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The Commoner.
VOLUME 10, NUMBER 2(
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NB OF THE most important movements in
history is described in an Associated Press
fllanntMi frnm Wnnhinirton as follows: The
Democratic Federation of the United
States of America has been launched, the
central idea of which, according to the
ofllcial pronunciamenta, is a federation of
organizations throughout the country com
posed of democrats that shall stand for the
needed improvement of party government and
other progressive issues.' One of its purposes
will bo to select in each state and in the nation
by postal vote 'only those issues upon which
public sentiment is agreed or can readily bo
brought to an agreement,' candidates in the re
spective states and in the nation are then to be
systematically questioned on these issues and
tho replies published to the members of the
party. Among the democrats who have origi
nated this movement are United States Senators
Owon of Oklahoma, Newlands of Nevada and
Chamberlain of Oregon; former Vice President
Adlai E. Stevenson of Illinois, twenty members
of congress from various states, democratic edi
tors and others prominent in the party. George
H. Shibley of the District of Columbia is the sec
retary of the federation."
ROBERT A. TAFT, tho president's son, had
the misfortune to knock down and run over
-with his automobile Michael Phisthwolla, a
laborer at Beverly, Mass. The following Wash
ington dispatch printed in the New York World
is interesting: "President Taft was greatly dis
tressed when he learned of his son's unfortunate
accident at Beverly, Mass. He immediately sent
a long telegraphic message to his son, the text
of which was not given out, but which is said
to have contained instructions to do everything
possiblo for tho injured man. The following
telogram thon was sent to an old college friend
of tho president, Samuel Carr of 90 Ames Build
ing, Boston. 'By an unfortunate automobile ac
cident at Beverly my boy, Robert, struck a street
laborer, fracturing his skull. Ho is at Beverly
hospital. Will you not call up by phone the best
surgeon In Boston and have him visit the hos
pital at once and tender service to the resident
physician and do all ho can for the injured man?
William H. Taft.' The president then sent a
personal telegram to the injured man expressing
his profound regret over the accident and con
voying to tho victim his earnest hope for a
speedy recovery. This telegram was not made
public."
LOUIS F. POST, writing in The Public, of
Chicago, throws a sidelight upon Chicago
newBpaperdom in this way: "Senator Lori
mer's speech of exculpation In the United States
senate is regarded as having made it impossible
to avert a crash in the republican politics of
Illinois. To appreciate the political situation it
is necessary to note the courses of the faction
seams. There is the Lorlmer faction, composed
of Btralght-out machine elements, its newspaper
representative being the Inter-Ocean. Then there
is the Bus80 faction, also composed of machine
. elements, once In alliance with the Lorlmer fac
tion, but now, through its ofllcial advantage at
the Chicago city hall (Busse being mayor), in
alliance with big business interests. This fac
tion has turned its back upon tho Lorlmer fac
tion, and has no newspaper representative. Next,
there is the Governor Deneen faction, a product
of 'goo-goo' politics, which touches elbows with
big business on one side, and on the other with
machine elements in politics. Its newspaper
representatives are the Record-Herald, owned
now by H. H. Kohlsaat, and tho News, owned
by Victor Lawson. A fourth faction is of recent
origin. It may be loosely distinguished as the
Wayman faction, since the state's attorney for
Cook county, Mr. Wayman, Is the most conspicu
ous individual representative. Mr. Wayman was
elected by tho aid of distillery and brewery in
terests, and the newspaper representative of his
faction is tho Journal. The Tribune is "its own
faction, which is at the moment the master fac
tion of all. It secured the fealty of the Wayman
faction by obvious methods, Mr. Wayman hav
ing gubernatorial ambitions; it then secured tho
complete obedience of the Busse faction by head
ing off ominous prosecutions for city hall
offenses, which tho Daily Socialist had pro
claimed and the Merriam commission uncovered;
after this the support of the Deneen faction was
secured, which brought to Busse's support the
News and the Record-Herald as coadjutors of
the Tribune. Only the Lorlmer faction remained
outside the combination; and this faction was
making itself dangerous to the combination, not
only by staying outside politically and attacking
the city hall through the Inter-Ocean, but also
by threatening the Tribune's, big business allies
and fortifying itself through the establishment
of a Lorimer banking interest. Such was the
situation when the Tribune opened fire on Lori
mer for bribery, and this the delicate structure
that is supposed to have been jeopardized by
Lorimer's speech In the senate."
THE EXECUTION of the man who assassi
nated the Egyptian premier is one of the
echoes of Mr. Roosevelt's visit to Egypt. A
Cairo, Egypt, cablegram carried by the United
Press says: "Ibriham Wardani, a nationalist
student, whose assassination early in tV i year
of Premier Boutros Pasha called for a scathing
denunciation at the hands of Colonel Roose
velt, when the latter spoke before the students
of the university of Egypt, was hanged today
for his crime. The execution occasioned intense
excitement, owing to the fear of a demonstra
tion by the nationalists. The government, how
ever, made ample provision against this and
there has not been the least disorder, although
the nationalists are holding meetings through
out the city. Wardani ascended the scaffold,
proclaiming himself a martyr, a role that he,
had assumed since the commission of the crime.
'I die for the cause of Egyptian liberty,' were
his last words. "The hanging was secret, even
newspaper men being excluded from the prison
yard where the scaffold was erected. The prison
was entirely surrounded by troops, while hun
dreds of troops patrolled the streets and mingled
with the crowds on the streets. No large gath
erings were permitted. Wardani shot Premier
Boutros Pasha as the latter was entering his
carriage. He has since then proclaimed that
he killed the premier to bring the attention of
the English government to alleged wrongs of
the Egyptians."
IN HIS ADDRESS to the students of the
. Egyptian university on March 28, Colonel
Roosevelt set Egypt by ears by denouncing the
crime. In .part he said: ""All good men, all
men of every nation whose respect is worth
having, were inexpressibly shocked by the as
sassination of Boutros Pasha. It was a greater
calamity to Egypt than a wrong to the indi
vidual himself. The type of man who turns as
sassin is the typ-j possessing all the qualities
which alienate him from good citizenship; the
type .producing poor soldiers in tJme of war and
worse citizens in time of peace. Such a man
stands on the pinnacle of evil and infamy.
Those apologizing for, or condoning his act, by
word or deed, directly or indirectly encouraging
, such an act in advance of defending it afterward
occupy the same bad eminence. It is of no con
sequence whether tho assassin is Moslem or
Christian, or whether his crime was committed
in political strife or industrial warfare. The
rich man's hired act, performed by a poor man,
whether committed with the pretense of pre
serving order or of obtaining liberty is equally
abhorrent in the eyes of all decent men and in
the long run equally damaging to every cause
tho assassin professes." Again in his Guild hall
speech Roosevelt called upon England to adopt
a firmer policy in ruling tho Egyptians or get out
of Egypt and turn that nation over to some
country that would.
THE OLD DRY goods firm of Lord & Taylor,
New York, has been absorbed by the
United Dry Goods Companies, otherwise known
as the dry goods trust. John Claflin is presi
dent, and J. P. Morgan has a big interest in this
concern. Tho New York correspondent for the
Chicago Record-Herald says: "The history of
the founding of the firm of Lord & Thomas reads
like a romance. While George W. Taylor was
acting as warden of the Tombs of his day (1830)
his kind treatment of a prisoner induced the
man to reveal a secret that gave the warden
a fortune. It was that the crown jewels of
Holland, which had been stolen, and for which
$50,000 reward was offered, were then being
brought to America on board a sailing vessel
by one of the men concerned in the robbery.
The warden boarded the ship down the bay, got
the passenger to confess and hand over the
crown jewels, which Mr. Taylor carried to Hol
land. He returned with the $60,000 reward.
Then he went to his dearest friend, Samuel
Lord, an iron founder, and with their combined
capital they formed the dry goods concern which
to this day retains the original name of Lord
& Taylor. In the panic of 1873 the firm was in
financial trouble and Mr. Hatch, Sr., was asked
to finance the concern. A million dollars was
added to its capital. It put the house firmly on
its feet and new prosperity followed until the
business became of colossal proportions. To
day the firm in dry goods and banking circles
is in excellent standing. It was incorporated
April 19, 1904, with an authorized capital of
$5,000,000, divided into $2,500,000 six per cent
accumulative preferred stock and $2,500,000
common stock."
THAT JENNY LIND, the once noted Swedish
singer who toured America in 1851 under
the management of P. T. Barnum was married
in Boston is not generally known. A Boston
dispatch printed in the New York Herald says:
"Up to that time there had been no such pop
ular, admiration for a foreign singer in the
United States as was accorded Jenny Lind. She
appeared only in concerts, her contract with Mr.
Barnum especially interdicting opera. The regu
lar accompanist of the organization was Otto
Goldschmldt, who in Boston became the husband
of the singer. The ceremony took place Feb
ruary 5, 1853, at the residence of Samuel G.
Ward, a well known Bostonian, who was the
local agent of Baring Brothers, London bankers
of that era, and with whom the song bird from
the north transacted her business. Mr. Ward's
residence was at No. 21 Louisburg square. For
some months prior to her marriage Mile. Lind
raid her company, under her own management,
had given forty concerts in Boston, New York
and Philadelphia, her last appearance in this
country being made in the latter city in De
cember, 1852. Of this Goldschmidt-Lind wed
ding the Boston Courier of February 6, 1853,
has the following brief description: 'Although
St. Valentine's Day has not quite reached us,
yet the first bird of the season has already
chosen her mate. The queen of song has com
mitted matrimony. Jenny Lind is Jenny Lind
no longer, but Mrs. Goldschmidt. In plain Eng
lish, the following record was made yesterday
on the books of the Boston city "registrar: 'Mar
ried in this city, at the residence of Mr. S. G.
Ward by the Rev. Charles Mason, assisted by
the Rev. Dr. Wainwright, of New York, the
Swedish consul, Hon. Edward Everett, Mr. and
Mrs. T. W. Ward, Mr. N. I. Bowditch, her legal
adviser, and other friends, Otto Goldschmidt, of
Hamburg, to Mile. Jenny Lind, of Stockholm,
Sweden.' Mr. Goldschmidt has attended Jenny
as her pianist for many months past. The
match has taken everybody by surprise, though
we must say that we were struck with some
thing confoundedly arch and roguish in the
twinkle of her eye when she sang 'John Ander
son, My Jo,' the last time she appeared in public
in this city. Such, however, has been the dis
cretion of the parties that it may have been a
'foregone conclusion' for years. The next song
of the nightingale will, of course, be 'Home,
Sweet Home.' May she live a thousand years
and sing it every day.' "
All new and renewal subscribers to Tho Com
moner during the month of July will receive
a year's subscription to tho national farm paper
the American Homestead, without additional
chnrge. Givo your friends an opportunity to
join you in accepting tliis offer.
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