"'AfTi- -
FEBRUARY 10, 1811
The Commoner.
' t ' . . v T
7
li Mi
rCURRNT
topics "?
THERE WILL BE sorrow jn every land over
the news carried In the following dispatch
Li'om Cleveland, Ohio: "Friends of Tom L.
oohnson are worried concerning the condition
of his -health, which has srown worse. The
' former mayor is afflicted with liver and kidney
trouble. Ever since his defeat for the mayor
alty a year agp he has dodged the limelight ot
publicity and only on one occasion hft3 he ap
peared in public. That was at the closing of
the recent gubernatorial campaign here, when
he appeared on the platform with Governor Har
mon to urge his followers to support the demo
cratic state ticket. Only his most intimate
friends are allowed to see the former mayor and
. his friends despair of his recovery."
WRITER IN THE Denver News says:
jCjl "Sunday, January 29, was the Chinese Now
Year, the first day of the year 4657. For 4557
years, according to their own records, China
has had a continuous civilization, language,
tradition and, to some extent, government.
European scholars cast some doubts on this
claim; but there is no doubt of a substantial
basis of fact underlying it. What children tho
very mention of those figures makes us west
erners feel! The laBt conquest of England dates
back only eight and one-half centuries. The
-charter of English liberties is some 700 years
old... The history of' France is a thing of four
teen centuries, 'if you give it the most liberal
possible interpretation. Even if you go baok
to- the beginnings' of western civilization in
Greece, tho first Olympiad was held in 776 B.
C, and the Trojan "war is supposed to date from
abotit 1100 B. Of. But the Chinese calendar
harks back to 2646 B. C, a time when tho
pyramids were still 'new and shiny. Persistence
of .civilization dike1 that 'argues a deal of char
acter; and we believe the argument Is exact.
hinarJias Jived not only because she ha,d an
unusually good chance to live, l)ut also, because
Qhe had a most unusual hold on social life. When
the history of our own time is studied with the
dispassionate exactness which we bring to the
study of Rome, it, may be the savants will de
cide .China had quite as much to teach us at tho
beginning of tho twentieth century as we "had
to teach her. Let us .hope It will not be re
corded that China was the better pupil."
MANY PEOPLE who hardly remembered the
name "of , the vice president arerpaying con
siderable attention to that office since Mr. Sher
'm&n's yote carried ship subsidy through the
senate. A writer in the Lincoln (Neb) Journal
says: "Now and then the vice president be
comes more than a fifth wheel -in our govern
ment, Last Thursday was Buch a time. Ex
ercising his right to cast the deciding vote In
caso of a tie, Vice President Sherman saved the
ship subsidy bill -and set back the bill for the
popular election of senators. Both votes -were
of importance. This does not often happen.
Ordinarily o little is the vice president In evi
dence that his office Is regarded as a political
burying ground. Says Oliver's 'Alexander Ham
ilton:' 'The vice, president ia not an active
force in government. He is not even a member
in thid; but a sort of queen bee kept in xe
gervo in ar cell In case the acting monarch should
die or' be killed. His position Is one of honor
and dignity, but of no executive importance. He
presides over the senate, and in earlier time
was held to, hay ft kind of reversionary inter
est in the presidency.' If such incident as that
of -Friday occurred bftener""it would make a dif
ference7 in the selection of vice presidents. Jn
general, under our system, a nominee for vice
president never TepTesents the views of the ma
jority of Tils party nor of the president. It
happens in this way. Each of the two chief
parties is commonly divided Into two elements,
these being about as violently antagonistic to
each other as to the opposing party. In every
national convention these elements fight over
the presidency. One element wins. Then to
'harmonize' the party the defeated faction is al
lowed to choose the vice president. In tho last
republican convention 'the-element of the party
led' by Theodore Roosevelt named the presiden
tial candidate... Tho element represented by
Speaker Cannon and Senator Aldrlch recoived
tho vice presidency as a consolation prize. Of
course the most objectionable feature of this
method; Is the chance it gives a minority faction
of a jjarty to. inherit the presidency by tho
death of tho elected president. Mr. Sherman's
opportunity to cast a deciding vote on an im
portant measure this week ahows another direc
tion, in which the practice does not work to tho
accurate expression of popular needs or wishes.
This inconsistency will vaniBh with the spread
of direct primary methods of choosing delegates
to national conventions and direct expressions
as to presidential preference. The plan will
naturally extend to tho vice president, making
both members of the ticket representative of
majority opinion in the party."
A WASHINGTON dispatch to tho "Lincoln
(Neb.) Journal says: "Tho success of
Governor Woodrow Wilson in New Jersey in
preventing tho election of James Smith, Jr., to
the United States senate, and bringing about
the election of Jamos E. Martine, who was tho
choice in tho primary, has given Dr. Wilson ad
ditional support among the progressive demo
crats in congress. The New Jersey governor
has many admirers among the progressive dem
ocrats at the capital. Their enthusiasm for him
has been quickened by the performance with
respect to the senatorship. A disposition has
been manifest here to talk of Governor Wilson
as-learned In the theory of politics but -short
on the practice. His friends here say this sort
of talk will be indulged in less than before "in
view of the way in which ho has forced the
election of Martine. That Gbvernor Wilson will
have' to be reckoned with seriously as a presi
dential possibility '- Is now, clears "His 'boomers
are' expected-'to get extremely busy and to make
capital of tho Smith, defeat. In tho meantime,
opponents of Wilson in congress are showing a
disposition to say that Wilson has given Smith
the 'double cross' and Is not deserving of the
presidential nomination and that if ho Is named
he cannot carry New Jersey. An era of Wilson
talk may now bo looked for. Governor Judson
Harmon "has had the advantage of most of the
talk and publicity thus far. But Governor Har
mon Is far from being nominated. Not only is
he not going to have things his own way, but
definite steps are being directed to head him off,
and prevent him from getting hold of a' lot of
pledges. Some of Champ Clark's friends are
busying themselves to this end. They do not
propose to, allow 'Uncle Jud' to ,go gumshoeing
along and getting promises from prominent poli
ticians in numerous states without trying to get
some pledges themselves. At least, they want
democrats to pause and consider and not let
themselves get tied up to the Harmon chariot
so they cannot disentagle themselves."
LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY, is tho first bidder
for the democratic -national convention of
1912. A Washington dispatch to the Courier
Journal says: "Louisville for the democratic
national convention of 1912. The plan was
suggested to Prospective Speaker Champ Clark
today, and ho- is little less than .enthusiastic
about it. 'It is a first-rate Idea,' said the next
speaker. 'Going to Louisville will bo like going
home. All the Mlssourians are kin to the Ken
tucklans,' said Mr. Clark, 'and I would be glad
to see the Kentucky metropolis get the conven
tion. It is centrally located and easily readied
and I believe its. hotels would accommodate the
crowds; It was suggested to Mr. Clark that
three years ago Louisville could have had tho
convention, hut at the last moment the money
necessary failed to show up and Denver was
selected with Its 100,000 golden dollars. 'I
want to say,' replied Mr. Clark, 'that I, for one,
am opposed to putting national democratic con
ventions on the auction block. I believe Louis
ville or any other city which wants th 'Conven
tion should not be made to contribute more
than the expenses of the convention, and if the
citizens of a city guarantee legitimate expenses
thia is all that they ought to be made to do.'
All the members of the Kentucky delegation
aro willing to go in and help if Louisville busi
ness men say tho word. Baltimore is already
conducting an active campaign, and Chicago,
Denver and San Francisco aro also expected to
bo bidders when the time conies. Tho demo
cratic hosts were never better treated than at
Denver, but it is recognized (hat the mountain
city is too far away and that tho fight will como
for tho selection of a city more centrally locat
ed. The democratic national committee, which
meets hcr6 in December, will fix tho time and
place for tho convention. National Committee
man Uroy Woodson, of Owensboro, is tho man
for tho Louisville peoplo tc get in touch with."
C CONCERNING THE claim that tho financial
J honor of tho country, was recently "saved
by Morgan" the New York World says: "To
bo saved by J. Pferpont Morgan is one of tho
most expensivo luxuries that a financial institu
tion can Indulge in. In tho long run it is prob
ably moro expensive oven than honest banking.
Mr. Morgan is a dashing and melodramatic
rescuor, but ho always collects his Carnegio hero
medal in advance. Yesterday Mr, Morgan saved
the Twelfth Ward and Nineteenth Ward banks,
which are allied with tho Carnegie Trust com
pany, by tho benevolent expedient of taking over
another allied concern, tho Madison Trust com
pany, and annexing it to his Equitablo Trust
company. During the panic of 1907 Mr. Morgan
did considerable" financial rescuing, as a result
of which he added tho Tennessee Coal and Iron
company to his steel trust, turned the Metro
politan steamship line over to tho Now York,
New Haven and Hartford Railroad company,
and gathered inHhd Port phester road by way
of gpod. measurement. As for yesterday's trans
action, the superintendent of banks says that
'every one iff tobe -congratulated at thetUiil
of events and doubtless ho is right. "Surely
the wight that had just been snatched from' a
watery grave ought not to complain becauso
tho daring rescuer took his clothes by way of
reward,"
SENATOR HALE of Maine will retire March
4, after having served Iwenty years in tho
upper branch of congress. A Washington dis
patch carried by tho Associated Press says:
"When Senator Hale and Senator Aldrlch retire
from the senate in March there will bo only
one senator left whose term of service In the
sdnate began tho same year as thoso of tho
two yeterans from Maine and Rhodo Island.
He is Senator Frye, of Maine. All three en
tered tho senate in 1881, Hale, March 4 of that
year; Frye, March 15, and Aldrioh, October 5.
The only other senator whoso term of service
approaches these in length is Senator Cullom,
of Illinois, who began his senatorial career
March 4, 1883. Although Senator Frye entered
the senate only eleven days behind Hale, Frye
has been the 'junior' senator from Maine for
thirty years. He is seventy-nine years old and
Hale's senior by five years In point of age. He
succeeded James G. Blaine in tho senate and
has seen seven presidents in tho White House-
Garfield, Arthur, Cleveland, Harrison, McKInley,
Roosevelt and Taft. Senator Fry has been presi
dent pro torn, of the senate- the man who. pre
sides when the vice president is absent or after
the death of a vlco president since the middle
of tho second Cleveland administration. Adlai
E. Stevenson, of Illinois, was vlco president
when Mr. Frye was chosen president pro tem.
Ho has Tield that honor by re-election ever since.
When Vice President HobaTt died in. November,
1899, Mr. Frye presided over the Fifty-sixth and
Fifty-seventh congreses. Again, after tho as
sassination of Mr. McKInley took Colonel Roose
velt from the senate chamber to the White
House, Mr. Frye became president pro tem. and
presided over the senate in the Fifty-seventh
and Fifty-eighth congresses. Colonel Roosevelt
presided over the senate only five days from
March 4 to March 9, 1901, in st special session
called to pass upon Mr. McKinley's first nom
inations. In the fifteen years that Mr. Frye
has been the president pro tem. he has been th6
actual presiding officer for six years of that timo
in tho -place of Vice President Hobart and Vice
President Roosevelt."
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