HOW DEMOCRATS DO THINGS
/ _
Dreamed They Fathered National Irrigation, but
Facts Show It Was Only a Dream.
TRUE HISTORY OF REPUBLICAN MEASURE
Federal Aid to Irrigation Originated with a
Republican Administration Fifteen
Years Ago—Roosevelt’s Per
sonal Triumph.
The Democratic party would hare the
uninitiated believe that it is responsible
for all good things. Where it could not
be successfully contradicted within a
given time, it would not hesitate to
claim the cred-'t for the Decalogue, the
Christian era. the discovery of America,
the Declaration of Independence, the ad
ministrations of Washington and lin
c-oln, the construction of the Panama
canal, or, in fact, any old thing.
The Democratic press now has the
hardihood to openly assert that the party
of negation and calamity is responsible
for the National Irrigation Act. In
keeping with the traditional revelations
of its notorious “hindsight” it has dis
covered that this same National Irriga
tion Act of President Roosevelt’s is cal
culated to add a new industrial empire
to the United States. It would fain give
Ibis the “me-txx>” accent, but it is too
late. What are the recorded facts?
Let History Speak.
The first move on the part of the fed
eral government to reclaim the arid West
began as far back as 1S89, under Presi
dent Harrison’s Republican administra
tion. when a bill was passed by Congress
authorizing an investigation of this sub
ject with a view of ascertaining to what
extent the arid regions of the United
States can be benefited by irrigation.
This bill appropriated $100,000 for topo
graphical surveys for the fiscal year end
ing June 30, 1889. The money was to
be used under the direction of Major
Powell, the then head of the geological
survey.
The work was placed under the super
vision of tlie Secretary of the Interior,
and Major Powell was directed to make
liis report as early a's possible. Upon
his report and the recommendations of
the Secretary of the Interior, the $100,
000 was supplemented by an additional
appropriation of $250,000 by the passage
Of an act for the further investigation
of the arid regions. A committee of
Senators was appointed to visit the arid
regions of the different Western States
and territories, during the summer of
1890. it completed its work of investi
gation and made its report after having
traveled 12.000 miles and having been on
the road fifty days.
Republicans Lead the Way.
The Republican national convention
held in Philadelphia in June. 1900. re
ferred to irrigation in the national plat
form as follows: “In further pursuance
of the constant policy of the Republican
parly to provide free homes on the pub
lic domain we recommend adequate Na
tional legislation to reclaim the arid
lands of the United States, preserving
the control of the distribution of water
for irrigation to the respective States
and territories.” The Democrats, of
course, imitating and following the lead
of the Republican party in all matters
of progress, adopted the following plank
in their platform at Kansas City in July.
1900: “We favor an intelligent system
of improving the arid laud of the West,
storing the waters for the purpose of
irrigation and the holding of such lauds
for actual settlers.”
Roosevelt Priwc Mover.
In his message to the Fifty-seventh
Congress President Roosevelt clearly and
vigorously urged the enactment of legis
lation in aid of development by irrigation
. of the great arid portions of our coun
' try. Encouraged by the President’s
earnest and vigorous recommendation,
the members of both branches of Con
gress from the arid and semi-arid States
met in the early days of the session, ap
poiiited a committee of one from each of
the said States and territories, with Sen
ator Warren of Wyoming, a Republican,
as chairman, for the purpose of drafting
uu irrigation measure.
This committee labored earnestly and
faithfully, and finally presented to the
fuli representation from the West a bill
which was accepted by them, introduced
in the Sepate by Senator Hansbrough,
a Republican, and in the House by Rep
resentative Newland*. which hill, with
subsequent amendments, was the founda
tion for the present national irrigation
act.
Oil May 14. 1902, in presenting the bill
to the House Congressman Newlauds re
ferred to President Roosevelt's message
on irrigation and quoted the same in its
entirety, thus admitting that the Presi
dent’s influence for the measure was the
•strongest at that time.
President Altera Bill.
This measure was known as the Hans
brongh-Newianjls bill, and became the
basis upon which the committee work
was done, but as drafted it never became
a law. It was discussed by a self-con
stituted committee of representatives
from all the States concerned, which met
nearly every day during December and
on Dec. 2S agreed upon the form of the
revised hill, which, after still further
changes by the Senate committee, passed
the Senate without revision on March 2,
1902.
But in the form in which it was rec
ommended by the general committee of
(t which Mr. Newlauds was secretary, and
in which it passed the Senate, the bill
was unacceptable to President Roosevelt
os affording speculators and large land
owners opportunity to monopolize the
benefits of tile act. Mr. Roosevelt there
fore sent for Senator Hansbrongh: and
Representatives Metcalf. Moody and
Reeder, all 'Republicans, who would have
charge of the hill in the House, and warn
ed them that unless changed in certain
respects he should be compelled to veto
i it. >
t'lirricmnttn the Sharks.
The specific changes that he required
• era, first, tb."L the Secretary of the In
terior should be empowered to withdraw
from entry all lands proposed to be irri
gated, instead of only those required for
reservoirs and ditches as provided in the
bill: that no water should be sold or de
livered except to bona fide settlers, ac
tually living on the land to which the
water was applied—which was not in
the Newlands bill—and that the words:
“but State and territory laws shall gov
ern and control the appropriation, use
and distribution of the waters rendered
available under this act,’’should be strick
en out ns virtually subjecting the control
of Federal work to State Legislatures,
some of which he doubtless believed, but
did not say so, to be unfit to exercise
such a trust, and as certainly exposing
the settlers to the dangers of endless
and ruinous - litigation. At the Presi
dent’s express requirement the bill was
amended in these respects and became
the law as it stands to-day.
Unprecedented Force.
There ihad been attempts for many
years to get the government to go into
the irrigation business, but all failed un
til President Roosevelt took hold of the
project. In his first annual message to
Congress in 1901 he called attention to
the necessity of providing water for the
arid lands and said: “The object of the
government is to dispose of the laud to
settlers who will build homes upon it.
To accomplish this object water must be
brought within their reach.”
The national government’s policy, he
pointed out, should be to aid irrigation
in the several States and territories in
such a manner as will enable the people
in the local communities to help them
selves and a« will stimulate needed re
forms in the State laws and regulations
governing irrigation. He likewise re
minded the East, which was against this
policy at the time, that the reclamation
and settlement of the arid lands will en
rich every portion of our country just as
the settlement of the Ohio and Missis
sippi valleys brought prosperity to the
Atlantic States.
Final Personal Triumph.
With his accustomed vigor and intelli
gence President Roosevelt exerted influ
ence in this direction on Congress, won
the timid and the vacillating over to his
side, and the National Irrigation Law was
enacted on June 17, 1902. That law, be
it remembered, grew out of his message
of 1901, was enacted by a Republican
Congress, ably coached by Mr. Roose
velt. The measure became a law with
his signature. The Republican National
Irrigation Act of 1902, signed by Presi
dent Roosevelt, was a fitting and natural
supplement to the Republican Free
Homes Law of 1802, signed by President
Lincoln.
To President Roosevelt, therefore, and
to him alone, is due the fact that there
was any National irrigation at all in that
Congress, and that the law, as enacted,
absolutely protects the poor man and
renders any large homings of national
irrigated land impossible forever.
And this is how the Democrats are
“responsible” for national irrigation.
Resolutions by Business Men.
At the ninth annual convention of the
National Association of Agricultural Im
plement and Vehicle Manufacturers, held
at Minneapolis Oct. 15 to 17, 1902, the
committee on resolutions reported as fol
lows:
Resolved, That we congratulate the coun
try on the passage of the National Irriga
tion Act and express our profound appre
ciation of the aid and co-operation of Pres
ident Roosevelt, and all friends of that
measure In the Senate and House of Rep
resentatives. In seeming the passage of that
act. We believe this action by Congress
marked the conception of one of the great
est projects ever undertaken by any gov
ernment, and that It Inaugurates a new era
in the progress of till* nation anil the de
velopment of Its Internal trade and com
merce and the enlargement of the home
market for all our manufactures; that the
irrigable arid lands, which arc estimated
to comprise nil area of over lUO.UUO.OUO
acres, can and should he reclaimed just as
rapidly as settlers will take them und re
pay the cost to the government of Irriga
tion works built for their reclamation.
Why Justice Hus Not Been Done
Before.
The West has been for years insist
ing that some legislation should be in
augurated by Congress looking to the re
clamation of the arid public lands owned
by the government and constituting in
some States 95 per cent of the area. One
reason this agitation has progressed slow
ly has been that the portion of the coun
try most interested in the question is
scantily settled and has not the influ
ence in national councils which numbers
give. j
Another reason was that it was diffi
cult for those living in humid States to
form any proper conception of the irri
gation question, and the senators and
Representatives from States having no
direct interest in the question have been
slow to acquire the information neces
sary to bring them to a full realization
of its importance. It is not specially
strange that so many American citizens
should be unfamiliar with this subject.
It is one that does not present itself in
a practical way in the portion of our
country which contains nine-tenths of
our entire population. While the arid
region is of vast extent, it is but thiniy
settled. It is estimated that under the
National Irrigation Act the West will
be capable of sustaining 80,000,000 peo
ple.
Well Merited Tribute.
In a leading editorial in Maxwell's
Talisman,. George H. Maxwell, one of
the best informed men on irrigation in
the United States says:
And those of this generation who will en
joy these benefits snd advantages and the
untold and countless millions who will la
the years and In the generations to come In
habit those lands and live in the homes
which will be there created, will owe the
great boon which will be theirs to the clear
sighted courage and Inflexibility of purpose
of President Roosevelt. It Is not possible
to explain In such a way as to be under
stood bv anyoue not familiar with every
detail of the situation how much the friends
of the notional Irrigation movement owe to
President Roosevelt for his aid In bringing
about the amendments to the Irrigation bill
In tills session of Congress. Without his
Interest and friendly interposition It Is
doubtful whether the amendments of the
bill could have been accomplished. Had It
not been for the President, the friends of
the national Irrigation movement who stand
for home-making as against land specula
tion, would have had to tight und defeat
the eompromise committee lull and then be
gin all over again, gather their forces ami
make a new sturt In the next Congress. As
It Is now, the work of the last three years
has been preserved by the action or the
President and the bill Is now In such shape
that every friend of the home-maker can
heartily support it.
An Ideal American.
Whnt this country want* now is men
—not a few of them, but a multitude—a
vast majority of her citizens who shall
be just such men as Theodore Itoosevelt,
of strong and rugged physique, shirking
no labor, however hard, able to stand
the strain of sturdy integrity, guided by
high civic ideals, standing inflexible and
inexorably for the truth and the right.
His own words from his address, "The
Strenuous Life,” may be taken as the
very basis and foundation for a new
source of philosophy and national policy
which will guard against all social dan
gers if the people of thi^ country will
but heed them:
In the last analysis, a healthy state can
exist only when the men and women who
make It up lead clean, vigorous, healthy
lives; when the children are so trained that
they shall endeavor not to shirk dltllcultles
but to overcomo them, not to seek ease hut
to Unow how to wrest triumph from toll
and risk. The man must be glad to do a
man's work, to dare and emlure and to
labor, to keep himself and to keep those
dependent upon him. The woman must be
the housewife, the helpmeet of the home
maker. the wise and zealous mother of
many healthy children.
Here is a remedy that goes to the
foundation. The words are those of a
leader and carry with them a warning
and an admonition. Theodore Roosevelt
has coined a word that we should take
as a national watchword and set it up
as a beacon light on every hilltop
throughout the nation: "Homemaker.”
METHUSELAH ANDTHESPHINX
Come all ye Bryan Democrats,
Vour peerless leader slinks:
Come all ye bloated plutocrats,
Forget your former kinks;
The banners float for and you must vote
for
Methuselah aud the sphinx.
Come all ye scattered Democrats
That sulk like frightened minks,
So lean that we can -see your slats.
As hungry as the lynx;
The banners float for and you must
vote for
Methuselah and the sphinx.
Come all ye hopeless Democrats,
While Parker thinks he thinks,
Climb off the ship like frightened rats,
Before the old thing sinks;
The banners float for and you must
vote for
Methuselah and the sphinx.
—Chicago Chronicle.
Words of Cheer for the Democracy.
It has been given out to the forlorn
and drooping Democracy that “Willie
Hearst is loosening up”; that he has
been induced to put in a few thousands
to open headquarters for the National
Democratic Clubs. The hungry know
well that this means that Hearst aspires
to be a candidate again, but they are not
worrying about 1908 now.
Four years ago Hearst was presi
dent and footer of bills for the National
Democratic Clubs. The members met,
if memory serves aright, at Indianapolis,
expecting to greet their president. But
lie sent one of his hired men to receive
the greetings of liis admirers. This
dampened the ardor of the crowd, de
spite the fact that their fare back home
was paid. The November election set
tled the whole concern, but it seems that
the N. D. C. is to be resurrected, what
little there is left of its ashes.
Democratic Financial Manaarement.
On the 1st of July, 1892, the last year
of the Harrison administration, the total
bonded debt of the United States was, in
round numbers, $585,000,000. On the 1st
of July, 1897, the last year of the sec
ond Cleveland administration, the total
bonded debt was $843,000,000, an in
crease of $258,000,000 during four years
of perfect peace.
July 1, 1892, the annual interest
charge on the public debt was $gz,893,
000. July 1, 1897, it was $34,387,000,
an increase of $11,494,000 during four
years of Democratic administration.
A party that cannot administer the
government during a short period of
four years without largely increasing the
public debt and the annual interest ac
count is not fit to be entrusted with the
control of affairs.
Two Judges with Political Pasts.
Democracy can always be depended
on to blunder. The nomination of Judge
Parker was a blunder, because he re
ceived his early political training from
D. B. Hill, one of the most notorious
wire-pullers and workers in devious ways
New York hns produced. The nomina
tion of D. Cady Herrick for Governor
of New York, also was a blunder, be
cause he was "boss'’ of the Democratic
“machine” at Albany before his election
to the bench. The Albany "machine”
has « reputation as unenviable as Tam
many’s.
The last few years of Republican ad
ministration have added untold millions
to the agricultural wealth of the country
by opening new markets for farm pro
ducts at constantly improving prices. The
beauty of the Republican policy of pro
tection is that it develops manufactur
ing and agricultural interests on paral
lel lines.
“We do not have to guess at onr con*
vlctlons, and theh correct the guess if
It seems unpopular. The Principles
which we profess are thoee in which
wc believe with heart and soul and
strength. Men may differ from nsi
but they cannot accuse ns of ahiftiaess
or insincerity.”-Roosevelt's letter of ac
ceptance.
According to astronomers it is about
25 trillions of miles, as the crow flies,
from the earth to Alpha Centauri, the
nearest fixed star. It is about the same
distance from Ksopus to the White
House by the Democratic route.
WAGES AND COST OF LIVING
Grot'squs Attempt by Democrats to Twist Facts
for Campaign Consumption.
GROSSLY IRAGCURATE STATEMENTS
Country Is Not in Throes of a Disastrous
Business Depression, and Workingmen
Continue to Prosper — What
the Figures Show.
Nothing ooulil better illustrate the in
finite capacity of the -(emocratic party
for doing the wrong thing at the right
moment than its attempt to outface
acknowledged industrial conditions with
the bald statement of its campaign text
book—"that business depression of this
-year is greater than was that of 1893 and
1894.”
As there are as many milliorf Ameri
can voters as there are millions engaged
in industrial pursuits whose exi*erieucc
spans the decade, and who know this
to be most fortunately false, there is no
need to waste time in refuting it. The
Democratic depression that prevailed
from 1893 to 1897 paralyzed industry in
every section of the United States, and
its pinch was felt in every home. The
“business depression of —/s year” is so
largely a figment of Democratic imagi
nation that it requires a magnifying
glass to be seen, and wlint there is of
it is rapidly fading from sight as the
prospects ot a great Republican victory
become more certain.
But the Democratic campaign book is
not satisfied with this grotesque generali
sation. so jt attempts to controvert the
Republican1claim of prosperous times in
farm, office and workshop with the as
sertion that no one is better off by rea
son of increased incomes, because the
cost of living has increased dispropor
tionately.
How utterly and irrationally absurd is*
this contention is proved by the fact that
if prices were advancing more rapidly
than the earnings of the grent mass of
the people, the great mass of the people
would soon be irretrievably insolvent or
their purchases worn., be so curtailed
that the volume of business would be
enormously reduced.
There is no possibility of making a
scientific comparison of tue relative in
crease in wages and the cost of living,
because they are controlled by different
factors. The rate of wages is controlled
by industrial conditions: the co4t of liv
ing is controlled by the individual. No
man can fix his income at will; any man
can limit his expenditures. Let condi
tions provide sufficient wages to the
workingman, and it rests with him to
say by what margin he will live within
his income. The larger that income the
larger his possible surplus. If better
wages breeds extravagance, the result,
in the language of Mieawber, is misery;
if they are expended with economy, the
result is an accumulation of wealth and
happiness.
Convincing Testimony.
Good times under Republican admin
istration has provided the better wages,
nnd the economy of the American peo
ple has piled up the means of content
ment and happiness, as is evidenced by
the following statement of the number
of depositors and deposits in the savings
hanks of the United States for the eleven
years from 1893 to 19UJ, inclusive:
Year. No. Depositors. Deposits.
1888 .4.880,588 $1,785,150,857
1894 .4,777.087 1,747,901,280
1895 .4,875,519 1,810,597.023
1396 . 5.065,494 1,007,156.277
1897 . 5.201,132 1.939,370,033
1898 . 5,383.740 2,005,631,208
1899 . 5,087,818 2.230.300,954
1900 ..6,107,083 2.449,547.883
11X11 .6.358.723 2.597,094,580
1902 . 6,066,672 2.750,177,290
11X13 ...7,305,228 2,933,204.845
The Democratic depression of 1S93
nnd 1894, to which the campaign book
inadvertently directs attention, was
marked by a falling off in deposits of
over $37,000,000 in one year. Between
1893 and 1903 the average due each
depositor increased from $3(19 to $417.
More significant than the increase in
deposits is the fact that in 1903 there
were 2,474,029 absolutely new savings
bank depositors in the United States,
marking an increase of nervrV 50 per
cent, during a period whei^the total
population only increased 24 per cent.
Col. Wright’s Summery.
Turning now to the direct comparison
of the advance in wages and cost of liv
ing during the period under review, the
Democrats affect the greatest contempt
for the government statistics, which,
under the able, conscientious nnd un
biased direction of Carroll D. Wright,
present the following instructive sum
mary:
Course of employment, wages, hours o
ot food, and purchasing power of weekly e
1903.
(Relative numbers computed on basis
Employes— Horn
Relative week
Year. Number uuinl
1893 . 99.2
1894 . 94.1
18(95. 96.3
1398 . 98.3
1397 .100.9
1898 .100.3
1899 .110.9
1900 .115.5
1901 .119.1
11*02 .123.6
1903 .126.4
These figures present the results of an
extensive investigation into the wages
and hoars of lubor in the leading manu
facturing and mechanical industries of
the United States during the period nam
ed. It has designed to cover thoroughly
the principal destinetlve occupations, and
Mr. Wright, in submitting it (see Bulle
tin of th? Bureau of Labor, No. 53, July,
1904,) oay«: “It is believed that the
data presented are more comprehensive
and representative so far as the manu
factoring and mechanical industries are
concerned than any that have been here
tofore published.”
The figures ns to income and expen
diture are summarized from doga gath
ered from 2,507 families, in 33 States,
whose average income from all sources
was $927 a year, whose average expen
diture was $708, and whose average
expenditure for food was $320 per fam
ily, or 42.54 per cent, of the average
expenditure for all purposes. This data
was corroborated by other information
in less detail form, from 25,440 families,
and so is entitled to be accepted ns rep
resentative.
The most cursory examination of the
above table reveals tile fart that the
purchasing power of wages, measured by
retail prices of food, was 5 per cent,
greater in 1003 than in 1803, and this
in spite of the fart that the hours per
week had been reduced 3.7 per cent.
But more conducive to the wide dis
semination of tile prosperity than these
proofs of the increased purchasing pow
er of wages, is the fact revealed in the
column .giving tile relative number of
persons employed in the establishments
investigated. Between 1894 and 1003 the
increase in the number of employes re
ceiving these wages with increased pur
chasing [rower was 34.3 per cent., while
in the meantime the population of the
i United States only increased 21 per cent.
Democracy’* Last Resort.
Disheartened and disgusted with the
wide distribution of prosperity in the
homes, workshops and bank accounts of
American wage earners, demonstrated by
these figures, the Democrats appeal to
"railroad labor as affording the most ac
curate barometer of wages." Here, they
say, “a large proportion of the employes
are union men, whose wages are com
paratively steady.” >
Then the compilers of the Democratic
campaign book begin to joggle with the
very averages and percentages they af
fect to despise. They institu^ compari
sons between 1892, when railway wages
were at high tide, and 1901, when they
had scarcely recovered from Democratic
recession of 1893-1890. They suppress
the fact that the statistical average of
railway wages was less affected by the
Democratic hard times than the average
of other industries, for the obvious rea
son that as forces were reduced in num
bers the proportion of high priced em
ployes retained because of their experi
ence was greater.
-iney aiso cunemae rneir comparisons
with the year ending June 30th, 1902,
well knowing that the statistics of the
Interstate Commerce Commission for
that year only reflect a month or two
of the advance in railway wages o'f that
calendar year, which did not reach flood
tide until July, 1DQ3. Not until the
statistics of the Interstate Commerce
Commission for the year 1903-1904 are
published next summer will it be pos
sible to make an authoritative compari
son of the wages of railway employes
and the cost of living in the year 1903.
But the report of the Commission for
the fiscal year 1003 is available, and it
furnishes the following data, which
throws light on the rich slice of pros
perity which has fallen to the share of
railway employes:
Nt’MnER AND COMPENSATION OF
!w,m4M:1'I'OIES IN THE YEARS
}'***• Number. Compensation.
1903 .1,812,537 $775,321,415
ISO" . S23.478 405.8O1.31S
Increase . 4SI),001 $309,710,834
Increase per cent.. 50.4 66.5
Increase of compensation relatively
over nnmber . 7,1
That this relative increase of compen
sation, compared with that in the num
ber of railway employes, does not tell
the whole truth is proved by the follow
ing tnble:
AVERAGE DAILY COMPENSATION OF
CERTAIN DISTINCTIVE CLASSES OF
RAILWAY EMPLOYES FOR TI1K
YEARS ENDING JUNE SOT II, 1897.
AND 1903 (vide sixteenth ominnl report
of the statistics of rsllways In the middle
States for 1003, p. 43.)
Dally Compen- Increase
average sntlon per
Class. 1897. 1903. cent.
Englnemen .$3.05 $1.01 9.9
Firemen . 2.05 2.28 11.2
Conductors . 3.07 3.38 lo!l
Other trainmen . 1.90 2.17 14.2
Section foremen _ 1.70 1.78 4.7
Other trackmen . 1.10 1.32 13.8
What the Figures Prove.
It will be observed that these six dis
tinctive classes of railway employes, em
bracing almost half of all the railway
employes In the United States (591,475
in 1903 against 308,503 in 1S97) were
receiving an average daily compensation
t labor, weekly earnings and retail prices
lrniugs relatively to prices of food 1393
of average for 1890-1800-1900.)
Retail Tur. power
s per Weekly prices weekly wages
relative earnings of food rel. to price
ier relative, relative, of food.
00.3 101.2 104.4 96.9
99.8 97.7 Ml.# 98.0
00.1 9.3.4 97.-H 100.6
99.8 99.5 95.5 104.2
99.0 99.2 96.3 102.0
99.7 10O.0 98.7 101.3
90.2 101.2 99.5 101.7
98.7 104.1 100.1 103.0
95.1 105.9 1 05.2 lno.7
97.3 109.3 110.9 98.6
90.0 112.3 110.3 101.8
during the year 1902-3 more than 10 per
cent, greater than during the year 1890
1897. Moreover, it Is u notorious fact
that these averages do not begin to rep
resent the increase in the earnings of
railway employes during the summer of
1903. when the rale of pay of certain
classes was raised from 10 to 15 per cent.
In that year, too, there were 227.912
more persons eniployed in the six classes
named than in 1897, and according to the
Interstate Commerce Commission they
were receiving the increased daily aver
age pay where they received nothing in
the year last uumed.
Finally, returns gathered from the an
nual reports for the year ending June
30th, 1904, of eight representative rail
ways in different parts of the country,
having a total mileage of 10,587 miles,
indicate that the compensation of their
employes has increased more than 10 per
cent, over the year previous, while «be
number of their employes has remained ,
practically stationary, as is shown in the
following table:
Number unit compensation of employee of
eight representative railways:
Year ending Compensa*
June30— No. employes. lion. •
lflot .104,344 flit!,490,667
1903 .103,891 UO.gti.l.flOT
Increase . 463 6,216.570
Increase per cent... 0.4 10.3
Here at last we see truly reflected the
effect of the horizontal raise in the wages
of railway employes made as the result
of the widespread labor agitation in the
summer of 1903. The advance was
variously estimated at the time as train
12 to 15 per eent.. and any statistics
that fail to show it must be distorted
by the introdnotion of some factor, such
as a disproportion of low price labor
tending to reduce the average.
In connection with the above proof
of the 10 per cent, advance in railway
wages in one year, it should be remem
bered that the decline in prices la-gun
in 1003 continues.
If the Democrats are willing to ac
cept the pay of railway labor as the most
accurate barometer of wages, the Re
publican party can call to the witness
stand 1.312.337 railway employes to
testify to the fact that, measured by
what it will buy, their income of 1904
is higher than it was in 1897, and near
ly half a million of them can truthfully
nfllrm that they received no compensa
tion whatever in 1897 where, according
to the above system of average compen
sation, they now divide some $275,000,
000 among them, or about $508 apiece.
KILKENNY HARMONY.
That la the Kind that Frevnlls Among
New York Democrat*.
Not since the traditional cats of Kil
kenny wore hung across a line by their
tails has there been such nn amusing
harmony of subdued discord as is heard
in New York, now that Judge D. Cady
Herrick has been nominated by the Dem
ocrats for governor. Judge Parker want
ed Edward M. Shepard, or District At
torney Jerome nominated for governor in
order to galvanize bis campaign into the
semblance of life.
David P>. Hill wanted John B. Stanch
field. because Stanciitieid best represent
ed the organization outside of New York
City, to which Mr. Hill owes his ascend
ancy in the State Democracy. Mt. Hiil
had uo use for Herrick, who, as Demo
cratic boss of Albauy County, has been
a thorn in his side'for years. But. it
is said, he accepted Herrick and put
him in nomination on the principle of
the salesman who sold a coat marked
$15 for $10, on doubtful credit, because
he would lose less if the bill was never
paid. Hill will lose less in Herrick’s
defeat than if he had succeeded in nomi
nating liis friend Stanchlield.
Senator Patrick H. McCarren, the
Brooklyn boss, to whom Judge Parker
owes ins nomination, wanted Comptrol
ler Grout nominated, and for a time lie
had Mr. Hill's ostensible support for
Grout. Judge Parker aud Hill went back
on McCarren; the former to ptacatf
Charles F. Murphy and Tammany, and
the latter because he couldn’t help him
self.
Tammapy accepted Herrick because it
was williug to accept anybody who stood
for the discomfiture of Boss McCarren.
As a tomahawk in the hands of Charles
F. Murphy with which to dispatch Mc
Carren, D. Cady Herrick would serve
Tammany much better than either Shep
ard or Jerome.
Besides, did not Judge Herrick's career
on the bench present sterling claims on
the admiration and necessities of 'Tam
many? His abuse of his judicial posi
tion to the political exigencies in Albany
is along the line of what Tammany con
siders the higher walks of polities. 'More
over, hns he not practically pardoned an
official blackmailer and protector of dis
orderly houses by imposing a paltry tiiia
of $1,000 on the notorious police Captain
Diamond?—a stroke of judicial leniency
toward corruption in New York City pe
culiarly attractive to Tammany. If jo
would so act as judge, what prodigies
of clemency to “good men” might he not
perform as governor? So Tammany drop
ped Mayor McClellan and swallowed
Herrick and his record with genuine rel
ish and noisy gusto.
Not so. however, the Democratic press •
of New York City. The WORLD takes
its medicine with evident nausea; tha
TIMES turns Herrick’s picture to (ho
wall and fixes its gaze on Judge Parker,
with the reflection that one bonorabla
nomination in four years is as far as tbs
New York Democracy can be expected to
pander to the somewhat blunted moral
sentiment of its constituency. The
EVENING POST openly repudiates
Herrick, saying that a proper regard for
its own reputation forbids giving him
the negative support of silence.
Prom this brief resume it may hs
gathered that the elements for a harmo
nious Democratic caiupaigu in New York
are all that could be desired—from a
Republican point of view.
Porker's Admission.
Judge Parker's letter of acceptance
stands pat—on Republican achievements,
but coyly admits that its writer would
be a safer man at the National throttle
than President Roosevelt so long as a
Republican Senate sits on the safety
valve. If the protective tariff is "rob
bery” he is willing to turn sneak thief;
if we burglarized Panama be is willing
to keep the stolen goods; if order No. 78
lets down the liars for a pension scandal
he will revoke the order, but let tbe
bars remain down just the same. It is
a very pretty confession that the Repub
licans have administered the government
so wisely, diligently and effectively that
they deserve a vacation, while tie tries
his prentice hand at running it without
reversing a single lever.
Prnlse from » Democratic Newspaper.
The New York Times, one of tbe
Democratic newspapers which has Itcen
deuouuci" • President Roosevelt's Philip
pine policy, recently printed ap editorial
leader on the settlement of the Priam'
laud question. The article coin-lodes:
"It is creditable both to the intelligence
ami ihe humanity of the goverumont.”
If the Times was less partisan it isnild
truthfully say that every a t of tbe
Roosevelt administration in dealing with
the Philippine question was creditable
to the I'nited States.
■‘The expend itnree of the Notion have
been managed in a spirit of ee immy
as far removed from waste ns tr-m
niggardliness! ami in the future every
effort will be continued to e i-urr hn
eronom v os atrict ns ir csn.i.ttid.nitb
efficiency.”—Itoon veii'r n-n«r <n - c. i 'Sism.
