- j. "- -wjv''': ),
2
The Commoner.
Those men know that the phrase, "eternal, vigil
ance Is tho 'price of liberty," is ndt-a collection
of idle words but is tho most solemn warning
that was ever directed to tho ears of freemen.
This warning forces itself upon thoughtful
Americans today. Let it bo pressed so hard upT
on tho attention of Americans everywhere that
they will learn to appreciate its importance
before tho last vestige of Jeffersonian govern
ment shall have perished from the earth.
V V tw V
CHAMP CLARK, MINORITY LEADER
The selection of Representative Champ
Clark of Missouri by the democrats to be the
minority leader on the floor of the house of
representatives, is an honor worthily bestowed.
Representative Clark has all the attributes of
leadership, and possesses the confidence of his
party colleagues to a marked degree. His long
experience in congress, his great ability as a
debater, his familiarity with pending legisla
tive questions all these fit him for leadership.
His unswerving democracy and his devotion to
principle are marked characteristics. There has
been no stauncher defender of democratic prin
ciples upon the floor or congress or upon the
stump than Champ Clark, in honoring him with
the leadership the democratic minority has hon
ored itself and the party. Champ Clark of
Missouri will "make good."
ifr V W U
INVESTIGATE
"Rvnn t.hn Sioux filtv. Tn... .Tnnrnn.1 rlrmiaTHls
gsJnestigation of the Panama Canal. The Jour
''KSw&g;. .? VNobody believes, of course, that
iLcamyui. iwusuvi. or jc resiuem-eiect xaiu ima
anything to do. -with .promoting such a stroke
of speculative enterprise,.. The democratic na
tional committee recognized' ?their immunity
from suspicion and refused to sanction exploita
tion of the 'scandal' as a campaign expedient.
But now that the story has been, given so much
publicity it woujd be interesting to know who
gqt4 the money that was made when a bunch of
worthless French securities suddenly become
worth $40,000,00.0. Did any Americans get. any. ,
of it? If so, who were they? The facts should.
be easily ascertainable, in Earls, if not -in, this
country.. Wlien the facts .are, known the public
can easily decide whether any, morals -or ethics
were violated." , r s
' i . & & & &
THE "INSULT" TO CONGRESS
Washington dispatches say that members of
congress are greatly disturbed because of i the
"insult" offered them in the president's rhes--sage.
It will be remembered that in 'his mes
sage the president recommended -that' an amend
ment adopted last year providing that- there
should be no detail nor transfer from the secret
service be repealed. He said that this prevents
the giving of, promotions to faithful secret ser
vice agents. In, -referring to this amendment he
aid;., JIn its present form the restriction oper-
ates only to the advantage of the criminal or
the wrongdoer. The chief argument in favor of
the provision was that the congressmen did not
themselves wish to be investigated by secret
service men."
He added: "I do not believe that It is in
the public interest to protect criminals in any
branch of the public service, and exactly as we
have again and again during the past seven
years prosecuted and convicted such criminals
who were in the executive branch of the gov
ernment, so in my belief we should be given
ample means to prosecute them if found in the
legislative branch. But if tUis is not considered
desirable a special exception could be made in
the law prohibiting the use of the secret service
force in investigating members of the congress
It would be far better to do this than to do what
actually was done, and strive to prevent or at
least to hamper effective action against criminals
by the executive branch of the government."
It must be admitted that the language em
ployed by Mr. Roosevelt was uncalled for and
unbecoming to a president's message. But Mr.
Roosevelt is not and we say it in the best
of spirit famous for his good manners. His
chief boast is that he is the apostle of the
"square deal" and yet on many notable occa
sions he has been guilty of cruel injustice in
dealing with Ills fellows. He has needlessly and
"wantonly Insulted many individuals and although
tho public has borne this shortcoming patiently,
it is plain they are now growing weary. While
the indignation of congressmen is excusable they
will, The Commoner believes, do well to ignore
the Jnsult put upon them. Mr. Roosevelt will
:;-
retire within a few months and thereafter White
House messages "will" at least be free . from
billingsgate. Congress has more important work
to do than the resenting of insults. The Panama
canal, for instance, needs a searching investiga
tion. Indeed, the administration's strongest
friends should be foremost in demanding this
inquiry and foremost, also, in seeing to it that
the investigation is -of such 'a -character as to
avoid all possible suspicion of a whitewash.
i i it j
ROOT AND PLATT
-
The Washington Times prints this editorial:
"One thing about Mr. Root! If he is elected
he will be a United States senator and no other
kind. In that light alone New .York will .honor
herself in sending him to Washington. But
there are other lights: He. will not represent
an express- company; he -will not represent a
party; he will not represent a machine, arid a
defunct one at that; he will represent all ..Che
people of New York; he will represent them
more ably and more squarely, if his ten years
in. the cabinet is any indication, than New York
has been represented for generations. It will
be a good thing for the country to have. E.lihu
Root in the.sepate. But it will be a better
thing for New York even if the new senator
shall refuse to be an errand boy to hustle ap
pointments." This Is a fair sample of some of the stuff
that is palmed off on American newspaper read
ers as editorial wisdom. ' t . '
When Thomas C. Piatt is. superseded in, the
United States senate by Elihii Root there will
be vast improvement so far; as concerns . per
sonal appearance and personal character. But
the simple facj: remains that in place of'tiie'
inane Piatt the special interests of this country
will be represented by their ablest and most: re
spurceful champion tlie lawyer whose genius
has had much to do with .the building of" the;
great' trust system under which' the" American '
people are struggling today.' ' '
WHY THIS CLASSIFICATION? ' '' ' '
The New York Evening Post prints an edi
torial from which the following is taken:
-"Why, Mr. Bryan should aak himself,, did
newspapers like the Times, the Evening Post,
the Springfield Republican, the Baltimore Sun,
and a host of others, of this type refuse to sup
port the democratic party in 1908? The answer
is the same that must be given when anybody
examines frankly the causes of the democratic
defeat; because Mr. Bryan was the candidate.
So .long as he is at thejiqad. of the. parity it
w.Jll regularly be defeated and will as regularly
repel the valuable newspaper support it could
regain by choosing a stable, trustworthy and
statesmanlike leader." " .
In the light of these remarks the more in
teresting question is "why does the Evening
Ppstclass itself with the Springfield Repub
lican?' It is true the Republican did not support
Mr. Bryan, and so far as The Commoner is in
formed no one questioned its motives. No one
has ever charged nor, as The Commoner be
lieves, suspected that the Springfield Republican
is more deeply concerned in some special in
terest than in the general welfare. The Com
moner protests, 'therefore, that the Republican
has done nothing tp justify such a classification
as the Evening Post's editorial would put
upon it.
i! w ? &
A BIG SUM CARRIED
Twenty-two million dollars is a consider
able sum of money and it represents the aggre
gate of loans made by a branch of the Standard
Oil trust to one Trainer. But the government
representatives admit their inability to per
suade Standard Oil officials to explain these
items. When John D. Archbold syas on the
stand, Mr. Kellog, the goyernment counsel,
asked him a number of questions on this line
The Associated Press report says:
"Tho -accounts of the Southern Pipe Line
company from 1899 to 1905 showing loans to
?AnSTnrain6ar' CaTryiU ir $2,500,000 to $4,-
. 000,000 each year and aggregating $22,000,000
were inquired into by Mr. Kellogg. . -
"The balance sheets of the Southern Pipe
Line company show the following loans," he
n, l.1,8??' ?2G07,000; 1900, $4,999,000;
1901, $2,745,628; 1902, $3,256,967; 1903 $2 1
663,729; 1904, $3,915,8305 19Q5, WMiSii.
."Now, Mr. Trainer has testified that .he
knows nothing about these loans and .that the
VOLUME 8, NUMBER 49
t
money was never paid to hlm. Do you know
anythingabouttheseTloans."
"I do not," said Mrr Archbold, "it may
have represented adjustments between refining
companies which Mr. Trainer supplied. I don't
know the reason."
Every one will admit tho importance from
the standpoint of the public of solving this
mystery: Is it possible that the great American
government can. not obtain accurate information
concerning a twenty-two million dollar loan by
the greatest of all trusts? I.t has already oc
curred to a great many people that in spite of
-the" fine boasts of administration representa
tives, John D. Rockefeller was treated more
than kindly while he was in the witness chair.
Sometime the people will grow weary of bun
combe and then men like Rockefeller will not
have the Impudence to preach morality to the
reporters and other bystanders when leaving
the wjtriess stand.
t5 t w ti5
IN THE INDEPENDENT, TOO!
In ' a. -sto.ry relating to the new secretary
of the treasury, the Independent (New York)
prints this tale:
."During the kaiser's visit to England, an
enthusiastic German was dilating to an English
prelate on the extraordinary qualities of his
emperor. He frequently interrupted himself
with the sigh of admiration:
"'Ah, but the kaiser is great!'
"At last the wearied prelate. replied:
" 'But God is greater.'
"HSo He is,' said the . German-. 'But you
must remember, the .kaiser .is young, yet.' "
Can it be that the memory of the editor
of the Independent is failing? How could he
have permitted such a hoary old chestnut as this
to. be palmed, off upon his exact and exacting
publication? Does he .not know -that this story
was familiar to every printing office "devil"
more than thirty years ago? Then the story
was given in describing. a. dialogue between two
South, Carolina negroes who were discussing the'
merits and demerits of' Robert Smalls, a member
of congees,?.,.,, ..;.,,. i j.
It is a good story, Ohowye;r, and perhaps
grows, better with thQ.j.ear.s"., ,
c Vw tv fc7 tp
' ' " . , 1 1 -
A PRESENT FOR LITTLE BOY BLUE
' The Saturday Eyening ,ost printed in a
recent issue one of the sweetest little poems
ever written. It is,-indeed; 11 perfect poem; that
at least will be the' verdict of everyone whose
heart ,Jis open to receive1 it; and evSry parent
of a Little, Boy Blue''' wiirunderstand' it. These
verses Were written by'J.'W. Foley. Here they
are: i
' -'
Our Neighbor, he calls me his Little Boy Blue
Whenever he goes by our. yard;
.And he says, "good morning' or "how do you
do?" ...
But sometimes he winks awful hard.
I guess he don't know what my name really is,
Or else he forgot, if he knew;
And my! You would think I am really part his-
He calls me his Little Boy Blue!
Our Neighbor, he told me that Little Boy Blue
Qnce stood all his toys in a row,
And said, "Now, don't go till I come back for
you"
But that was a long time ago.
And one time, at Christmas, when I had a tree,
He brought me a sled, all brand-new
And smiled when he said it was partly for me
And partly for Little Boy Blue.
Our Neighbor, he's not going to, have any tree,
So he says the best Tie can do
Is try to get something to partly give me
And partly give Little Boy Blue.
Because, If he's here, it -would make him so giau
And he said he knew it was true
That ever and ever so many folks had
A boy just like Little Boy Blue.
Our Neighbor, he calls me his Little Boy Blue,
And said he would like to help trim
Our tree when it came he would feel that n
knew
It was partly for me and for him.
He said he would fix it with . lights and l
flowers,
With popcorn and berries you see,
He'd like to come over and help to trim ours
He's not going" to have any tree!
i
.'." ' ' . .
t.ll(iU