaign
with excellent chanco of victory. It has already
forced leaders of the rival party to adopt tho
principles it has made popular during tho paat
twelve years. Only those so blind thoy will
not see disputo tho rising tide of popular ap
proval of the accepted candidate and principles
of the democratic party." Governor Beckam
of Kentucky wrote to tho World as follows:
"As I consider the World the enemy and not
tho friend of the democratic party, I prefer
not to discuss in its columns what is best for
the party."
nnHE ANNUAL banquet of the Massachusetts
X Republican club at Boston early in the
month has furnished considerable amusement
to the country at large. First, because of the
wit and satire of Simeon Ford, the noted wit,
who is proprietor of one of New York's big
hotels, and second, because Secretary Taft
seemed unable to appreciate the witty and sat
irical shafts aimed at his chief. Mr. Ford re
ferred to tho president as "tho blue pill for tho
country's disorders," and Secretary Taft pre
faced his own speech by saying: "I love my
chief, am loyal, and can not be silent." The
people around the banquet board who had
laughed at Ford's wit and had cheered
him to the echo, sat dumb with amaze
ment at the secretary's seeming inability to
appreciate the humor of the situation. After
Mr. Ford's response was followed by that of
Lieutenant Governor Draper, and while the
lieutenant governor was speaking Secretary
Taft was "thoughtful and apparently much
troubled." When the secretary arose to speak
it was evident that he had something on bis
mind that was not there when he entered the
banquet hall. Ho began his address by saying:
"I love my chief. I don't like to put myself
in the attitude pf breaking in on the kind hos
pitality of this meeting, but when I love my
chief, and when I am loyal to him, and when
I admire him from top to toe, I can't be silent
and allow it to bo supposed that I sympathize
with what may be hidden. I don't want to
mean that I can't appreciate humor. If we
didn't have humor in American life, we couldn't
stand a joke. And if I couldn't enjoy a joke
on myself, I'd retire to a monastery. But I
hope you see the distinction I have tried to
make."
REFERRING TO the incident tho Boston
Herald says: "The secretary's reply, de
livered with all sternness and punctuated by
gestures, was received in silence by the audience
who had been apprehensive ever since the con
clusion of Ford's speech. The secretary had
listened to the earlier speech without a smile,
and while Lieutenant Governor Draper, who
followed Mr. Ford, was speaking, had sat
thoughtful and apparently much troubled."
SOME EXTRACTS from Mr. Ford's address
will serve to show its general tenor, and
furnish the reader with some idea of Secretary
Taft's reasons for so gravely defending "his
chief" against the aspersions of the New York
boniface: "I want it understood at the outset
that my appearance here in the role of 'chaser
to Secretary Taft is entirely without political
significance. I have no edged tools to sharpen,
no bees buzzing in my Dunlap, and though I
am proud to play second fiddle to your dis
tinguished guest, I have but little ear for music
and have no ambition to clamber on to the band
wagon. I understand the secretary is looking
for a good running mate, and 1 don't want to
rouse false hopes. I feed them who are
a-hungered and I irrigate those who are
a-thirst, and, like the politician and the finan
cier, I take in the public. Poor old John D.,
that much libelled and Tarbelled philanthropist,
when asked to give his opinion of Theodore the
First, said: 'Fine. Twenty-nine millions fine.
I like him. He does nle good.' They say that
message had the true ring, but some folks think
the more judicious ring would Ve the 'ring off.'
Yesterday I attended a directors' meeting and
tried to look Intelligent for ten minutes and
this new predatory $10 gold piece which I hold
in my hand (very firmly grasped) was my re
ward. I have seen them before, but as through
a glass darkly. On its issue carping critics
took exception to the coin because Its share
was such that it could not be stacked. In the
light of rocent events we see. how captious wa
this criticism. Clergymen grow black in the
face with rage because the motto was omitted
Hint 8 what makes the eagle look so down in
tho pants. He realises that ho is a God-forsaken
bird. I won't venture to say what h.
brought about the presetit condition of husines
but when 1 walk about my banquet halls de
ftcrled. and contemplate the vacuum which was
orstWhile my bank account, and then gaze upon
the throng which surges about my free luin-h
counter, I realize that the lime are out of
joint, and that something must be done. "
O
pONTINUING IN his facetious strain, and
J speaking with apparent seriousness, Mr,
Ford said: 'I look upon Theodore Roosevelt
an a sort of political blue pill. The body politic
.doubtless was suffering from many disorders the
elimination of which was necessary. Well, we
have had our close all right. Our livers am
all stirred up and our lights are pretty nearly
out. Our tongues are coated even if our backs
are not. What we need now is a gentle aporicnt
something soothing and healing, and rest.
Perhaps we haw our remedy right here tho
heir apparent to the throne. I wonder if this
big, calm, wholesome, sane, guest of ours, taken
steadily for four years, wouldn't put uh on our
feet again. I never saw him before, but I've
been looking him over and he seems to size
up all right. He looks to me like a good all
'round man, who could hold down any job no
matter how big. I think he could fill anything
even a bob-tall. Perhaps, like the whale
which swallowed Jonah, he could oven fill an
interior. He has sat on the bench - no end of
benches but none of them could hold him.
He's too heavy for the bench and there's only
one chair big enough for him and he holds tho
coupon for that 1 guess. It looks now as If,
next November, we'll have to choose between
two Williams, William Bryan and William
Taft. A genuine bill and a counterfeit."
O
AN EDITORIAL in the New York American,
William R. Hearst's paper, referring to
several rumors concerning the possible course
of the "Independence League" says that the
league will not support Theodore Roosevelt or
William J. Bryan, and adds: "The Indepen
dence party is going to nominate its own candi
date and Is going to vote for him with a strength
and a heartiness In numbers that Is likely to
be a revelation to the older and sadder political
organizations. If It does not elect this candi
date of Its own in this particular election it Is
going to lay tho solid foundation for doing so
next time."
- O
nnHE CHICAGO Evening Post prints the fol
X lowing: "Ex-Mayor Carter H. Harrison
arrived from California this noon with a 'straight
hunch' that William Jennings Bryan was to be
the next president of these United States. He
has diagnosed the coming presidential contest
as a fat man's race, but thinks the extra re
publican weight which Taft carries will handi
cap him so much that the Nebraskan will carry
off the honors easily. The former guide of dem
ocratic destinies in Jhlcago reached the city
over the Santa Fe with a heavy coat of coast
tan on his face and more flesh than he had when
he went away last fall. Mr. Harrison said he
had been out of touch with Chicago affairs so
long that it would take a good deal of indus
trious pumping on the part of the scribes to
get any ideas on local affairs out of him. The
word Bryan came out at the first 'pump.'
'Bryan is the only thing in sight for the demo
crats,' he said. 'No Governor Johnson nor no
Woodrow Wilson is going to cut in on the Ne
braskan. You can tell everywhere you go that
Bryan is stronger than ever before. The people
are talking and thinking Bryan more than
ever.' "
A GREAT FIELD
Fred Flood, editor of the Boise (Idaho)
Citizen, writes: "I am on hand for the fifth
consecutive week with a list of five names for
The Commoner, which I have secured in club
bing offer with my little paper, the Boise Citizen,
and I think all democratic publishers In the
United States could adopt my plan, which is to
send in at least five subscribers to The Com
moner every week. All that Is necessary to
get them is to speak to the p:Dple about the
clubbing offer."
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