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The Commoner.
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VOLUME 13, NUMBER 27
CURR8NT
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A PRETTY story of a 1913 bcotio on tlio Gettys
burg battlellold is told by tho United Press
in this way: A handful of men In gray ro
onacted tho charge of Pickott across tho flold of
Gettysburg. Up tho slopo of Comotory ridge,
w'hdro doath kopt stop with them in 'G3, fifteen
veteran of tho Virginia regiments of that im
mortal brlgado made thoir slow parado. Under
tho brow of tho rid go in tho bloody angle, whore
thti Philadelphia brlgado stood that day, was a
handful in bluo, scarcoly larger, waiting to moot
the onslaught of peace. Thoro were no flashing
sabres, no guns roaring with shell; only eyes
that dimmed fast and kindly faces behind tho
stono wall that marks the angle. At tho ond, in
place of wounds or prison, or death, wore hand
shakos, speeches and mingling choors. Tho
veterans in gray marched for a quarter of a
milo over tho ground that they traversed during
the charge. They came up tho slope in columns
of fours, Irregular but rosponslvo to the com
mands of Major W. W. Bontloy of tho Twenty
fourth Virginia, ono of tho few officers of either
Pickett's or tho Philadelphia brigades who was
present. Ahead of them marched a band, and
well down tho column was a faded confederate
flag, its red Held pierced with many holes, its
cross bars dim and its shaft column colored with
tho sweat of many a man who died that it might
ily high in the last desperate offort to pierce tho
union lines. Its progress was slow and pain
ful, for tho timothy in tho field was high and its
plowed surface was not easy for tho weary feet.
Up to tho very edge of tho stone wall, covered
now with tangled vines, shaded by trees and
peaceful as a summer lane, thoy marched in the
hot sun while tho band played "Dixie." There
they stood for half an hour while their com
rades in blue peered across at them. The blue
line formed bohind the walls. Over their heads
floated a faded standard of tho Second army
corps; behind them wore the statues of the
Philadelphia brigade and the Fourth United States
battery, where General Armstead died in the
midst of guns, killed, the histories say, by a shot
fired by its dying commander, Lieutenant Cush
ing. As tho men in gray formed in a long lino
facing tho wall, the stars and bars and the flag
of the Second corps were crossed in amity, the
stars and stripes were unfurled and the crowd
that came to watch burst into a cheer. Repre
sentative J. Hampton Moore of Pennsylvania
made a long speech and Major Bontloy answered
him on behalf of tho south. The veterans in
gray were given a medal provided by John
Wanamaker. They crowded over the stone wall,
shook hands and the charge was over. There
was many a picturesque figure in the line that
came up the slopo. W. H. Turpin of the Fifty
third Virginia appeared in the uniform ho wore
on the day of tho charge. His feet were bound
in cloth, he had an army blanket strapped to
his back and ho calmly smoked a long-stemmed
corncob pipe. There were fifteen regiments in
Pickett's division that day in 63 and the his
tories say that 5,000 men charged across the
field. Every field officer was killed or wounded
oxcept ono lieutenant colonel and two-thirds of
the line ofllcers met tho same fate. Of the 5,000
wlio charged only about 2,000 returned to tho
confederate position. Tho Philadelphia brlgado
numbered about 1,200 men and lost 453 in killed
and wounded.
w w w
COMPLYING with an order of the war depart
ment, General A. L. Miles, chief of tho di
vision of militia affairs in the United States
army, sent to tho adjutant general of South
Carolina the following dispatch: "In accor
dance with action of war department this date,
taken in consequence of attitude of governor of
your state toward enforcements of federal mili
tia law as expressed in his letters of May 5 and
27 to you and of Juno 11 to secretary of war,
no further federal assistance, either personnel
or equipment will be afforded the organized
militia of your state, nor further expenditure
of federal funds in hands of disbursing ofllcers
will bo authorized by secretary of war, except
to cover such obligation as may have already
been accrued and approved by secretary of war.
Requisition for property on hand in military
divisions is disapproved ana no further requisi
tion will bo honored. This information tele
graphed to you in connection with plans for en
campment of South Carolina organized militia
this summer, in order that you may be guided
by such telegram and act accordingly. Disburs
ing ofllcer has been informed of action taken by
war department." A Washington dispatch,
carried by tho Associated Press says: War de
partment officials said that tho defiant attitude
of Governor Bleaso left no alternative but to
wihdraw federal support from the South Caro
lina militia. They declared that thoy not only
ignored tho standards of efficiency in the state
militia demanded by tho federal authorities
under the Dick law as a condition of federal sup
port, but had announced that as commander-in-chief
of tho state volunteer forces ho would do
what he pleased regardless of federal authority.
& V
TIE hidden treasures of Colombia, S. A., are
just now attracting newspaper attention.
The New York Sun says: Lean as an antelope
and almost as dark as an Indian, "tho animal
man," J. J. Schmitt, who has made more lone
some trips into South American junglelaud than
any other hunter of queer creatures and rare
plants in this country, returned recently by the
Hamburg-American liner Albingia. This time
Schmitt was five months In the interior solitudes
of Colombia, sleeping under the trees when he
could sleep and living like the native Indians.
For more than three months he hunted alone.
His experience brought down his weight about
forty pounds and when he landed with his me
nagerie he looked like a being of bone and
muscle only. Mr. Schmitt says he found gold
in abundance In certain parts of the country
where he believes no other white man ever trod,
and that oil just oozed from tho Boil in other
sections. Primarily he was after animals and
plants, but he incidentally grabbed off some
nuggets, which he brought along with his col
lection. Ho said his trip was the longest and
hardest he had ever undertaken. Louis RuhQj
the animal dealer in Grand street, financed it
and was satisfied with Schmitt's findings, includ
ing twenty iguanas, biggest of South American
lizards, chameleon-like in their change of aspect.
The biggest of the twenty is moro than six feet
long. Schmitt lived partly on iguanan meat,
which is esteemed a delicacy in Colombia, on his
exploring trip. A dozen young mecaws that
the animal man risked his neck to take from
their nests while the mother birds fought him
with beak and claws were mothered by him on
the trip up from Colon. They are among the
biggest and gaudiest youngsters ever seen here
abouts. Other prizes are a twelve-foot boa won
derfully marked, several "widows," rare wild
ducks seldom seen in the United States, and a
variety of tropical plants that Schmitt declares
have never been seen in New York, and several
"royal ducks" as big as geese with glistening
greenish black coats. There are also in tho
collection, fifty or more monkeys, 1,000 para
keets and many kinds of snakes. Mrs. Schmitt,
who has won fame as a snake charmer, met her
husband at the pier. Schmitt says ho expects
to interest American capitalists in the vast
mineral wealth of the interior of Colombia.
& &
A TRIBUTE to the faithful effort of the late
John P. Morgan, is paid by the Birming
ham (Ala.) Ledger, in this way: The Greens
boro Watchman is persistent on its point that
Senator Morgan wanted the canal across tho
isthmus at Nicaragua and opposed tho Panama
idea. Technically the Watchman is correct
The senator was earnest and persistent in his
efforts for the Nicaragua route because he had
seen it and studied it and was at an ago when
men do not lik.o to change their minds. It is
remembered that there was a bit of scandal
connected with the change from tho Nlcaraguan
scheme to that of Panama. Mr. Roosevelt at
tacked some newspapers in the courts because
thoy charged fraud. Anyway, the United States
did do several things that Senator Morgan could
not approve in order to cut the canal at Panama.
When tho republicans at Washington made tho
change over the protest of our senator he reluc
tantly yielded and aided the canal as tho best
that could bo done. So It is true that the
senator opposed the Panama route for the canal
because lie was advocating another location, and
the republicans, for reasons and perhaps other
"valuable considerations" changed the route.
To put it plainly, Senator Morgan had cultivated
public sentiment until it demanded a canal. All
the world knew that he had brought tho four-century-old
question to a climax. The republi
cans refused him all the honor they could and
bought, at an enormous price, the French rights
and claims and built the canal at Panama. Sena
tor Morg'an was the father of the canal, though
it had been talked of since the white men first
learned how narrow the isthmus was. He edu
cated public sentiment to the canal idea for
present day use. He worked for the Nicaragua
route because there were no international or
business complications. Above all, he worked
for the canal; that was his central idea.
t tY t
COMPARING the Suez canal with the Panama
canal, a writer in Scribner's Magazine says:
The simplest and most concrete measure of tho
service rendered by the Panama canal will bo
the tonnage of ships that use the waterway.
This can be forecast with a fair degree of cer
tainty, because it is possible to ascertain how
much traffic now moves by routes that would be
abandoned in favor of the canal route, and it is
easy to find out how fast this available canal
traffic is increasing. The history of the Suez
canal, the great interoceanic highway with which
the Panama canal is closely comparable, is an
open book. Last year 5,373 ships, having a net
tonnage of 20,275,000 tons, passed through the
Suez water-way. The growth of tonnage in 10
years has been more than 70 per cent. Tho
shipping using the Panama canal annually dur
ing the first year or two of its operation, that
is in 1915 and 1916, will amount to about 10,
.500,000 net tons. At the end of 10 years the
tonnage will doubtless have reached 17,000,000
net tons. The prospect thus is that the Panama
canal will start with less than half the tonnage
which will then be making use of the Suez canal.
Moreover, it will be a long time before the
Panama canal catches up with the Suez water
way in volume. Should the Suez tonnage con
tinue to increase at the present rate, the
volume of shipping served by the Suez canal
in 1925 will be double that passing through
the Panama waterway. It is hardly probable
that the Suez tonnage will continue to in
crease at its present high rate; while it may
well happen that the stimulating effect of tho
Panama canal upon industry and trade has been
underestimated. Eventually, at the end of vo
or three decades, let us say, the traffic of Pana
ma may equal or exceed that at Suez. The Pana
ma canal is always thought of, first of all, with
reference to the commerce between the two sea
boards of the United States; yet it is probable
that only one tenth of the ships that pass
through the canal in 1915 will bo employed in
the intercoastal trade.
&& W t5
THE champion office holder has been located
at Omaha, Neb. His name is Eben K. Long.
An Omaha dispatch to the New York World
says: The champion officeholder of the country
has resigned because of old age and deafness.
Eben K. Long, of Omaha, has been elected to
office 179 times. "And 1 never yet asked any
man to vote for me," ho says. Mr. Long has
been a candidate 180 times, and only once was
ho defeated; and that was so long ago that he
has almost forgotten it. Many of his offices have
been in fraternal lodges; others have been city
and county offices. Fifty-five years ago he was
elected to his first political office and not a year
has passed since then that he has not drawn
a salary from the public. But long before that
he was elected to office in fraternal bodies. Judge
Long, now eighty-seven years old, has been a
justice of the peace in Omaha for the last
twenty-one years, during which time 10,-"
cases came before him for trial. Scarcely an
election has been held In Omaha for half a
century that the name Eben K. Long hasnoc
appeared on the republican ticket. In oil
years, when his name was not on a political uai
lot, he managed to get himself enrolled as
candidate in somo order to which he leJ?noBa8,
Eben K. Long was born in Newburyport, Mass.,
ibw.
